Lifejackets in the rain and dog in a lock

The boys arrived on Monday 18th (Karol from Manchester, with his dad), and 19th (Kryzs [cousin] from London with his mum Olga). Tim and Dana brought Karol and the bikes down

on Monday evening near Hockley Heath - it had going to be just Tim, but Dana needed to see the dog - even for just an hour ... Lovely mooring there - away from the road, wide towpath for sitting out, and plenty of shade for all of us. Kai was happy having been given the lamb bone that still probably had enough meat for a lamb rogan josh for David ... And we made her sit in the shade to protect her bald head. It is getting better and growing more hair - I am covering it in sunscreen during the day and anthisan at night. She has stopped resisting, for some reason!

So on Tuesday while we awaited Kryzs's arrival, David and Karol worked the top 13 of the Lapworth locks - a tired boy at the end of it, but well-skilled. At first we moored up in the shade as we were all so hot from the brilliant sunshine; but then the noise close to the road got to us and the clouds came over, so we moved further along - back to where we had had the shade-sail the week before.

The next morning, with Kryzs on lock lessons, we did the last 6 of the locks. Karol was so skilled that he could go on ahead and set the next one while David and Kryzs cleaned up. Excellent teamwork! We moored up late that afternoon at the top of the Hatton Flight, and told the boys they had 21 to do come Friday, but that we were giving them the day off on Thursday.

Restaurant rules being beautifully adhered to at the pub at the top of the Hatton Flight

That day was designated tourist treat day - we took them to Warwick Castle. Not that we saw any of the interior of the castle, mind you: there was too much to see and do outside!

• The maze. Doh! We forgot to arrange a meeting place so I had to text Olga to get Kryzs's phone number ... I shouldn't have worried - we could hear them all the way through, strangely enough. 
• Maps in hand, they took off with us following - their turn of speed is much greater than ours, and it seemed like every schoolkid in Warwick was there, so once we'd re-established contact again, the 'stay in sight' rule was implemented. I did wish I had my mum's whistle that she used to use at the bach to call us home for meals ...
• They were keen to watch the birds of prey display - as was I. And it was just as amazing as the time I saw it a few years ago with Olek and Lesley. 

I am not sure which bird this was but extremely impressive as it swooped over the crowd and up to the top of the tower and back to the landing area.

Two fascinated boys - one with his finger up his nose, perhaps ...

I think this may be the peregrine falcon - fastest creature on earth.

And in flight

• Picnic lunch while waiting and not a bit of junk food in sight - there was plenty for sale, but strangely the kids didn't ask. They are both great vege eaters, so lunch of carrot sticks, tomatoes, mangetouts with crackers and cheese plus only one sandwich each  (we had run short of bread ...)
• They did each want a sword and shield and were sensible of the costs of the varieties of each and chose wisely. Sword-fights on the greensward ensued and we could have left them at that for hours, I reckon ...

Before sword-fights came archery. Karol did pretty well - all his arrows went in the target.

Kryzs got most of his within the bull's eye.

Kryzs's tally

Not sure who  is winning, but they found it fun ...

• Then it was time for the tour of the Dungeon attraction. I had done that with Olek and Lesley so knew what to expect. It was pretty cool and a number of the adults in the tour seemed more scared than Karol and Kryzs.

What a happy group!

Why are these people scared?

David isn't really into executions, but I think it is possible that I am!

• By the end of that, the grandparents were tired so we walked into Warwick for an early dinner at ASK Italian. Good food at a good price, and a lovely tropical mojito - with mango and rosemary - different from what I was expecting, but very good all the same.

Restaurant rules adhered to again - good kids!!

I an unsure if the towpath would have been used for sword fights, but it seemed to work well for that and for the creative play they indulged in for at least an hour.

• Cab back to the boat, and if I could have gone to bed then, I would have done. Because I knew what was head of us the next day, didn't it?

We set off early on Friday (6.30am to get water, then 7am at the first lock) hoping to beat the forecasted rain, and it was the quietest I've ever seen that flight or the moorings above it. The boys managed the first 7 locks but tired at that point. The hydraulic paddles are very hard to do, and they had to put two windlasses on one spindle to be able to move them - much as Ann and I had to do on the Knowle flight.

David and Kryzs working together

However they were great at opening and closing the gates, and they very effectively used Mick and Julia's trick with the thin rope looped around the rail of the bottom offside gate to hold it closed as I exited. Their technique seems more efficient than David's. They attach the pulling end to the onside gate's pulling handle, so when they come to pull it shut the angle of the rope works with the angle of the offside gate. David however attaches it to hydraulic lock mechanism. That angle doesn't appear to allow such good control. But who am I to know, given I am down in the boat ...

