Cherbourg Shenanigans

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Cherbourg is a pleasant and bustling town. After tidying the boat, having lunch, chilling for a bit, recovering our nerve and showering - it was early evening. We went for a walk to exchange our money and explore. Unfortunately the bureau de change was closed so we decided to withdraw some Euros for our dinner and swallow the fee! With the cash nestled snugly in our pockets we took a walk around the old Norman town and marvelled at the cute little buildings in cobbled streets - particularly at a cute little green and pink gabled ‘salon du the’ which Mike described as a ‘Hansel and Gretel House’. Feeling a little thirsty and keen to sample some beer al fresco we continued wandering in search of a nice place for an early evening beer. Not far from the beautiful old theatre in a gorgeous square bathed in sunlight was a red awned pub with tables and chairs outside. We settled down and ordered a couple beers from a smiley man in a tight T-shirt who bore more than a passing resemblance to Jean Paul Gaultier. About half way through our beers a leather clad couple arrived on motorbikes and sauntered over to a couple of young men sat behind us, drinking small beers, smiling chatting and gesticulating in that typically French way! The bikers removed their helmets to exchange the obligatory cheek kisses and I noticed they too were both male. ..as were most of the tables around us. Hang on ... friendly bar ....Jean Paul Gaultier lookalike serving beer....lots of male couples.... fashionable looking males too....close to the theatre....had I unknowingly chosen one of Cherbourg’s gay bars in which to have our pre dinner drinks? Having now visited several other bars and not seen the same profusion of fashionable men drinking and chatting in pairs I can only conclude that yes, yes I had. Mike found it hilarious that even in another country I had been drawn to the gay bar like a moth to a flame! The next stop was a lovely harbour side bistro where we dined al fresco and I ate delicious thin rolled homemade pizza with crème fraiche, salmon, saffron and prawns...divine and they even let me take home what I couldn’t finish.

We rose early the next morning to depart for Honfleur and the mouth of the River Seine. However, we encountered rough water pretty quickly so decided to turn back ... after the previous day’s adventures on the high seas we didn’t want to deal with the waves if we didn’t have to and the following day’s forecast was calmer. Instead we spent a day in beautiful sunshine, first exploring an awesome replica Viking ship complete with ornate carvings; dragons head prow and huge stone anchor then settling in for lunch at another little bistro after walking around town and finally getting our money exchanged. We dined on moules frites and steak hache and discovered a delicious Norman speciality called cidre Brut (sparkling cider) which cost a pittance too. As we were sitting there enjoying our meal and sipping cidre from tiny glasses, a sinewy looking middle aged woman wearing masculine clothes sat alone in front of us. Soon another similarly masculine woman came to join her. Mike, tiny glass pinched between his thumb and forefinger and legs crossed, leant forward lifted his eyebrows in the women’s direction and whispered conspiratorially ‘How’s your radar doing?’ Whether he referred to the females or to his own camp demeanour at that moment I was unsure, but my answer would have been the same either way, ‘Mikey, it’s going nuts.’
That evening we BBQ’d some chicken we’d purchased from the supermarket and sipped more cidre brut before turning in early - we wanted to be up at sunrise the next day to make the most of the tide to carry us to Honfleur.

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