On through the Blisworth Tunnel we settled down to the long pound leading to Whilton Locks. It was cold enough to want to light the stove. There was little traffic in evidence. We stopped at Whilton for a token pump out (£10). It is irritating however that thre never seems enough time on these machines to completely empty the tank and flush it as well. As we finished, two hire boats arrived at the foot of the flight, so we moved over to the visitor moorings and had lunch. With no sign of any other traffic we then took advantage of a descending boat and started up the flight,crossed two boats in the next pound and then found the hire boats waiting in the pound above. There seemed to be a queue of boats coming down as well. Apparently there had been a problem with a lock gate earlier in the day. At the next lock we waited for a single hire boat coming up behind, but still were being held up as we continued. We decided in the end to call it a day and moor up for the night in the long pound below the top lock.
The repair done by RCR to our gear cable has not seemed quite right. Everything works OK, but there is resistance in the Morse Control to powering in reverse, so as the cable used was half a metre longer than it should be, I had bought the correct one at Whilton and decided to fit it. This proved successful. The opportunity was also taken to tighten up the alternator belts.
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