Meeting the Coal Boat

After a Sunday of shall we move or shan't we, it was decided we wouldn't. The plan was that we were going to turn here at Rugby and get water then move down to the elsan and do a manual pump out, but it had been so busy that the spaces were taken as quick as they were available. Al put all her cards up from the weekend and our new mugs from Zoe & Greg were in action.

On Monday it appeared a bit quieter so we bit the bullet and got water, and as we looked at the slot for pumping out someone moved into it.

Oh well plan B, we moved down to Clifton Cruisers and pulled in for our pumpout. It was a good job we did as we found out we had a blockage in the pipe and the manual pump was tripping so we couldn't have done it anyway. After a big blow back it cleared itself and yes Del was wiping down the sides of Derwent6. Nice!! That's Boating!!

We then made our way down to Hillmorton Locks and was surprised at how busy it was, we had to wait for a BW boat to be pulled through in front of us as they were bricking the top lock.

We wanted to get to Onley before twelve as we were hoping to meet up with Jules on n.b. Towcester as we needed diesel and wouldn't pay Clifton Cruisers prices.
We just about made it as we had just sat down with a cup of tea when they came round the corner. We topped up and also got a gas bottle as that had run out yesterday. So we were all set with topped up tanks and an empty waste tank. Even better was that the sun was trying to peak out.... a good excuse for a beer in the cratch....and nothing gets done after that!