Off we go again after a first thing scare

The cunning plan for today was an early start (surprise!), get a pump out on the way out and arrive at Branston between ten and half past. This started well, Sheila expertly backing Sanity Again off her pontoon and taking her round to the service wharf, where we tied on the front as we were heading on out. It was about twenty past seven. I rigged the pump-out hose, Sheila got the rinse-out in position and I popped the token in the slot.

The pump started up but when I opened the valve on the probe, nothing happened. Pulling the probe out of the deck fitting and dunking it in the water showed that there was suction, implying a blockage in the tank. This is really unusual in a macerator tank – if it makes it into the tank, it ought to come out again, but it was just possible that some hardened sediment was blocking the exit pipe.

So we shoved the rinse out hose down there and gave a blast of water into the tank. Reapplying the pump out probe showed that this had had no effect, so we did it again. This time, Sheila went down into the bathroom and reported that the tank gauge was rising; water was flowing into the tank OK, as you'd expect, as it wasn't coming back out of the deck fitting and had to be going somewhere. We still couldn't get the pump out to suck, though, so we gave up on it and used the mooring lines to pull Sanity Again round onto the side wharf.

Fortunately, I had had the foresight to get a spare token and that pump was working perfectly normally, a great relief. Whilst I was supervising the action, Sheila made up an Out of Order sign with felt tip and white paper and stuck it over the control panel of the u/s pump. Later on, whilst we were boating, I called the office and told Tony all about it. He was very grateful, especially for the sign, and said he'd tell Sven, who I doubt would be quite so pleased to hear about it...

Presumably, the pump was generating enough suction to pull water out of the cut but not enough to haul sludge from the bottom of our tank. Tony spontaneously offered to replace the wasted token when we get back in October, just as you'd expect with the no-quibble attitude of Mercia.

Since then, we've had a classic day's boating. It was pretty chilly for most of the morning, driving me into trousers and a fleece and even Sheila into wearing a gilet whilst steering. There was a bit of traffic about and both Dallow Lane and Branston Locks were with us. There's plenty of room on the moorings here at Branston, though they might well fill up as the day wears on.

The sun's come out properly, it feels like summer and if you'll excuse me, poor old Australia are 153 for 4 in reply to England's first innings score of 391 for 9 declared, they are 178 behind and I want to get back to it.

Hee, hee, hee, hee, oh dear oh dear oh dear! ;)