Having lit the fire yesterday and put the ‘heart’ back into the boat, we cosied down (Daisy, the dogs and I) for the rest of the day. I spent the afternoon and early evening reading, photo sorting and blogging plus doing some more work on my French numbers – I’m determined to be at least numerate, quickly, at the busy checkouts.

I didn’t wake until 9.45 this morning and, joy, it wasn’t raining!!! I also noticed that they were building a stage in the park here, so being a nosy bugger, I learn’t to ask what the stage was for; when would it be used etc., plus all the likely answers that I might hear come back at me. It took me so long to learn that, by the time I got out there, they’d gone! Oh well.

This afternoon I’ve learnt really useful phrases regarding the last 30 hours of weather so that I can converse with Mr and Mrs Renee next time I go in. You know the stuff, ‘my kayak is full of water’ (well it is – look!).’ The gangplank was at 30 degrees to the bank and now it’s horizontal’; ‘it rained so hard I had to put bowls under my leaking mushrooms’; ‘Even my tipcat is sodden’. Just the regular day to day chat with the local cafe owners and their other customers. I don’t understand why they get the giggles when they see us coming. Two new neighbours today, all Wallonie Belgique so know English their either. I don’t want to be surrounded by ex-pats but, so far, we’ve only racked up less than one a month (that’d be two then).

The trip from Dinant to Givet was lovely but we didn’t get there until late and we had to ask someone to move up a bit to squidge into the last mooring partially under a bridge and against a high wall (mind you the shade was welcome). We used the boswain’s chair (for the first time in anger) which was given to us as a leaving present by NP Sue; made by her daughter Wendie to G’s design. It worked brilliantly but Baxter wasn’t very happy. We used it twice that night but then left early leaving the dog emptying until the the first full lock with nice meadows. So no proper pictures of the town of Givet – mostly cruising pictures. Note the saxaphones across the bridge in the first last pic.These pics are now in the reverse order – starting with our mooring at Givet ant working backwards to Dinant …doh!