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Thanks to @cheshire~rose and @Capt Ahab for putting this together plus the judges and all the teams.

Agreed. I gave up watching about a third of the way through. Just a continuous monotonous whine which didn't seem to be going anywhere. If she had a point to make it was lost on me.

I didn't know that Greta Thunberg had a narrowboat.

I realise no one will have followed my story even if they had wanted to. In summary the folk we met along the way and the provenance: Monday We met Stephen Littlemore, his wife Sarah Ann and their three daughters on horseboat Scotia at Huddlesford on 28th March 1911. The details of the boat and it’s occupants are taken from the 1911 census that was taken two days later when the boat was moored at its home location of Middlewich. Whether they ever worked through Huddlesford is unknown. Tuesday We met Sam Lomas and his wife Alice. The date used was that of the 1939 Register when they were at home with their children at Autherley Junction. It was later established that Mrs Lomas was the daughter of Sarah Ann Littlemore. Wednesday In the morning we passed Sutherland Dock, a boatyard owned by Charles and Thomas Hendley. They were from a boat building family that go back to the early days of canals at Measham and have got to Wolverhampton via Banbury and Brinklow. The Hendley’s are recorded at Heath Town in various records dating from the 1890s up to the 1939 Register. In the evening we encountered William Grantham at Moxley. These details were taken directly from the 1881 census when he was recorded at Moxley with his wife Ellen who was the niece of boatman James Neal. The name of the boat was not recorded however he is believed to have been an employed boatman at this time. He later owned his own boats amongst which were Britannia, Hannah and Perseverance. He was always recorded by later censuses at a location on the Oxford Canal. It was revealed that William and Ellen were grandparents of Bill Grantham, Doris Collins and Sarah Franks who all worked on the GU/BWB fleet. Thursday A visit to the Hen & Chickens in 1841 found the Turton family and their lodger Henry Perry. The sixteen people referred to are listed on the 1841 census. They include Mr Perry, listed as a boatman and likely a relative of William Perry the Tipton Slasher who was known to have links to the Hen & Chickens amongst other nearby pubs and who became a canalside publican himself. It is was revealed that landlord Joseph Turton’s daughter Martha married boatman Richard Bignall Neal and was the mother of Sarah Ann Littlemore and grandmother of Alice Lomas. Richard Bignall Neal was the son of James Neal and therefore cousin of Ellen Grantham. Friday I bumped into William Neal and Clara Marlow at 3 Charlotte Street, Birmingham on 25th November 1889. The address is taken from the wedding certificate of David Marlow and Clara Neal that occurred at St Pauls, Birmingham on that date. The Thomas Clayton (Oldbury) Ltd horseboat Leam, skippered by Henry Drakeford, was seen at Steward Aqueduct. Mr Drakeford was recorded with the boat Leam in both 1891 and 1901 censuses. William Neal appeared again at The Ropery, Spon Lane. It was revealed that he was also the son of James Neal. William Neal is recorded at the Bromford Junction canal house in both 1891 and 1901 censuses and at Spon Lane in 1911. A detail I dropped from the narrative when we omitted Spon Lane locks from our original cruise itinerary was that he is also the father of Harry Neal of windlass fame, who later lived at the same cottages. The M5 now passes directly through the site of the cottages. Saturday Our last visit was to Ocker Hill Road, family home in the late 1850s of George Neal and wife Elizabeth. This information is taken from Neal family records and is known to be the birthplace of their son David Neal. George Neal was the brother of James Neal. Both were born in Banbury. David Neal was the brother of Ellen Grantham, and also of Harriet Neal referenced in Team Urban Moorings thread earlier in the week. Elizabeth Drakeford was the brother of Henry Drakeford from the boat Leam. They were the children of John Drakeford, a boatman who lived in Cropredy for his entire life. David Neal married Rebecca Thompson in Banbury in 1880 and despite her being born and raised largely in the East Midlands her father and grandfather - and possibly beyond - were BCN boatman. I had intended to include an encounter with the earliest Isaac Thompson but time, fatigue and lack of a good story got the better of that idea.

You should have said, I could have diverted Swift Photos from Heritage Working Boats carrying Pedigree from Burton to Crick.

I think you will find Woking is on the Basingstoke Canal, which unless your time machine has altered the time and space continuum, most definately isn't part of the BCN. ???

