Great day out playing hunt the Murals in Angouleme

Having moved on from our trip to La Creuse we then headed for Angouleme and found a fabulous campsite 6klm out of town (Camping du Plan d'eau), and as a bonus we found a cycle route that took us through a park and alongside the Charente river right into town. The whole cycle ride was infused with the gorgeous fragrance of the Elaeagnus hedging.

Armed with a town plan which had all the wall murals numbered think there were about 20 in all. We never found them all despite spending 6 hours walking the streets, but it did make the day more interesting to say the least. My feet were less impressed.

Stock photo of  Hergé & TinTin

The International Comic Strip Festival d'Angoulême did nothing but grow with the help of great geniuses as the great Moebius, Hugo Pratt (creator of Corto Maltese), Hergé (The Adventures of Tintin), Will Eisner (The Spirit ), Enki Bilal or grand prize winners like Albert Uderzo (Asterix), Bill Waterson (Calvin and Hobbes) or Akira Toriyama (Dragon Ball). 

Hugo Eugenio Pratt was an Italian comic book creator who was known for combining strong storytelling with extensive historical research on works such as Corto Maltese. He was inducted into the Will Eisner Award Hall of Fame in 2005. 

If you want to get a Hat

Caussade is a small town in the heart of south-west France, in the green valleys of the Midi-Pyrenees, about 70 kilometres north of Toulouse. It’s known as la capitale du canotier (capital of the straw boater hat). Their long hat-making tradition started with Perrette Gleye (better known as Petronille), who was born in 1770. Whilst tending her sheep, Petronille came up with the idea of assembling pieces of straw to make hats. She began weaving straw hats by hand for her family. Having 13 children she was an extremely busy lady …  ! Later, she made hats for her neighbours. In 1796, she installed the first hat-making workshop, and an industry was born. The button hat above is from 2011 and not my favourite despite the buttons but had to include her.

To celebrate, there’s a hat festival every July. It’s dedicated to all hats – whether made of straw, wool, felt, fur, leather or even paper. Pretty much anything goes!

There’s a wonderful atmosphere and sitting in the cafe this morning I saw people wearing all sorts and styles of hats and just for a few days it’s truly is a feast of hats. Everybody wears a hat – in fact, it’s compulsory – there’s a 1 Euro fine if you’re not wearing one, I wasn't though and never got fined! Everywhere you look there are stands where hat designers are proudly displaying their work.