Toilet talk.

                

We left our quiet countryside mooring near Willoughby Wharf under stormy looking skies. It was fun steering around the twiddley bits with the wind cutting across the canal in some exposed places. As we passed the service station at Braunston we could see C&RTs solution to most canal-side problems. Surround the one tap in the large puddle with that orange stuff and close it off to boaters, amazing! The whole area is a swamp, and we get muddier here than we do walking along some towpaths. Anyway we were in need of a pump-out (£15) at the marina, luckily no other boats were around so we slid in easily along-side the wharf. We always use their hose to rinse the tank out and I flushed the toilet several times to clean everything. Afterwards we topped up the water-tank at the Stop House.

             

There seemed to be some ‘regurgitation’ happening in the toilet bowl, so we pulled the whole thing out to clean up the non-return valve. Here a bucket, disposable nappies and plenty of kitchen roll to hand is very useful. Then we found that the diaphragm thingy was a bit worse for wear, after all it has done good service for over five years. So, instead of just putting everything back together again we bought a new one from Middland Diddlers to replace it. I assisted the Cabin Boy to watch and learn in case I have to do it one day, but I hope not as it’s a bit messy.