A misty and chilly morning at 7.30 when we cast off, we had doubts as to whether it would warm up as predicted. We retraced out steps, turning left at the junction and back on new territory. In three hours, we only saw one moored boat and a handful of runners and dog walkers.

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We turned at the junction towards the Black Country Living Museum and had everything crossed that there would be a mooring, yey, we got one! You can see how close we are to the museum, it worked out perfectly. A number of the scenes from Peaky Blinders are filmed here, our timing couldn’t have been better with the latest series airing this weekend.

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With it being the hottest bank holiday on record, it was certainly busy.

We saw steel being shaped at The Foundry….

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….and chain links being made. So good were the chains from Birmingham, they were asked to make the anchor and chain for the Titanic.

We’d heard the fish and chips cooked in beef dripping at Hobbs and Sons were legendary, so we got in line and queued (along with everyone else!) for 40 mins, and boy they were worth the wait, absolutely delicious.

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There was a street of shops including a tobacconist (I overheard some interesting conversations with parents and little ones as to why they don’t exist anymore – or maybe they do, we just call them vape shops now), a dispensary, a sweet shop (rhubarb and custard sweets duly purchased) and a bakery.

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