Day 5 Friday 8th May - Cruising Log of Augmented Reality Indigo Dream (ARID) Day 5 Challenge and Poetry Corner Today's challenge was, well, challenging, because, as this limerick describes, Indigo Dream has a pretty uncluttered roof - mainly because I'm only 5' 2" and struggle to helm if I can't see - even Richard's ike has folding pedals and handlebars. A wise woman from Wales once said “Don’t put stuff on your roof you don’t want on your head” For low bridges and branches Will sweep and dislodge them And wearing your chimney will wreck your street cred! However, that’s hardly in the spirit of the challenge so here is our video entry (text below) Note: We found the robin’s nest abandoned in a shed last year – no birds were harmed in the making of this video. I've been tinkering with the "script" below... Indigo’s Dream Roof Were all bridges as tall as titans And trees were all well-trimmed Our roof would soon be brightened And with wondrous items brimmed. *** For all important navigation A sundial points us to the light, Signs (port and sherry) lead us to libation, The telescope will guide us home on a starry, starry night *** To help us breathe and stay alive We have mushrooms that will satisfy. Defibrillators do save lives But may work better if kept inside. *** The oils are there to keep us loose, The mooring rope will keep us tight. The scrap will pay for some fine foods For the barbecue tonight. *** We should flick the feather duster, The mop and bucket should be cleaning. But is dirt such a disaster? To be honest, we’d rather be boating! ** We have chainsaw, logs and chimney, Complete with robin’s nest on the top, So until they’re hatched and flying free The fiery stove will be on stop. *** We’re equipped as per regulations With lights, anchor and fender, The flag of our proud nations Enhances our roof’s splendour. *** We have a bicycle made for two. The barometer’s set for fair. We have some dodgy homebrew, You’re welcome to come and share.

I think this comes under the heading "act of God". Malicious bastard.

We were trying to get some decent music as well and I thought I had secured these guys: But it turns out they were in the wrong Birmingham and there are no flights from Alabama at the moment due to Covid-19

Fact - you don't own your view - and if you have half a brain you don't buy a house by a canal and then complain about the disturbance/lack of privacy as so many seem to these days........... Oh and we pay £ '000's to use the canal system................

There was an interesting thread on FB at the beginning of the lockdown. Again a lady boater saying she had only been moored for a week and already she had received 3 complaints about the smell from her engine and whats wrong with these house dwellers. Another boater replied that if 3 people told him he had BO he would check his deodorant not ask them whats wrong with their noses

Just to report back on this. We are now on the Macc, moored just beyond the final winding hole before the Boseley stoppage, with access to water at Buglawton and somewhere to park the car which is necessary to commute the last stretch to Alderley Park. Toilet cassettes will have to be transported by car to Boseley sani station. MoominMama is due to report in at nine am sharp tomorrow for a days training and then she'll be hard at work in the COVID mines. The trip went pretty much to plan. The main problem was hopping the car. Many thanks to Mrs Tawny Owl for a lift back to Lapworth to collect it after the Birmingham transit. After that a combination of one driving and the other single-handed boating, and use of the ship's bike got us by. There was one dry pound on Camp Hill flight, and even more rubbish than usual down Garrison and Minworth. The Royal and Ancient Tawny Owl keb was put to good use. Single-handing a lone boat through Harecastle tunnel is not an experience I'd wish to repeat: it's very lonely when the doors close behind you and you're all alone. For the first time, I wore a lifejacket, just in case. Total moving boats for the 75 miles and 60-odd locks is four, and to prove that the law of Sod still lives, one was coming round the blind 90 degree bend at the end of Rugeley aqueduct, one was going very sllooowwwlly back from Etruria services to Westport Lake in front of me, one nipped into Hall Green stoplock just as I was approaching, and the final one raced me for a bridgehole at Congleton. The towpaths, on the other hand were generally busier than I've ever seen them. Lots of gongoozlers who had clearly never been near a canal before lockdown and mentioned that they'd not seen a boat going through a lock until we turned up. Lots of bikeists, lots if bikeists going fast. MP.

