The sun was shining and the sky was blue so we set off not long after 7 o’clock. Unfortunately that was the best weather of the day as it gradually got greyer and spotted with rain at times.

As we came up through Gailey lock Heddi called out “I’ve got no power!” I could hear the engine was still running – my first thought was that she’d picked up something round the prop in the lock. But it soon became clear that the throttle cable had gone – again! We push the boat over to the side and I lifted the engine cover to confirm it. Luckily we were right outside Viking Afloat’s hire base. I thought that it was most likely that they would have one. They had a 2.5m cable and a 3,25m but not a 3m. I opted for the 2.5. It didn’t take long to fit it and we were on our way again in about 30 minutes.

We stopped at Limekiln Chandlers in Compton to buy a spare cable and to replace the chimney that we lost earlier in the year. Just above Wightwick lock we stopped for the night.