We did not get very far

When we awoke this morning the weather was cold and windy.  We tried to set off at around 10:00 but as soon as we untied one end of the boat the wind blew it away from the bank and we had quite a struggle to pull it back in.  We could not see any easy way of untieing both ends and us being able to get back on so we gave up, lit the stove and waited for conditions to improve.

By 13:00 the wind appeared to be a bit less strong so we tried again.  First tieing the centre rope to a convenient tree we were able to safely undo the ropes at each end.  Then with Denise on the boat steering the stern into the bank I  untied the centre rope from the tree and quickly leapt aboard.

Waiting at Titchmarsh Lock

Once on our way there were no further problems from the wind and half an hour later we arrived at Titchmarsh Lock.  There was a boat waiting to ascend but the guillotine gate was down.  On talking to the waiting boat's skipper we discovered that the lock was broken and the Environment Agency were sending someone to have a look.

 Two EA guys have now been working on the mechanism  for the past 1.5 hours - one drive shaft has become separated from another and they did not have a replacement part.  And of course we have just had a heavy rain shower.  So we may have to stay here on the lock moorings overnight.

Statistics 1.14mile 0 lock 35 mins travelling

Edit 18:00:00
EA completed a partial fix to Tichmarsh Lock by replacing the guillotine gate electric drive with a manual flywheel.  We set off again at 16:45 arriving at Islip Mill moorings at 17:55.

Total Statistics: 3.11 mile, 1 lock, 1 hour 45 mins travelling.