Philippe

The boat is a 57' Semi-Trad narrowboat.

I am on the Stort myself at the moment with my very first boat which I only bought a couple of days ago, so this blog will be really useful for me. I'm currently at Hallingbury Marina but this is only temporary and I have to leave on Friday as they are full. I'm looking for somewhere safe to put my boat for the winter before I venture out CCing in the spring. I won't be living aboard during this winter but just fiddling about on the boat and venturing out for some short trips to familiarise myself and get some experience of single handed boating. I therefore don't need much in the way of facilities, just somewhere that I feel comfortable that the boat is safe. Being close to a station will be very useful, but everywhere is reasonable close to the railway on the Stort. Any recommendations? Phil

Are all the boating rules as difficult to interpret correctly as this one appears to be?

That's a shame. I had assumed that the whole network there was open.

I thought you could cruise through now, but the park itself will not open until 2013/14. Really not sure if this is right though as I can't remember where I heard this information.

I'm still struggling with that choice too and would be very interested in performance comparisons. Phil

Still trying to decide myself, but 3 have this on their website:

Parallel discussion going on in this post where using a smartphone as a wi-fi hub is recommended by tethering through 3's The One Plan.

Appears to have dropped to £18.46 a month now. It does state quite clearly that it is 3 The One Plan that they are offering. Does look too good to be true, especially now it's dropped to £18.46/month. I've never heard of Affordable Mobiles. Has anyone here any experience of them?

Thanks Roger - that makes it very clear and does look to me to be the best route for my needs as well.

I thought that someone on another post had said that 3 had changed their contract to remove tethering, but on searching it seems that was only for a SIM only contract. What's the performance like using the phone as a wi-fi hotspot? How much data do you typically use a month?

So you're not having any issues with the deal explicitly not allowing tethering with the WiFi hotspot feature on the phone? Update: OK, got confused on providers and just noticed that O2 do allow tethering and guide you through how to do it on their website. I thought that none of the providers allowed this anymore. Must investigate further.

But the money is in a bank so it's not really hidden at all so why would that be suspicious? If it was cash then that might be suspect. Just sounds like he was using the boat lining as a safe. I am beginning to suspect the whole thing is a complete windup

Wholeheartedly agree

The thing is I'm a little shocked that anyone would even consider keeping any effects belonging to a person who only left behind their property because they had a stroke and suffered from dementia. And very disappointed that some members here agreed.

Sorry - misread that. So, I should have said, and the bank book

With £8,000 you can keep it and do what you like. It's his money so nobody but him or his family should be making decisions on where it would be best spent. And the cash.

Definitely should return it all. May allow him extra care and comfort.

No idea what the legal position is and not telling you what to do, but I'd give it all back as I would if I found it in the street.

When planning ahead, what would be safe moorings? I can see how floating pontoons would be good as they will rise with you and I assume that most marinas would be safer (is this right?). What about out and about on a river/canal? What kind of mooring would be best to head for and stay put waiting it out? Are there different things to look out for with rivers and canals that are flooding?

So where is the best place to be in a narrowboat when the waters start rising like this and what situation would make it a good idea to move? I'm hoping that I don't have to face anything like this when I start venturing out on my new boat and with no experience of these kinds of conditions I have no idea how to react.

Like boaters then

The giant bird attacking the narrowboat is the scariest bit

I did mean moving the boat to new locations and you've answered that, thanks!

Sounds like the best solution for me. Do you find that the same position for the MiFi always works the best or does it vary when you move to new locations?