15 July Raincoat, hat, gloves .....

After our 30C+ start to the week we had a bit of a shock to the system waking to grey skies and a bit of a chilly. Definitely a jumper on day.

With 8 locks to get through before meeting up with Rob and 3 of my nephews for lunch at a canal side pub we had to get on our way even if it rained!

Unfortunately our trip wasn't without incident as the water levels are low - it's been on the local news! This meant that at some locks we had to charge in to avoid going aground. However this technique didn't work at one lock where we ended up wedged for about half an hour.

Despite trying all methods of dislodging ourselves (full steam shed and astern, opening lock gates ahead to help float us, pulling with ropes) the method of getting everyone to stand on one side of the boat worked.

Ian trying to see if anything obvious had blocked our way in the offending lock.

Then a few locks later, whilst on the helm, I turned to connect the rope and it wasn't there! Well just the loop was there. Result ..... the rope had got wrapped around the propeller. A bit of rope repair to keep Ian busy.

Eventually we arrived at the pub for lunch and had to dodge the deluge of rain to get there.

A lovely catch up and meal with Rob and the boys before we started on 10 locks before Kingswood Junction where we started up the Lapworth Locks.

We managed 7 of these locks before we decided on calling it a day. Leaving 13 to get through tomorrow morning. Hopefully a dry day 🤞🏼.