After a longer-than-average stay at Merry Hill, we began our journey towards The Bond in Digbeth, in readiness for our last planned festival of 2014 at their Autumn Market on Saturday.

The morning of our departure a howling gale blew up and unfortunately found the strength to whip ‘The Home Brew Boat’ banner out of it’s flagpole holders! Luckily the banner itself landed on the towpath, however the holders were nowhere to be seen having been ripped out of their screws. The most likely hiding place is down in the depths of the canal – hopefully we’ll manage to find some replacements before Saturday …

Shortly before leaving, Barry got a distress shout from GUCCCo nb Sagitta, the Dudley Canal Trust’s historic working boat. They were on their way back from the Stourbridge weekend, and had broken down with what they suspected was a faulty fuel pump. We happily towed them a short way to a safe mooring at the industrial park of Merry Hill. We hope they got things sorted and were able to move again.

Towing nb Saggita

Last night was spent at Parkhead, on junction of the Dudley No 1 and No2 canals, and today we’ve continued into Birmingham where we were thrilled to sneak in beside Andrew Denney’s narrowboat ‘Granny Buttons’. He’ll be home this evening, so we’re hoping he’ll pop in for a chat and a catch up.

We may even remember to take a photo this time …