Patience is a Godsend . . .

The plan was that son-in-law Noel would take me to a parts place in Market Harborough for opening time at 8.15am, and then onto North Kilworth with the newly obtained fuel filter. That is indeed what happened. What was not planned for was that the filter I had bought on the advice given to Matt by yet somebody else, was not the correct one and, by the time this was discovered, Noel had left and was on his way back to Corby!

Various other things colluded to add to the delay and, in the end, I phoned Noel and he came back to collect me, take me to Market Harborough again to get the correct filter and back to the boatyard, before returning yet again to Corby. What a blessing that man is.

After a few other hiccoughs, one of which involved having to fit a secondhand filter casting because one of the connecting ports had been threaded, we did manage to get everything up and running and I was able to leave about 1.30pm with the aim of arriving at Foxton and locking down before the locks closed at 6.15pm.