john6767

Sprouts, what's the problem, love 'em. Stick them in a pan of boiling water, cook, job done ,yummy.

I have seen groups of very big fish, that I assume are koi carp, in Calcutt Marina.

We did that section in the other direction in the summer. Depends on how quick you want to do it, you could probably just about do it in a day if you need to, but splitting over 2 days stopping overnight in Worcester would be easier. I would guess the most difficult part is coming off the Severn onto the Droitwich (but not actually done that as we went the other way).

The different transponders are focused on different areas, so the UK specific ones are focused on the UK, hence to get the signal in Spain you probably need a bigger dish. This page shows one example of that focus.

Freeview is digital TV through an aerial, of course the is no analogue TV broadcast any more. On satellite, there is Freesat, which is a packaged free to air satellite service. Also you can just use generic free to air satellite receivers to get all the unencrypted channels from a number of satellites that you can point the dish at, although much will not be in English. If you point the dish at Astra 28.2 deg East, then you are on the same satellite constellation that Sky uses and are receiving that exact same channels, except that you will not be able to actually view the encrypted ones. So pointing the dish for Freesat/free to air/Sky is exactly the same, you are looking for 28.2 E.

I have just had a google as you do, and it seems to say that putting a card in anther box will give you the non premium channels, but not sports and movies. Is the what you have found. There are some Pace 1000's on ebay, so you can acquire them.

Tell me more about this!!! I have a free to air satellite box on the boat and sky at home. I don't often use the satellite box on the boat as you can get all the free stuff I want to Freeview. But if I could take the sky card to the boat and put it in a box there without having to re-register that does have an attraction. Is it just the Pace 1000 bax that does not check if the card is registered to the box?

We did 2 nights on there ,and I think that was about right. On day 1 go down the locks middle of the day when they open,and to the end or the navigable section, turn round and moor up near the end. Go to the Navigation Inn. Day 2 walk down the unnavigable part of the canal for a look, and PM back towards Frankton. We stopped about a mile from Fankton in the country, and were surprised how easy it was to get in to the side, one of the nicest spots we have moored. Then on Day 3 go and join the queue for the locks back up. If you go down one day nda back up the next, and you moor at the end then you have to leave early day 2 to get back to Frankton. The other boats moored at the end with us all did that, and we were the only boat left moored near the end.

Good, although this appears not relevant in this case, as it has been proved that it is actually a 15mm spanner that is needed. So the workshop manual is a bit misleading when is lists the drain plug as M16 on the parts list, as it must just be the thread that is M16, not the head. In fairness it does on the installation drawing show the filler as 18.0 A/F and the drain as 15.0 A/F, and in the list of tools it lists "Dipstick 18mm A/F" and "Drain plug 15mm A/F".

I think M16 is 24mm AF.

We have 2 of the common type of swivel chairs that came with the boat, but I don't think they are the best solution. I would prefer to have a "proper" chair, or a sofa, but given we got the for free we have stuck with them.

The filler is certainly 18mm, or at least that is what I use. I have not removed the drain, I pump the oil out. The workshop manual for the PRM 150 is here.

I don't think there is anything surprising there though. You would not expect any ISP to let their network be a free for all, they have to mange the bandwidth. I don't think that it means that the One Plan is any less valuable, but that you have to have realistic expectations for what you are paying, which is basically £15 per month for the calls/texts/network, which has to be good value. I think in due course that will be true, but as you would expect the initial roll out of 4G is going to be in large cities. For Three when they start to roll out 4G at the end of the year it will initially be Birmingham, London, Manchester and Reading, and 2014 will bring a slug of other cities online. I would have thought it is only going to be post that time that more rural areas start to get good coverage, so at last 2015. I would hope at that time there will be a step change in coverage and speed in the locations that most people on here are looking for, but it is not going to happen in the next few months sadly. As you will see from the Three page they say that when 4G is enabled "in your area" (presumably based on your billing address?), if you have a 4G phone you will get upgraded to 4G for free.

If they were on CRT property then that would need permission from CRT for commercial photography, there signs in central Birmingham, and I presume other "hot spots", to that effect. Info on that here.

Yes they are for the fire brigade to drop a hose down to the canal, most road bridges on the BCN have them. Often the door is painted red.

