Decize is a lovely town with good shopping, restaurants and bars. The marina is about a 10-15 minute bike ride from the town centre, so that keeps the calories of the rich food off!
The weather has been very mixed, the first 2 days we had lots of rain and the rest of the week sunshine and clouds.
We cleaned the boat on Tuesday (it is best to wash it when it is raining as you are not supposed to use the water from the taps in France to boat wash!), inside and out, and then we relaxed in the evening on board, knackered, reading.
We cycled to Decize on Wednesday morning and visited the tourist information office to see if there was anything happening in the time we were here. We found out that there was a live music night at the Stade Nautique on Thursday night, at 15€ per head which included chilli con carne and some country and western live music (my pet hate - but I’ll make the effort!), so we booked it for 4, hoping that Julie and Martin from My Time would be up for it too.
When we got back to the marina, My Time had arrived a day early and as we thought, were up for the Chilli and Music evening. We caught up with a couple of nice bottles of Sancerre on GG in the afternoon and then relaxed for the rest of the afternoon.
After a siesta, we had aperitifs and lovely nibbles on My Time at 6.00pm before heading off to Le Charolais restaurant for dinner. The chef, Frank Rapiau, has a good reputation in France and the Capitainerie in Decize recommended the restaurant to us, for dinner.
We had Kir drinks all round and were served with an Asparagus Mousse, Salmon Mousse and a Spicy Filo Parcel of Cherry Tomato to appetise us and then another appetiser of tiny Gazpacho with soured cream. Tres Bien. Julie and I chose from the 27 euros menu and Martin and Jim took the Chef’s Recommendation menu at 33 euros. Starters were Grilled Sandre x 2 and Cannelloni x 2 (Sandre is Pike Perch and the Cannelloni was not as we expected, but rolls of cured beef with delicious julienne vegetables in a vinaigrette served with some parma ham and melon sorbet - all were wonderful. Mains were Lamb for the men and Julie had Steak and I had Cod - the presentation was outstanding and the quality of food exceptional. Then the cheese board was brought in and Julie insisted I take a photograph! And then, as if we needed it, there were Plaisir Gourmand desserts which was an assortment of mini desserts (chocolate cake, chocolate fondant, caramel mousse, caramel ice cream) all in bite size portions - Superbe. An outstanding meal to say the least. Then Julie’s button came off her trousers when she went to the loo - what a laugh! We walked back to the marina (luckily Julie’s trousers stayed up!) and had a nice night on board GG with some more wine and Jim on the Guitar with everyone singing (mostly la la as we didn’t know the words to many songs).
Needless to say Thursday morning was a long lie for us, but Julie and Martin were up at 9am remarkably, although Martin had to take a pill for his gout! He reckons he will be ok for drinking tonight at the Country Music evening - glutton for punishment. We will need to stay relatively sober as we are cycling there and back………..
We are leaving Decize and the alcoholics on My Time tomorrow morning and heading for Dompierre Sur Besbre, and then on to Digoin.
The weather has been very mixed, the first 2 days we had lots of rain and the rest of the week sunshine and clouds.
We cleaned the boat on Tuesday (it is best to wash it when it is raining as you are not supposed to use the water from the taps in France to boat wash!), inside and out, and then we relaxed in the evening on board, knackered, reading.
We cycled to Decize on Wednesday morning and visited the tourist information office to see if there was anything happening in the time we were here. We found out that there was a live music night at the Stade Nautique on Thursday night, at 15€ per head which included chilli con carne and some country and western live music (my pet hate - but I’ll make the effort!), so we booked it for 4, hoping that Julie and Martin from My Time would be up for it too.
When we got back to the marina, My Time had arrived a day early and as we thought, were up for the Chilli and Music evening. We caught up with a couple of nice bottles of Sancerre on GG in the afternoon and then relaxed for the rest of the afternoon.
After a siesta, we had aperitifs and lovely nibbles on My Time at 6.00pm before heading off to Le Charolais restaurant for dinner. The chef, Frank Rapiau, has a good reputation in France and the Capitainerie in Decize recommended the restaurant to us, for dinner.
We had Kir drinks all round and were served with an Asparagus Mousse, Salmon Mousse and a Spicy Filo Parcel of Cherry Tomato to appetise us and then another appetiser of tiny Gazpacho with soured cream. Tres Bien. Julie and I chose from the 27 euros menu and Martin and Jim took the Chef’s Recommendation menu at 33 euros. Starters were Grilled Sandre x 2 and Cannelloni x 2 (Sandre is Pike Perch and the Cannelloni was not as we expected, but rolls of cured beef with delicious julienne vegetables in a vinaigrette served with some parma ham and melon sorbet - all were wonderful. Mains were Lamb for the men and Julie had Steak and I had Cod - the presentation was outstanding and the quality of food exceptional. Then the cheese board was brought in and Julie insisted I take a photograph! And then, as if we needed it, there were Plaisir Gourmand desserts which was an assortment of mini desserts (chocolate cake, chocolate fondant, caramel mousse, caramel ice cream) all in bite size portions - Superbe. An outstanding meal to say the least. Then Julie’s button came off her trousers when she went to the loo - what a laugh! We walked back to the marina (luckily Julie’s trousers stayed up!) and had a nice night on board GG with some more wine and Jim on the Guitar with everyone singing (mostly la la as we didn’t know the words to many songs).
Needless to say Thursday morning was a long lie for us, but Julie and Martin were up at 9am remarkably, although Martin had to take a pill for his gout! He reckons he will be ok for drinking tonight at the Country Music evening - glutton for punishment. We will need to stay relatively sober as we are cycling there and back………..
We are leaving Decize and the alcoholics on My Time tomorrow morning and heading for Dompierre Sur Besbre, and then on to Digoin.
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