The last weekend was the Jubilee Weekend and we decided we would use the 4 days go up to Sheffield. The weather was good, so good in fact I got pretty good sunburn on my face on the Saturday and could not shave for the rest of the weekend (good excuse or what!) In fact I've not bothered since :-).

All went well until we reached Aldewarke Lock. Trevor had pulled the Emily Jay on to the 1 mooring available to operate the lock. I slowed and waited for him to open the gates. It was obvious this was going to take some time so I decided to stop and wait. I put the QE2 into neutral but it did not slow. I engaged reverse, put some revs on and she speeded up FORWARDS! I took evasive action to avoid hitting the lock gates, it was obvious she was stuck in forward gear. I shut off the engine, shouted to Trevor to grab my centre line as I passed the Emily Jay and tie her off.

On inspection I found the Morse gear control cable had snapped leaving her in forward gear. We spent the rest of the 4 days breasted up together using both engines when we were travelling and using the Emily jay to control her for locks etc. This tested us both as controlling 2 boats weight without taking the paint off 'em in locks etc. was not easy.

We are now a week down the road and although I ordered the cable on my return it has still not arrived.
(I've ordered a spare too!)

Apart from that the trip was  good. The River Don was beautiful although sorely lacking in stopping places and the Conisbrough Viaduct is spectacular.

The only bad weather we had was on the return trip, there was a thunderstorm for about 15mins. The rain on the river looked spectacular!

The control cable arrived and I duly fitted it on Wednesday it took just a week to reach me (and the spare). Getting the adjustment right was a bit hit and miss as I've never done this before. It seems adjustment is quite critical to ensure the gears are engaged properly and the control works smoothly with no tension in the cable or pressure on the gear selector on the gearbox.

I also fitted a new fan belt as the old one was quite worn. Imagine my surprise when I found the bottom hose passes between the pulleys so the belt cannot be fitted or the old one removed without disconnecting the bottom hose with the inevitable results of the engine bay full of coolant! What a barmy design!!!!