Lifejackets on, windlasses and the string heading for the next lock.

And there is a the string attached to the railing on one gate and the pulling handle on the other.

The rain came earlier than forecasted so everyone was getting wet - I put on my bright yellow rain pants which worked a treat!

As the boys got more confident, David went ahead on the bike to set the locks. And that was when disaster struck - I had just sailed into the lock, we'd closed the gate behind me, and I'd got back on the boat. The locksides and the boat deck were wet (remember, it was raining), and here was a little bit of a gap between them. And when I wasn't looking, the dog stepped from the boat to the lockside, got no purchase on the wet concrete and slipped into the lock. AAARRRGGGHHH!!!

Good things:

• the boat was in neutral, and 
• it was close to the lockside
• the paddles had not been opened and water was not leaving the lock
• the dog was wearing her lifejacket
• the boys responded instantly when I yelled for them to come and help.

I managed to grab her by the scruff of the neck and the boys were able to grab the handle of the lifejacket. Then I could get a grip on the handle and haul her back on to the boat. She was scared and shivering, so I put her on to the lock side so she could have a good drying out shake, and Karol hugged her. Did she want to get back on the boat? No. Did I want her back on board and ready to keep shaking to dry herself off? No. Did I want to put her down in the boat? (David's suggestion) No - not and have her climb on to the beds for comfort while soaking wet... So it was stay with David and the boys for an hour or so.

And a couple of locks further on, still in the rain, I heard a shriek of laughter from Karol. I turned to look, and there he was with his lifejacket having self-inflated. No, he wasn't in the water. But I gather that the rain must have seeped through, or his hugging a wet scared dog had dampened the lifejacket to the extent that it determined (as a sentient being would) that its wearer was in need of flotation.

There was an element of hysteria in the laughter of both boys and their work pace slowed down considerably. It was clear they were tiring, and no wonder. Those locks are hard work even for adults (unless you are Julia, of course). Discretion was the better part of valour, and safety tends to get lost when tiredness creeps in, so we put them onboard. It was the only time on this trip that they were allowed to play on their devices between breakfast and dinner ...

Boys and dog in the warm and dry.

So David was on his own locking, using the bike and the gate rope. We did consider mooring up in one of longer lock pounds when it was tipping it down, but David was keen to keep moving - he said the Cape of Good Hope pub was a motivator ...

After 5 hours we had finished the locks and moored up - extremely slow pace considering we did them once with Mick and Julia in 2.5 hours. But once they were done, and we were moored up above the Cape Locks, we were pleased that we had arrived before the next onslaught of rain which really pelted down!

After a blob (me and him), a shower (both of us, separately) and prepping dinner for the boys (me), setting up a children's Netflix account on ours (him), David and I went out for dinner to the Cape of Good Hope pub. We did not stay out late for some reason... We did have to make our way carefully around the almost continuous towpath-length puddle between the boat and the lock, so a good thing I didn't wear my gold holey shoes. I did think gumboots would have been a better option!

And overnight I got up for a pee and then went to the galley to check the time on my phone, I heard a bang and wondered what had caused it. Didn't care enough to follow up though. This morning, I went for another pee - and what did I see hanging on the back of the bathroom door? David's lifejacket - which had also self-inflated - his just took longer ...

No wonder the door wouldn't open fully!

The following day we headed down to Radford Semele. I went by boat and David, the dog and the boys stopped off at a park just below the Cape locks with the bikes, intending to bike on to meet up with me where I moored. Only two things wrong with that plan: the dog does not follow behind the bikes and it was a very long way to Radford Semele - it's all the way into and through Leamington Spa and out the other side ... As the dog wouldn't follow and could not safely be pulled on her lead in case she abruptly stopped and tipped the lead-holder into the canal, David had to walk back leading dog and pushing bike ... He sent the boys on ahead, but sensibly when they got some distance ahead, still without finding me, they headed back to him and they all came on together.

Strangely, even though they had had an extremely energetic day, they were hyper that evening, and had to be separated to sleep. We originally put Karol and his bed up on the stern deck within the pram cover, but decided that was a bit severe. So we relocated him to the galley floor, bed and all. Kryzs was asleep within 10 minutes of Karol's banishment, so we know who was doing the agitating, now don't we?

He was no less comfortable here than on the floor in the saloon and the dog is under the duvet too...

Pikelets for the last breakfast and then Tim arrived to collect them. I think they enjoyed themselves - we enjoyed having them, and I am aware that my stamina leaves more than a little to be desired ... I was the first in bed EVERY night!