…....message starts 1101Z May 9th, 2020 !!Stop Press!! Tamworth Herald Time Travelling Tamworth Virus Authorities are actively investigating the spread of the 'Flu pandemic that killed over 500 million people in 1918 that was started in Tamworth, early May 1918 by a time traveller originating in 2020. It is now known that a cluster of infected cyclists, who incidentally all had their bicycles stolen near a canal, in 1918 had spread the disease. The Sars – CoV – 2 strain of the virus is confirmed as the virus both in 1918 and 2020. Authorities, working closely with the Tamworth Institute of Time Travel (TITT) and the Tamworth Institute of Tropical Science (TITS) have made significant progress in the past 24 hours. The pair of TITS have confirmed that the theft of 15 'Laundromat' units from TITTs 6 months ago was conected with the outbreak. The Laundromat units allow limited time travel but are notoriously unreliable so were outlawed in 2019 as they keep breaking down leaving unsuspecting users in the wrong time period. It now confirmed that an illegal sporting Challenge involving canal boats has been organised by a well known Fence (responsible for the selling of all sorts of goods) who goes under the pseudonym 'Auntie Waitrose'. The Challenge involved Time Travel and thus the premeditated transmission of the virus from one of the Challenge crews back to 1918. The Hawaii 50 team think that this now might be accidental. Research has named the crew member responsible for transmission of the virus as Alan de Entrail, who contracted the disease in Tamworth late April in 2020 but he is not he is not thought to be of interest to the Authorities. The Challenge committee is made up of Auntie Waitrose and Cpt Ahab which we believe are pseudonyms and a number of others who's names are not in the public domain. Competitors in the challenge are asking for a Stewart's Inquiry and Judicial review to publish these names. Warrants have been issued for the arrest of the two known committee members on suspicion of causing 500 million cases of murder but it appears they have gone to ground and are in hiding. Our reporter spoke to Mrs Elsie Dee, who repeated “U’s a daft wun, spouting tripe yer jessie, kitties got a bitoff llury. Ofter quack with little shite ”. We did manage to speak to a representative from TITS who said again “ you'll have to ask the other TITT”. ….....message timed at 1040Z ….....message ends.

She is just a child, at least she is doing something with her life, not just grumbling and farting under the blankets like so many on here.. ?

I was just about to comment the same point about only hearing one side of the argument and making a judgement on that basis.

Poor Tardebigge the Tardigrade, reduced to a life on the bottle thanks to lockdown redundancy meaning liveaboards are cleaning the algae off their rooftops themselves instead... (if not apparently cleaning it from their roof hatches. ) There's no government funded furlough scheme even for a self-employed phylum moss piglet. He's certainly let himself go and gained some weight compared to his notoriously microscopic brethren. Poor Tardebigge...

Well done Jan and Andy and many thanks for your effort! It was more challenging for me than 2014 with Team Poppy. I have been blundering around Bradley Workshops in a grey, sleep deprived, coffee and gingernut fuelled trance for three hours now. Bonus point possibilities for your consideration: Bonus points please for solo challengers for denial of virtual company for six days Bonus points please having to drink alone in a virtual wilderness Bonus points please for being pressured to drink alone at 0500 NZT Bonus points please for discovery of the power of Baltika and Memory Bonus points please for 11h Time-Zone dislocation causing disruption and distress Bonus points please for the virtually certain 14-day virtual quarantine on returning virtually to NZ which is still in real lockdown for international travel. We have only had 20 deaths and 2000 cases. The NZ authorities will be taking no chances. I am sure that they know full well that the 1918 flu epidemic was caused by us on this challenge. Tracing is top-notch and I do not want to be accused of causing the 1918 epidemic. Up until now they have been able to blame troops returning from WW1. Having read in the logs that you may be on a WHO wanted-list, I will take care to ensure that the time-shifting facility is disabled before I re-enter NZ I have had a hard week, I have been up since 4:30 am NZT and I am going back to bed. KiwiBill

Well that's put me right off.

Reinforces the importance of paying for anything major with a credit card. Giving Section 75 protection. Subject of course to the third party payment process loophole .

As a mere onlooker to this event, my thanks to those who organised it and to those who took part and really entered into the spirit of virtually cruising. I must admit to not having read every word of all the cruise diaries but I did read a lot and I was so impressed with the knowledge and facts and figures which the teams came up with. I don't know who had the original idea - Cheshire Rose? - but it was inspired and the organising team put on their thinking caps and came up with a superb event. Thank you everyone! haggis

Martin Lewis recons money should legally be returned. I've had money for holidays in park homes returned without me asking. Premier Holidays have said 'as I've cancelled the holiday I am not entitled to a refund'. I didn't cancel they did. The difference between good companies and bad. The bad definitely need publicising.

I hate Ryanair with spades, the cabin interior is gross and all that on time arrive fanfare stuff, it just makes me cringe thinking about it.

