I have a lot of pictures of Baits Bite lock to show you, because that’s where we spent a lot of yesterday. When we arrived the lock was full of boats, but nothing was moving.

A Cam Conservancy employee informed me that the lock had an electrical problem, but an electrician was on the way. “He’ll either fix it right away, or it will take all day.”

It was not right away. Two custom electrical components were burned out. The river manager came, with his daughter in tow, and then went to fetch more hydraulic oil so they had the possibility of manual operation of the lock. Another electrician came, and shook his head. He did not have any of the broken parts in stock. Eventually, after several hours the Cam Conservancy staff (who had been up till 2am the previous morning working on this) decided to try and get us through the lock manually. With much pumping, turning of windlasses, and a little hot wiring, they managed to get us slowly through the lock.

There was plenty of time to admire the landscaping on the way.

We are now trapped on the Cambridge side of the lock until it is fixed, so we may have to revise our travel plans. Staying longer than planned in Cambridge is not a problem, there is plenty to do here.

Last night we were invited to dinner by Chris, a old friend who is now master of one of the colleges here. I asked for directions at front gate, and the porter deferentially led us through the college to the master’s lodge, a palatial home designed for entertaining large parties. After a long and distinguished career in public life, I think Chris is enjoying this job as much as any he has had. He does everything from cultivating rich alumni and throwing garden parties for fellows and their families, to teaching practical criticism to first year English students.

After dinner, as he was showing us out, he took us into the college chapel. It’s a lovely space, with a swirling plaster roof and wonderful wood carving in the choir stalls. “It’s the first building Christopher Wren designed,” Chris tells us proudly. “His uncle gave the money build the chapel so long as his nephew, who wanted to be an architect, could design it.” That one bit of nepotism that worked out OK.