Since we’re working on a similar problem, here’s the answer.
As we know, there is no ‘more’ link when using the excerpt() function, so the obvious solution is to cheat.
<?php the_excerpt(); ?><br>
<div class=”readmore”>“>CONTINUE READING </div>
There may be other solutions. See Lorelles blog for a number of other choices including a way for wordpress to automatically know if you post by <!-more-> tag, optional excerpt or neither.
https://www.cameraontheroad.com/?p=732
Hope that helps.