That must be worth a point or two

Sounds fair and reasonable to me ..............but then I'm not German??? Enjoy the boat - I wish I could enjoy mine right now...........

So back to the real world of "Goat Zooming" VID-20200509-WA0004.mp4 For more details see and booking https://www.cronkshawfoldfarm.co.uk/goatsonzoom-1 also read https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/no-kidding-farmer-hiring-out-18183020

Middlewich Folk & Boat 2018. We were lucky they had two glasses left to be honest, but it did tickle me that we ended up with an amber ale in a guinness glass and a G&T in a coke glass. Enough so that I moved 4 people to get the photo.

Confidential team “Barmier than Barnier's Stern Gland” Capt. Smelly here. Final Log. Dr Bob's gone. I've nicked his appleMac. (its still raining!) Captains Log: Saturday, May 9th, 1918 Mission Statement : Go through locks, travel the network, dont kill the crew. 5 Tests: Our POOP score (Persistent Objective Operative Points, or the average navigation points needed per hour) is Crap. Our CRAP (Crew Reliability and Performance measure) score is Poop. Stocks of Vitamin D have run out. We desperately needed a Test 4. Captain's Sophomania: My decision to enter this challenge was proved right as we showed the world how great our boat was. It really is a great boat, a great great bote. It is the best on the network. Overview: Today's final leg has been somewhat disappointing with again not much navigation. Navigation Status: Still stuck in lock 8 on the Birmingham and Fazeley canal but some progress has been made. The failure of the beam widening thingy during the ascent of Lock 8 two days ago, caused significant damage to both the boat and the lock, blocking all traffic down the Curdworth flight. As it was 1918 (we have been stuck there for the last week), the RCR were not answering their telephone. All efforts to reset the beam widening thingy have failed and we suggest inferior wiring of the 12V system was to blame with a significant voltage drop causing oscillation in the secondary plasma conduit. Loosing all the solar panels didn't help. Peterbote's first attempt of the day at moving got us about 20 ft in the air with the aid of the wings he had fitted and a very large umph from the jet drive. Well things were going wrong. Peterbote had done a circuit and realised that he didn't have enough fuel to continue, he lined up on the canal hit the water and finished up stuck in the lock that he had started in! Bugger he exclaimed he looked around at the amazed faces of the locals and the guns that they were pointing at him "get your hands up yet Jerry swine " Peterbote exclaimed "bugger " Anywho's, after that Peterbote has been focussing instead on the Laundromat time thingy and IS making progress. Our target was to get to Bradely workshops by 6pm but we have now missed that. It is now 2055Z and darkness is setting in. The Laundromat hasn't functioned at all since it's one and only use sent us back to 1918. We realise other competitors have been shuttling back and forth in time to do the challenge but we have soldiered on. “Sod the challenge we need to get back to our time period” shouted Peterbote, clamp meter in hand. “All back on board” he yelled. Rusty, the beagle, not the sheep herding big doggy was absent. No sign of him. Dr Bob was gone. Not seen since he walked the plank yesterday. “I've found the problem” Peterbote whispered. “It's the bloody fuse”. He threw the main switch, the world started to revolve and Crash Bang!!, we ended up back in 2020. Still wedged in Lock 8. Still occupying 10' 6” where there was only 6' 11” of lock. Still we are home. Not sure if we will make the post challenge P*ss Up 'cause it's now gone half eleven and we are stuck the other side of Birmingham. Bote Status: Electrickerty problems beset the bote today. Bloody wires! AAW (Anti Auntie Waitrose) installation working well. No reported events of anyone buying anything from AW for the whole week. This has to be the main success of the week. I was involved in the design of this unit you know and it really is good, a very good thing to have on board. Other than that, the bote has performed very well throughout the week with only minor issues. We are not too sure of the status of Lock 8 though. Throughout the return to the 31st century, the bote must have appeared and disappeared at least a dozen times and with the almost unnoticeable movement of the earth's tilt (but we noticed it), the lock has had over 100 years of major structural impacts now resulting in the lock being a pile of sticks and rubble. We have called the RCR. Crew Status: CRAP is now zero Rusty69 (the beagle) has gawn. Not a clue where. He never made it back to the bote so is still in 1918. Will we ever see him again? Dr Bob has also done a runner. Not a sign of him as the Laundromat sprung into action. Likely he is also still in 1918. Alan de E got more poorly as the week went on (colds are not meant to be this bad, no when I had a cold it was not that bad, it really wasn't). Dr Sue says it was definitely the virus. We think he may have given it to the cyclists from whom we borrowed the Bicycles from. There were at least 4 of them. I hope they get well soon. Alan is recovering very slowly but it may be a few days before he is back his new normal. He hasn't been posting you know. Peterbote is going to file at least 3 patents next week but I cant tell you what they are for as it is secret. Positive Indicators: None at all. Negative Indicators: None of these either. Actions arising: Experience gained this year gives us a huge advantage over other teams for the 2021 Virtual BCN Challenge. We will have the best bote and the best crew (as we did this year) but we will learn how to operate the cooker better next time. Next log due: 2100Z Sunday 6th May, 2021 ….log ends.

