Mobile connection update

I tried to connect this morning sitting in the car on Bexhill sea front but it didn't work. I have spent over two hours either speaking to or waiting for a member of the Orange technical support team to ring me back, all very helpful and kept me up to date in regard to the wait for the level 2 technical support staff. I am now on line via a new mobile connection which seems to be OK- stay tuned for the first update from the boat!

Mobile connection,BSS and inside BB

Forgot to mention yesterday the most important thing this week besides the Internet connection problem was that BB passed her Boat Safety Scheme and is cleared for the next 4 years.

I am posting this via my mobile phone connection at home which although it came up with the same error message first of "subscribe to data package" when I tried again it worked. The plan is to take it out tomorrow in the car somewhere and test it again on battery power, b....y thing( I'll post something if it works), and hopefully it will be alright on the boat next week. So if there are no posts by the end of next week we do have a problem Houston.

A picture of the saloon looking from the galley towards the bow for Anne's work colleagues who asked what BB looked like inside. Very cosy in the cold weather at Easter watching satellite TV. The stove is alight but I had just put some more fuel on it.

Easter

The plan was to go up to the boat early on Good Friday so that we could get all the jobs done and then take the boat out for a few days to make sure everything is working ok and also to try out the mobile phone connection. The trouble is no matter what you plan boating is affected by the weather even on canals. It was blowing a northerly gale with snow showers and therefore was flipping freezing. The photo above was taken at 07.15 on Easter Sunday, my first picture of BB in the snow, it had all gone by 10.00. We did manage to get all the jobs done but only managed a short trip out on the boat.

The only thing I didn't manage to do was test out the mobile phone/laptop/internet connection.The Orange signal around the marina is not very good at all and therefore on our way back from buying yet more bits in Northampton we stopped in a layby that had a good Orange signal. It logged on to Orange verified password but then fell over, after a lengthy call to Orange no progress was made I have to ring them again with access to a land line. Hopefully I can get this problem resolved before next week.

Start getting BB ready

We cannot wait for the off, this time of year is fantastic for plant and animal fife around.One of my long term aims was to photograph the kingfisher. Its vivid blue flashes brings even the dullest day alive. We must have seen about 20 since we have had the boat but so far I have only managed to take one picture. It was on the Oxford Canal at Sommerton meadow, I had gone to watch a barn owl hunting across the fields when I returned to the boat Anne had been watching a pair of kingfishers who were nesting in the bank 15ft from the boat. We then spent the evening till dusk watching them fly around - better than tv any day.

Somebody asked the other day why a Stowe Hill boat. Well its a long story but for us it was style, good quality builder, people involved, value for money and within a reasonable travel distance as we needed to check on build progress on a regular basis. They really look good when you get a group of them.

This weekend is time to get BB out of her winter hibernation, the last time on her was Christmas. We will get her ready for the boat safety examination on Tuesday and probably go for a cruise towards Braunston but stay out in the country somewhere as it will be like the M25 with all the boaters out over the Easter weekend, but there is no rush as we do not need to be back for work on Tuesday.

Three men and a boat

Now that spring is on its way we are both getting the call to go boating. There are many things still to sort out before we set sail on the 1st April the major one being to renew the boat safety certificate. Black Bess will be 4 years old in May (the time has gone so quickly). I can arrange for the survey to done 2 months before the date it's due so I am making arrangements for it to be carried out by Napton Narrowboats after Easter.

Thought I would try and upload a picture which shows BB on her maiden trip with the 3 boys playing on or near the boat whilst Anne and her 2 sisters struggle with the very heavy gates on the Buckby flight

The Journey Begins - well at least the planning

The connection in through Orange worked very well this morning and I am connected via their 3G service which is much quicker.

I have now started planning our trip which will commence on the 1 April which may be appropriate in some ways.

The trip up will be via North Oxford, Ashby, Coventry,Birmingham & Fazeley, Trent & Mersey, Calden, T&M again and then onto the Llangollen Canal around the end of April. to spend about 3 weeks cruising it together with a trip down the Montgomery Canal.

The trip back is via the Shropshire Union,Staffordshire & Worcester, River Severn (hopefully weather permitting), Worcester & Birmingham, North Stratford and then the Grand Union back to Napton.

355 miles, 307 locks, 25 moveable bridges, 35 small aqueducts , 16 tunnels and 3 large aqueducts. Its made up of 314 miles of narrow canals,29 miles of broad canals, 12 miles of large rivers, 258 narrow locks, 46 broad locks and 3 large river locks. If we did 5 hours cruising per day every day it would take 194 hours 12 mins- luckly we are not in any rush!

Mobile connection now working

Well this is the first posting to the blog using my mobile phone via Orange pay as you go GPRS/3G service much slower than the home broadband facility but hopefully as I get used to it I will be able to get it to go faster. Its only taken me all day to sort it out, but it has been a productive day special thanks though to the boys at the Boatersphone Company