Bulbourne

The rain came late evening and this morning we woke to a miserable grey, windy, rainswept scene with drizzle still in the air.  We carry on as usual.  It has been the custom that Pat takes Alfie for a morning walk in our direction of travel and they get picked up along the way.  No difference this morning, Church Lock seems a good target and off they went.  For some reason, Alfie, who has been fascinated by the field of sheep and cows next to the towpath decided to desert Pat and run back for a last trial of barking to see if he could make them run away. So far he has failed.  Church Lock and Slapton Lock were both empty with gates open. No problem there, nor Horton, but at the next we came up dead. The pound above lock 32 was empty.  We have been caught here before with the same problem.  It looks as if the top gates were left open and the bottom ones have a bad leak.   So, make sure that the top gates are firmly closed, then off up to the next to open top and bottom paddles and let some water down.  It took about 30 minutes to get enough in to make an attempt, but just before the upper lock the boat ran aground.  More water needed sending down.  Finally we got through but the delay meant that we would meet traffic around the Marsworth flight, which we did.  After a delay at the bottom two while an opposite direction boater was reversing away from the junction because a music festival meant he would have a noisy night, we finally met up with nb Queenborough for the main climb.  Still cloudy, but warmer and more humid we settled down for the day just beyond the top lock.  Digital TV from Oxford.