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The new locks on the Droitwich Junction are Staircase, Donut and Hanbury Road in descending order. At least they are to me anyway. JP

My money is on North Star as the winner. Terrible news about Carpe Vinum. Have drunk far too much since we finished ? Good to meet Nick Norman and Jeff at the finish. JP

Rob-M slept through the storm last night. I couldn't believe it as his head is about a foot away from the roof. Just had a couple of flashes of lighting fairly close by at Monmore Green. JP

We are skirting thunderstorms around Wolverhampton. Unfortunately now traversing Horseley Fields to Factory for the second time in two days. We will at least be able to visit the pools before we finish. JP

Not good. Have you got a plan for mooring? If you are heading the same way as us stick it alongside ours although you might have to put lines across to the bank cos we are only little. We are in the arm at Sneyd behind Atlas and Malus. JP

We've stopped at Sneyd and I have just served our evening meal that I intended to cook at about eight. Atlas & Malus are here. They had the only legitimate mooring by the service block so we have are probably moored somewhere we shouldn't be! JP

Don't know. Never had trouble in other locks and the gate was a foot off being fully open. Tatty Lucy seems to have wriggled through.

We are now going back up Walsall flight because we were stuck in the second bottom lock We had planned to do 100 locks with a two man crew and were just about in track to do it before the same lock that ended our challenge two years ago struck again. Now we'll do whatever we need to do to get from Birchills to Oldbury by tomorrow afternoon. JP Effing great. The pound above is wide enough to turn Vulpes but it ain't deep enough. We will have to go up six locks backwards in the dark.

Ryders Green done. Pretty quick until had to dredge mud in the long pound between locks 7 and 8. 10 minutes lost there. Approaching Ocker Hill. Which way shall we go?

Spon Lane locks done using a Harry Neal No 2 windlass which scores an extra point per lock. We have kept time against our plan since being delayed up the 21. We have done the warm up and now heading to bandit country. JP

It's probably simply to keep in compliance with the planning permission that was required for the sign. At least the crass slogans were removed some time ago. JP

Factory locks done in not a lot more than 10 minutes. Plenty of water for a change. 24 locks chalked off. Where to next? JP

Wolverhampton 21 done but took just over 3 hours. Still on course for our main objective though. JP

Well we are our start point at Aldersley at the back of a queue of three. Which would be OK if 11 boats hadn't left Wolverhampton Boat Club at 0700 for their epic journey to Tipton! At least they will sort out the empty pounds.

One last guess

No

Yes. You've got three guesses.

A true working tug was a day boat so the only reason it needed a cabin at all was to house the engine in. Have a look inside the Stewart & Lloyds tug BITTELL and you will mostly find the cabin full of a three cylinder Lister. Some tugs were converted from full length motors so they may have retained the traditional working boat cabin and engine room. I suspect what we are really talking about is a narrowboat with a 'tug deck'. It doesn't matter a jot what goes inside one of those because it isn't a tug. If it was it would need an engine/gearbox/propellor set up capable of shifting a lot of water, accessible decks and gunwales and means of attaching towing lines. JP

You would say that though Waiting for reinforcements to join before they tackle the locks. And Richard says Bordesley to Ashted is one of his favourite places on the network.

Spon Lane Junction?

I have bags of coal in the front locker that have been there for over a year. They were ballast for legging through Dudley Tunnnel on last year's Challenge. Forgive me, but I won't believe you aren't being competitive until I see your score. No ambiguity for team Vulpes though, we are going for it in a big way. That increases the chance that it could go spectacularly wrong though. He who dares Rodney, he who dares... JP

Forecast is rain and 16 celsius tomorrow. First job when we find the boat might be lighting the stove.

That would be useful if our route took us that way.

Not if you are planning to set off from a location where you wouldn't want to stop the night before. Starting from somewhere like Spon Lane, Oldbury or Bradeshall Junctions is logical because you can complete a loop on the way back to Titford without repeating your route in the same direction for which you won't score points. No one sane would moor at Spon Lane or Oldbury (for reasons that anyone familiar with them will know) and Bradeshall isn't exactly a 'destination'. The Challenge is also a social event and having a meal out on Friday night with the crew is part of the event. JP