Day 4 - Row, row, row your boat gently down the canal

Today, we both decided we needed a rest day as the last three days of frenetic up-ing and downing have reduced us both to whimpering wrecks.

However, in the true tradition of our family on holiday, we didn't just doss around at home all day. For lunch we toddled off to Pizza Hut in Ashford to partake of their all you can eat buffet - which probably would have been better if the icecream machine hadn't have conked out.

Ivan packed away 11 pieces of pizza with me coming in second at 6, Amber at 4 (she's slacking) and Alex at 2 and a cup full of sweeties from the defunct icecream machine. (Ok, ok I did have profiteroles as well)

The plan after that was to come back to Hythe and visit the Royal Military Canal whereon flocks of ducks have learned that Alex can bomb them with bread extremely accurately.

But this time I had a cunning plan (Milord) and Ivan found himself in the driving seat (so to speak) of a rowing boat whilst Alex and I pursued the ducks on their own ground or water.

What you need to know here is that Ivan hasn't rowed for probably 30 odd years and the last time was in a canoe. So we spent a lot of the time spinning gently round, to the amusement of onlookers on the bank. We proceeded up the canal in a series of zigzags and collisions with the bank, the bridges, other boats, reeds and tree branches. The only reason we didn't mow down the ducks and swans is that they were obviously very used to inept humans bumbling around and skillfully kept out of harms way whilst staying near enough to field any food that accidentally found it's way into the water.

Further down the canal a lone Cormorant posed on the bank for photos from his adoring public before diving into the water and proceeding to keep ahead of us at all times despite Ivan's frantic efforts to catch him up.