The Llangollen option could be a good one for you, if you just do the western end there are only 2 locks each way plus the 2 aqueducts, and lots of good scenery. There is an ABC Boat Hire base at Ellesmere, which is about 8 hours from Llangollen, so you would have plenty of time to go to the end an back (two 4 hour days each way). Your suggestion of Bettsfield is not that much further so I don't see why that would not work either. Likewise a bit further still is HireACanalBoat at the end of the Prees Branch. All would be doable to Llangollen an back within your criteria. You could start even further east if you wanted to do a bit more. As to your other options, if you want to do a more locks then the South Oxford may work, From Napton to Banbury and back would be around 24 hours travel time and 40 or so locks. You say 6 days hire, I doubt you will specifically get that, most are 3/4 days or a week, although a week would be say from Friday afternoon, returning the following Friday by 9am. Watch out where you trip falls with respect to Easter, over the Easter weekend you would expect things to be busier and boats to get more booked up. I prefer Nicholsons, but others will have though own preferences eg. Pearsons. You could just buy both, a small cost in relation to the boat hire!

I would have said that 1) and 3) are taken care of by a torch, the horn for warning other boats too. For 2) you either wait for a boat, or leg or pole the boat out. A gas lantern is probably best avoided, you don't want to risk adding fire to your problems.

Not sure about that perhaps we do, but there were plenty of people coming in post 9am for breakfast accompanied with a drink. As we had 30+ locks to do that day so I think a drink with breakfast would have been a mistake.

We stayed overnight at the Waterfront in the summer. I would not say it was dodgy at all, but very quiet as most of the bars have closed down. Weatherspoons is still open though, and provided a very good cheap cooked breakfast, but be aware that they don't sell alcohol until 9am (they open at 8am), which they thought would be a bit of an issue to us, it was not!

Glad it worked out for you.

I get the reason for number 3, it gives a connection with the general public who don't have a boat, so I can see why it was chosen and I suspect we have not seen the last of it. However I have to say that when I look at it all I see is the woman in the white dress standing where I would not let anyone stand, and the fact that there is no one on the bottom gates, so who is closing them? Not that I am bitter, they did not pick my BCN photos sob.....

There is some info about the plans here. I agree that it will be a shame to see a part of the BCN that gives an glimpse of what it used to be like get developed, but the "island" has been a cleared brown field site for a very long time, so it would be good to see it put to use. And to the OP, an observation test; how many chimneys on the blacksmiths shop at the CRT yard?

I have booked on a course with the trainer that the above use, Vic Stuthridge of 2nd Meridian Training (vic@2ndmeridian.org.uk). Of course no idea how good it will be yet, but the date worked, 23 Nov, and it is in Coventry. It is £65 + 30 if anyone else is interested. Their one at the end of Oct is full, so the November one may be their last one under the current regeime

That is the spot that I mentioned in post #24. As well as the nature reserve by the foot bridge, if you cross over the foot bridge and go past the front of the apartments to your left, that leads to a large country park (basically a couple of fields) also very good for dogs. In the centre as well as the Tesco Express there is a chemist, a card shop, a charity shop, various hair cutting establishments (male and female), 2 bars/restaurants, Chinese, Indian, and Italian restaurants. I am not a fan of the Indian though, there are much better in the area. There is also a library and a doctors. Also an estate agents if you like it so much that you decide to buy a house!

It was part of Solihull's long term plan to provide more housing; Cheswick Green perhaps 35 years ago, then Monkspath 25 years ago, and then Dickens Heath. Some of the design is a bit quirky, like the squares mimicking London squares which is all down to the use of "Prince Charles' architects". There is some history on the Solihull Councils web site. Not really sure what there is to offend though, from the canal it is just modern houses in the main and you pass through many developments like that on the canals, and for two stretches you are in cuttings so you don't see much anyway. The only unusual thing from the canal is the apartments at the Earlswood end, and that was a result of the government of the day changing the housing density rules part way through development, so they has to ram in loads of apartments to get the density up (or so I am told). If you venture into the centre of Dickens Heath (5 mins walk from the canal), then it has a linear main street rather than shops grouped round a car park as you normally have in modern developments. It also has a village green as open space at the centre. So if you like modern to be just pure modern, then it is a bit of an anachronism. Why live there, it's a good question. It was in the relatively early stages of construction when we were thinking about moving 12 years ago. We did not live far away (Monkspath) and for the kids school sake we wanted to stay in Solihull. You may think Dickens Heath is expensive, and it is, but the nearer you get to Solihull town centre the more expensive it gets, and we were not in the £1M+ bracket I am afraid, so it was a compromise on cost at the time for sure. It has good communications with good access to the M42 (north and south) and M40, and trains into Birmingham are 5 min walk to Whitlocks End station for us, although for London trains you have to go to Solihull station which is on a different line.