Day 5 - Chateau Gontier – Friday – Now its boogie night

The town is about 1Km walk along the river. Having spent the day exploring the beautiful town I earmarked a few bars for a return that evening (half a pint in each :-). The bars were all deserted tho. I then remembered that French people don’t go out to bars in the evening like we do in the UK. Or at least like I do. Oh maybe it’s just me. I looked dead sexy on account of the wine and sausage and there were no women to witness it!

Ferris the Fisherman

Walking home that evening about 1 am I passed the guy who was fishing earlier. He was alone (apart from Zion, the Bob Marley and beer loving dog) sleeping in a bed half covered with an kind of tent / umbrella type thing – special night fishing equipment I guess. Next to him was a dwindling fire in a BBQ pan. He wasn’t asleep and announced as I walked past ‘Would you like a beer?’ in French! I replied ‘does the pope wear a funny hat?’ in English. I don’t think he understood. What he did understand was fishing and Nesquick (yes, the milky drink). He proudly showed me pictures of a 16Kg carp he caught earlier in the day and of his kid (he was only 21 himself). I proudly showed him pics of my Landrover maison and the dinner I cooked earlier within it. He was of Morrocon decent and was here for the fishing, having won many competitions. He lived in Vannes a few hours drive away.

We spoke about philosophy, the stars, fishing, religion, French women (the lack thereof) and Nesquick. Eventually I thanked him for the beer but before I left I went back to the Landrover to fetch him a present. A Belgian chocolate milky drink mix of the highest order (half full). The look on Ferris’s face you would have thought I’d just presented him with the very elixir of life.

Space rocket

‘Wait!’ he said... while he rummaged around in the boot of his car. Clearly he wanted to match my gift, with one of his own. Eventually he pulled out a.... ‘space rocket’. He explained (in broken English) that you attach your fishing line to the bottom and launch it somehow into the river. He knows I don’t fish but clearly it was very important to him that I accepted this gift. Which I did graciously. Even though I suspected that he himself needed it to catch more giant carp!

I reflected later that night how I thought unkindly of him the day before when he and his friends were playing music and I felt somewhat shameful.