Greygal

Conway has just passed us here at Dutton on the T&M puttering away very nicely. Made my day

I was quite disappointed not to see you next to me, given our magnetic attraction of late

Andy's blood pressure rockets whenever he sees me eyeing a 'For sale' sign. Well, eyeing up any boat really

If next time we decide on a strategy to just follow TO, please know that it's not for the points, it's for the proximity to lovely cake.

Many congrats! And thanks too for removing temptation, as I was seriously contemplating adding to the fleet, which may have just seen me divorced.

Well we were quite tempted to moor alongside you on Monday night just for old time's sake. I'm sure they'll be company for one another

Enceladus craftily nipped past you all to be first down Lapworth this morning, despite having earlier been commandeered by Team Tawny Owl for luggage portering duties to avoid a bit of swampy towpath. A toll of two flapjacks was paid, which went down very nicely, thanks. A simply splendid weekend, and lovely to do that meet people in real-life thing. It could catch on...

Think we must smell or something as Team Enceladus is all on its lonesome here at Pelsall. I say team...more 'te' as the 'am' are coming in the morning. What can go wrong?

We'll be keeping the historic end up in Enceladus. Indigo Dream will also be back, competing hard while keeping one eye on the greyhound crew

We had Ian Mac help us up the 18 a couple of years ago. We asked for assistance (very easy) because we draw close on 3 foot and were just a bit worried we might struggle in places, which we did. But with Ian's local knowledge and physical help we made it through and are so glad we did because the Rochdale is a fantastic canal, and wouldn't hesitate to do it again - as long as Ian was there, because he is a super chap to have along for the ride. And the natives were very friendly..

Any educated guesses as to when this might have been?

As if to underline my point above...never ceases to amaze me what people know and are happy to share. Thank you, Andrew.

Will have a good look through that thread, thank you, Alan. Another excellent distraction from this morning's work. I did have the pleasure of a super chat with Pete at Braunston...looks like the missing aft section is the Holy Grail

Thanks, Alan, and I have to say that yes, you're quite right, she never looked like a conventional 'trip boat' and I am a tad confused about this phase. But I'm going on a couple of pieces of information here. One, that I've seen repeated across a number of sources, like the RN Register, which says 'based as trip boat at The Bratch on the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal'. And second, what this chap said to me at Braunston...So it's even more important I find out now!

Hello all, this is a bit of a long shot but I never cease to be amazed at the help and knowledge available here so here goes... Last year we took Enceladus to the Braunston festival - first time for the boat, first time for us. I remember a chap commenting as he passed by the boat that he used to work her in her Water Valiant/Valiant trip boating days. Trouble is, I was so giddy and excited at the whole show experience that I wasn't really thinking, and therefore didn't do what I would do now: pin him in a corner and extract every last detail out of him. As I'm now trying to put together as much of Enceladus's past life as I can, I'm kicking myself about this missed opportunity. So here's my plea - was that you who passed by? Or do you know who it might have been? Or, while I'm at it, does anyone know anything about Enceladus/Water Valiant that might supplement the basic working boat/pump boat/maintenance boat/hire boat/trip boat/private boat history I already have? Answers on a postcard please, and thanks in advance