That was Tuesday. Today is food.

I’m off to visit the home of George and Elizabeth Neal on Ocker Hill Road. This was probably their home from sometime in 1850s to the late 1860s and was likely rented since George was a boatman. Like his brother James who we’ve already heard about he came to the boats in adult life. He married Elizabeth Drakeford, the sister of Henry Drakeford of the Leam we saw yesterday. That was in Banbury in 1848 and within 10 years they were making a living on the BCN. By 1871 census they were based in Middlewich but in 1881 were on a boat at Polesworth. The house is of interest because it was the birthplace of David Neal in 1857, possibly the only one of their children not born on a boat. He was also the only boy amongst seven siblings. Working the canals around the BCN as a boat boy from a young age he later became an owner boatman with his pair of horseboats Sunflower and Water Lily registered on the BCN, Grand Junction Canal, Oxford Canal and the Pool of London. I’m told the latter was quite rare for such boats. He married Rebecca Thompson, herself the daughter of a boatman and who had been raised on boats, but who after marriage flat refused to bring up her children on a boat as she had been. They rented a house close to Sutton Stop in the 1890s and remained there. At face value Rebecca Thompson was from the Leicestershire/Northamptonshire area but was actually the daughter of Isaac Thompson of West Bromwich, himself the son of Isaac Thompson of Smethwick, boatmen both. It’s even possible she was the great great grandchild of an Isaac Thompson recorded as steerer of boats on the Birmingham Canal in the 1795 Warwickshire boat registrations. I’d like to think so, it would make me an eighth generation BCN boater and a first generation virtual one. What chance our ancestors will be cruising the BCN in the 23rd century, and will it be real or virtual?

How delicate, thank you for this pearl of wisdom.

Yes, but not quite the same beer we have on at Botany Bay today ?

See post 60. From Safeshore’s website: That is complete nonsense. What ‘legislation’ are they referring to? If they think a realistic transient is 20% above the rated supply then they’re miles out. If their GIs can handle 5000A transients then why on earth don’t they say so? It’s a good selling point, surely?

Minion's log (supplemental) Apparently I need to up my game if I want a biscuit. Luckily I've been keeping myself amused with a bit of a project to do a map of the canals of the BCN, including the old bits. Hopefully this will get me a biscuit. Possibly even one without squashed flies. I've had a lesson from the rest of the crew about posting the GPS route, so hopefully I've been a Good Minion and this link will work: My map of the BCN

Yeah, I like getting that beer and telling little BobBiscuits that it's not for him, even if it does have his name on it. Safer than Wobbly Bob as well!

This one would be better, a nice pint

When I poured beer over mine it took me hundreds of miles in inappropriate directions, so tell him to be careful. Just unplug it and throw it in the skip - there's a drink with your name on it waiting on the bar.

I've found our old Monopoly set, the one that we were given as a gift when we collected our Chinese take-away meal. I still can't work out how to play the game, and it doesn't seem to be much help with the quiz either.

Yesterday's route added to the map, https://drive.google.com/open?id=1bdLHaX5oOvFoixfSFpaVXz7xppOSaPVm

Sorry Ray and at the risk of Pete calling me an idiot I do not subsribe to the concept that she should be treated any differently. If she does indeed have Asperger's syndrome then she I am sure like most people who have it would expect to be treated equally, the same as anybody else. IMHO you cannot expect to be treated equally in all other aspects of life and then expect to have some slack cut when you broadcast on social media. Her Asperger's would only be relevant if she was being ridiculed or mocked regarding it, and nobody has done that.

It's as plain as day to me why this young lady is complaining. She is 100% correct. Bunch of idiots on this thread though. Pretty much par for the course on this forum unfortunately.

