On the Meuse

At last - have finally managed to work out how to do this on the iPod. We are now in France, moored on the Meuse beside a pretty little town called Haybes. Have had some cloud and rain but today there is sunshine and blue sky. We had some trouble with the engine initially. The ferrule came off one of the injection pipes. David fixed it with araldite but that didn't last very long. 2 lots of solder later we decided to get some help. My technical French is coming on in leaps and bounds! Found a very nice diesel mechanic called Eric who came out on a Sunday afternoon, fixed the ferrule and came back the next morning to fit it. That was Monday this week and it seems to be holding out - so far, so good.
We have bought a new cooker for Johanne. The old one was incredibly old and rusty. The hob was ok, but you had to keep an eye on it as the gas had a tendency to go out, I never used the oven as it looked revolting! The new one came from the local electrical shop in Erquelinnes who offered excellent service. Next day delivery and fitting and they took the old one away. Still, no excuses for not cooking now!
The scenery here in the Ardennes is stunning and our progress is slow enough to be able to take it all in. It certainly is a great way to travel. When I get the ipod synced with the laptop, I'll post some photos.
Encountered our first tunnel just after the French border at Givet. Of course we don't have our navigation lights up and running properly yet and we could see light at the other end as we approached the entrance to the tunnel, so thought we would be fine. Well, the tunnel seemed to elongate as we went in and it got darker and darker. Lots of scary things hanging/dripping from the rocky roof. I was on the bow with a fender and couldn't see well enough to walk back down the boat to get the torch. Fortunately, David managed to reach it from the steering position and it gave us plenty of light for the rest of the passage. (Thanks to Norman for the big torch!) Have since met another boat who have assured us that the Givet tunnel is the worst one and the only one which is unlit - so all the rest should be a doddle.
Thanks to everyone who has emailed and will write more soon.