Sunday 2nd July - Damery

We decided to stay another night as we have plenty of time to get to Chalon, where we leave Aphrodite for five weeks, whilst we go back to Blighty for social events........and cricket!!
The plan was to see if we could find a champagne house to have a tasting, with a view to buying a case or two, then to go for lunch.
Around 11.30 we walked into town and indeed, found many champagne houses but no invitations to have a degustation.......we suspect that an appointment has to be made.  So we made our way to the riverside cafe for lunch.
We both agreed it was probably the strangest meal we had ever had in France!!  We managed to get a couple of beers from the elderly barman and explained that we wanted to eat.  ‘No problem’ he said but as no further instructions we forthcoming we found a table in the shade on the terrace and enjoyed our cold beers.  After a while and after observing two French men on a nearby table, we realised that we should find a plate and some utensils and help ourselves to the fairly meagre buffet for our starters.  Then an elderly lady came to ask ‘Paella or chicken?’......we said chicken, so were then asked which part of the chicken - leg or breast!  Before we had finished our starters she came out again, making a fuss with a hot dish of chicken with pasta and mushrooms.  The French men suggested she put the hot dish on a plate before she burned her hands to serve it to us - needless to say, by the time we got to the chicken, it was tepid!  Skip had decided against cheese or dessert but Crew rather fancied an ice cream which was obtained from a freezer in the corner of the bar.....a Magnum!!  I have heard of self service cafes but never experienced such a thing in France!
On returning to the boat we found two young girls sitting on our bathing platform dangling their feet in the water.....cheek!!  Crew asked them to go elsewhere, which they did but then they came back five minutes later......Crew had to then get a bit more forceful and eventually they did leave but they still continued to dive into the water right by the boat, making a considerable racket!  I know it was very hot but there are hundreds of miles of riverbank for them to use!!!
Too warm in fact to do much, so we lazed around for the rest of the day and some TV in the evening once it was cool enough to go below.