What a change in the weather and what a couple of days.

Day 109 and again we set off quite early to try and catch up, unfortunately it proved to be not early enough! About 45 minutes in at our second lock (Slapton) having been going really slowly because the water level was about 6-9 inches below the normal water level on a really quite long pound (about 1.5 miles) we were asked to moor up even though the lock was open. There was a work team at the lock investigating a problem, they started work at 0800 and we got there about 0820.

The pound above the lock was even lower than the one we had just come along. We moored on the lock mooring and went to see what was going on. They put in stop planks just above the lock and emptied the space this created. To push the planks down they all stood on them

To fill in the gaps between the planks they used ash and turfs; after some investigation they found the cause (they hope) a broken windlass jammed behind the paddle

A little over three and a half hours later we were on our way again; all the time we were waiting no-one came and joined us, the traffic really has died down since we got south of Milton Keynes. Our plans had to be amended because of the delay and later as the weather deteriorated with the wind increasing and it started raining – proper raining. Once we got through the problem lock the pound was really low which meant that when we met two boats coming the other way, who didn’t want to give up the centre of the channel J went aground quite a lot, fortunately she managed to float off after they had passed. We decided to moor just  the first lock in the Marsworth flight. We went through the first lock with a day boat who we had seen at the previous lock where they didn’t seem to know if they were going down or not; evidently not. They seemed to be having a good time but when we stopped at about 1600 they still had at least two more hours to get back to their hire base, and it was now really raining. Having moored on one mooring we moved as we seemed to be hitting some sort of ridge under the water which would not have made for a peaceful night. Was glad I’d done some advanced cooking.

Day 110 and another try to catch up a bit. A good start and we made it up the remaining six locks of the Marsworth flight before 0900, nothing like a little light exercise in the morning! This section, and in fact yesterday’s section have loads of damson trees; unfortunately we are about two weeks too early for them to be ripe, although we did see someone else picking some. Cut is quiet again today although we had a nice chat with a boat from Barnsley at a water point and then followed a couple of boats down to Berkhamsted (where we moored in the exact same spot as we did when we were here last year). One of the boats we were following was another day boat who didn’t seem to be enjoying their experience so much, might have had something to do with the fact that as they left the first lock next to the marina they picked the boat up from the heavens opened and it continued to p**s down for the next two hours or so. We were soaked with our waterproofs on, they didn’t seem to be that well prepared. Didn’t meet anyone coming the other way until near the end when three boats two narrows followed by a broad beam. Just before the end we came across a boat with a lost mooring at its stern which meant it moved into our path as we came past it. As D went onto the lock mooring to wait for the two boats ahead of us J went to try to pull the boat in and if possible reattach his mooring. She shouted a greeting but got no response so managed to pull the boat in, then the owner popped up from inside, I think originally to ask what she was doing but then realised what was going on and was very grateful. The lock we were waiting for actually had a problem too with one of the lower paddles being out of action and some of the same crew from yesterday were going to fix it, this time they had to wait for us. Very lucky with the mooring as a boat was just leaving as we arrived. The rain suddenly stopped as we came through the last two locks with a couple of thunder claps and then the sun came out. As we expect to have a long  day tomorrow so advanced cooking of veg curry. Lets hope nothing stops us this time.