If things like this come to a political/press sh*tfight, boaters everwhere will lose out. There are fewer votes in boats than from folks on the bank, the majority of the money for CRT and EA comes from the taxes of the folk on the bank and all poiticians follow the votes. N

Not really. It seems like repeated attention-seeking to me. Some people bring it on themselves - it's like they can't help it.

I'll pass thanks. The internet is full of people like this giving one side of a story, whether it be about stuff like this or alternatively being harrassed by police/local authority etc etc.

Day 5 Friday 8th May - Cruising Log of Augmented Reality Indigo Dream (ARID) As always, it was an interesting day on the canals and we used the time machine to flit about several eras, even attempting to save a drowning man - we vouldn't help ourselves, despite the risk of disrupting the laws of time travel. Our first historic canal was Danks - seen here on an old OS map: It's surrounded by iron works, though the name "Golds Hill" is a misnomer as it was a rich seam of coal that they found here. Golds Hill ironworks has a fascinating history - it was a family-run business, you could almost call it dynastic, and in the sprit of yesterday's philanthropists, the crew found a few etracts from the obituary of James Bagnall, sixth son of Joh Bagnall, whom I believe owned Golds Ironworks along with many others. JAmes Bagnall apparently "took great interest in the moral and spiritual welfare of his work people. Schools were built by the firm at Gold‘s Hill for the benefit of their children, which were licenced for Divine worship, and a chaplain was appointed in June, 1853. These institutions he continued to support until his death; and while others similarly situated, when they had acquired a fortune, left the smoky district and retired into the country, he continued to reside among his own people to the last." I particularly liked this quote from a eulogy delivered at his funeral - "...And I recollect, also, on two or three occasions, being present at what was at the time an annual Christmas sight, viz., the giving away in great profusion blankets, sheets, shirts, flannels, and other things to persons represented to him as being deserving of his benevolence; and at that time his eye would sparkle with pleasure, his whole Countenance would be beaming with benignity; and, as the recipients of his bounty, one and all, thanked him, I have heard him say, 'Don’t thank me, my friends, but thank God for what I give you - He gave it to me. My father was at one time a man of the people, and see how greatly the Lord has blessed him and his children!’" It seems that Cadbury's great reform in Bourneville was more representative of the spirit of industrial Birmingham than I'd ever imagined. I'll share a few photographs before we move on from this fascinating branch: And how it looked in real life... This an etching of the Leabrook Works - for all the good deeds, ironworking was still a hard, polluting industry.

Day 5, the last overnight stop. More adventures upon the wild Bradley Arm today, starting off at the crack of noon we headed off North to re-explore some of the sights we had seen yesterday. While passing Pothouse Bridge, a young entrepreneur offered to sell us some of his fine herbs. As the dry stores are starting to get low, we took him up on his kind offer and he handed us not rosemary but a bag of what looked a bit like oregano. When MrsBiscuit checked this with him he assured her it was the best pot 'erb we were likely to find in the area. We carried on our way, and decided to stop for a spot of lunch at Highfields Colliery. The new seasoning went very well in the pasta sauce, although we all had to go back for seconds as we were strangely hungry. Feeling a little tired now we turned around three times and headed home, until we saw the chap from earlier having some trouble at Glasshouse Bridge. Stopping to make sure he was OK, we noticed he was trying to lift one of the flagstones into a plantpot. Tragically while I was trying to help him lift this, it slipped, injuring his foot quite badly. The moral of this tale is that "People who lift in Glasshouses shouldn't go stoned." Surprisingly, we have ended up at Loxdale Sidings tonight. https://canalplan.org.uk/cgi-bin/canal.cgi?quickroute=yes&where=Junction with Bradley Old Loop (closed),Pothouse Bridge,Highfields Colliery Coal Wharf,Glasshouse Bridge,Junction with Bradley Old Loop (closed) This is a trip of 1.59 miles from Junction with Bradley Old Loop (closed) to Junction with Bradley Old Loop (closed). This will take 38 minutes. (at 2.5 mph) 1.59 miles, 0 locks, 0 points. Looking forward to the big finish tomorrow evening, and if we get there before you we'll get the beer in.

Here is today's Cabin Top Challenge from Firefly.....

I have found a modern-day supplier of marbles, old and new, but in Devon. I want an old-time Midlands factory preferably with canal access. I will pay in real gold sovereigns. Even those will be suspect if the seller looks at the modern dates. I might have to melt them down. I really do need marbles.