Lily Rose

If you're happy with the 3 Network then Smarty offers very good value at various levels of data and you need to commit to 1 month at a time. You can easily switch between data levels each month. I use far less away from the boat so it's good to be able to change this easily. I'm only switching to Plusnet/EE for the phone (now that my existing referral free weeks and cashback are both exhausted) so that my boat has 2 networks available. I would keep Smarty and switch the Huawei wi-fi device to EE but their pre-paid SIMs are much more expensive than the 3 SIMs I buy on Amazon when camelcamelcamel.co.uk notifies me that they've dropped to under £40 for the 24GB/24 month one. I use MSE for the comparisons https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/cheap-mobile-finder/sim-only/

I switched from 3 PAYG to Smarty (still on the 3 network) about 5 months ago. Very happy with it except for the fact that I use an excellent value pre-paid 3 sim in my wi-fi device. That means on the relatively rare occasion the wi-fi device gets no internet I am also unable to use my phone's hotspot. For this reason I'm probably going to switch my phone over to (the slightly dearer) Plusnet at the end of the current month. In the absence of a 3 signal I will then have an EE signal on my phone as backup.

Resolution wasn't quite that good! I doubt he would have been there at the time as he's apparently a relative newcomer. When I look at the image of our marina we were absent but I know, from the boats around it, that it's a fairly recent image. Blockade! Only room for narrowboats to pass 😄

Applemaps, pah! I just tried it with Google Maps and that confirms it still existed at the time the image was taken. Or perhaps it has been filled in and Apple are more up to date. Good resolution too. I counted 9, I think. Some were more obvious than others but I think that was about right. They are scattered all around the place.

I kept my lips sealed about your absence as requested Martyn, only for someone else to let the feline out of the shopping receptacle. Hopefully all was well upon your return. Watch out for fatbotes if you get beyond Napton Junction by Friday. As an aside, I emailed CRT's Head of Customer Services this morning (and cc'd another Head). He had replied within a few hours to let me know that that the other Head was aware and was reviewing the situation with local team. Let's hope something comes of it.

Mr "Miles Away" told me in Braunston on Saturday that he had told CRT and blamed me for not reading the email. I subsequently looked and could not find either an email or a notice on the CRT website. Seems it wasn't only me then.

I think I would be tempted to do just that if I was in the area. Unfortunately I'm now at home. I'm just finishing off my email to CRT, delayed for various reasons. I have just added a comment regarding this latest notice. Of course it could be a different boat but there are apparently not many wide-beams moored in DP (6?) so it must be quite likely that it is the same boat and he is using DP as a base from which to cruise up and down an unsuitable stretch of canal on a regular basis.

Watch out if you're going to be on the North Oxford between Braunston and Dunchurch Pools this Friday, 20/8/21! I've just seen this notice from CRT about a widebeam moving from DP to Braunston. I wonder if its "Miles Away" yet again? https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/notices/20456-wide-beam-boat-movement-between-dunchurch-pools-marina-to-braunston-north-oxford-canal

Thanks Mike.

Here's another update regarding "Miles Away" which partly contradicts the last one. It seems my contact had been given some duff info when he got back to the marina this morning! The text reproduced below comes from none other than Dr Bob (he has given me permission to name him as the source). "...here is the boat today, taken from our boat. We got back from our trip down the GU on the 27th July and they were here so they arrived sometime before that. The have been in and out 3 times that we have seen since then. I'll try and get more information. Certainly complain to the CRT as they cannot be informing them of each trip. Coming through Braunston on a weekend is madness and I'm sure the CRT never agreed to that." Note that Dr Bob says that they have been in and out 3 times since 27 July. That's three times in three weeks! That's surely not in the spirit of the CRT rules?

Thanks Mike. But... there's an update that arrived before I sent my ail but not before I spent ages writing it! I have been sent a photo showing his boat now in Dunchurch Pools marina. Apparently today is his 1st day. I quote... "...he will be on board all the time and is not planning on going out on to the canal anytime soon. Apparently he has been waiting for two months for the mooring to come available due to covid." We shall see!

Mike, was this the boat "Miles Away" that I posted pictures of earlier in this thread?

Thanks all, I will put in a complaint. I was mistaken about Dunchurch Pools though, it's not moored there. The friend that I misunderstood is moored there and has seen that boat to-ing and fro-ing in the Napton to Dunchurch area a few times this year. He also said the boat has gone up to the winding hole north of Barby Moorings and even a bit beyond that and then reversed back to it. It does seem as though he is out to gain as much pleasure as he can on a canal unsuitable for his boat and without caring a jot about who he inconveniences or about CRT requirements. Martyn - I was going to pm you to ask if that was the boat you encountered but you beat me to it!

I believe they can also go as far as Barby Moorings as well. I suspect "booking passage" is a joke and doesn't help at all.

Here's another photo. This is how far he got past me before he could get no further and had to reverse back. I started to leave at the same time. If I hadn't I don't know what would have happened. An extended period of chaos presumably.