Day's Progress: 16kms : 14 locks (Total 151kms :113 locks)
This was a really easy day. Quite leisurely and we both felt fit after our rest day. My bruises from the bike fall were developing well and beginning to look like over ripe avocados. The countryside was lovely, it was hot, no clouds and by now I was developing a fabulous tan. I had a clear mark on my feet from my deck shoes.
Mistletoe had invaded a number of trees – it makes huge lumps in the branches and will eventually kill the tree. It seems to favour plane trees – I haven’t seen it in Oaks yet. (I must check up on this though)
We stopped in a village called Mont-et-Marre for lunch. We took our bikes into the village – it was about 1.5 kms from the canal, up a little hill 
and past some small farmyards and houses. At the top of the road leading to the village, a large stone crucifix looks down the road and hill. We took the left fork in the road and found the only restaurant. There were a couple of locals having a kir or beer. The owner and his family had set their places for Sunday lunch at the main table in the middle of the room. It seemed to only be the owner, a man of about 40, his daughter aged 4 or 5 and his elderly mother. The locals left shortly after we arrived. In most of these small villages you never see the women – they are probably at home cooking lunch!. The restaurant was decorated with murals – a sort of North African, Algerian theme. In the corner of the room was an huge disco type set-up, wired acoustic guitars and bongo drums. It is a little hard to picture wild Saturday night parties in this small place. What on earth goes on here? Hanging from the ceiling were little hand drawn flags –it looked like every country in the world was represented. But it did take us quite a bit of time to find the South African flag. Apart from all the European flags I spotted a number of African countries, including Zimbabwe. The owner told us the flags represent the nationalities of the customers who had visited his restaurant – it was a mini United Nations. I am sure he was disappointed that we were not from some exotic location. The food was great – Steve and I shared a salad and then I had sea-bass cooked in a light cream sauce. It was delicious and very fresh. Steve had a steak with rice – he enjoyed it and said it was well cooked. I had fromage blanc for pudding and Steve had cheese. It was a lovely place and our meal was good and reasonable in price. The total cost together with wine and beer was 48 euros. Whilst we were having our lunch the owner cooked up some fried eggs for his family, which they ate with a green salad.
Back on the canal we really had a nice gentle cruise to Chatillon-en-Bazois. This is a very old town. Chateaux scattered all over the place. It is a very pretty town with beautiful old buildings. It was hot – at around 18h45 it was 34 degrees inside the boat – sweltering!
I must mention that I have been using my daughter's Suunto watch which is completley waterproof and now that I have figured out all the buttons I can use the altimeter, compass and thermometer!
Whilst it was a relatively easy day, we were both tired and collapsed into bed at about 8 o’clock. Both of us commented that we had not had such good sleeps for years. It must be all the sun, fresh air and exercise!
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