john6767

If you are happy with the performance now then I don't think you will be any less happy with iOS 7 on it. In comparing an iPhone 4 and 5 the performance difference is quite large irrespective of the OS at least that is what I have observed. I suspect the 5S makes the 5 look slow.

Correct, backup has nothing to so with the actual device or the OS it is running

I don't believe you can go back to a previous version of iOS. Perhaps if you jailbreak it you can, but not without. My daughter has put iOS 7 on her iPhone 4 and it is just as slow as it was with iOS 6. Some of the fancy performance hungry stuff like parallax on the display are not available on the iPhone 4 anyway.

Yea, and which half

Walsall is better than Daw End in my opinion, perhaps more plastic bags, but deeper.

So good you said it twice! We had fun with I think the second down in the main group of Rushall locks with the bottom gates not staying open going down. With just 2 of us it was a bit tricky, and in the end I used a rope to tie one open, I don't know if there is a smarter way when you get that happening.

I don't remember having a major issue with 3 on the Llangollen last summer, perhaps the odd spot with no reception. I would suspect all the networks have some holes in coverage in the area.

I have had that a few times, there is a bug in there somewhere. Simplest thing for you to do is delete to cookie and let it start again.

Found Walsall is very much improved since it was dredged, so I guess it's luck of the draw, no problems in 3 times this year.

Will try to call in at the weekend. We moor nearby at Calcutt and will be going out for a short trip over the weekend if the weather does what it is promised.

Quite, you make is sound nice when really it is terrible and no one should risk going there. Seriously, it not too bad at all is it . Your comment about mooring at Pelsall Junction are exactly what we found it is shallow to the pub side of the junction, but fine on the other side of the junction. I seem to remember the first time we went there on the BCN Challenge 3 years ago, I was reversing back across the junction at gone 10pm in the half light having failed to get into the side, when out of the darkness loomed Tawny Owl, asking WTF are you doing..... Oh and you were right first time about dogging, but that is the other side of the canal at the junction for future reference, at least that is what we decided was going on.

Not just you, and I live in Solihull. I thought the OP was at Curdworth and heading to Salford Junction and onto the start of the GU and then GU to Braunston area. Castle Value is near the B&F where Minworth locks are, so that seemed to reinforce that.

You probably want to go from the top of Camp Hill to Catherine De Barnes in one hop, not that it is all bad in between but much of it is gloomy . Many go from the Dog and Doublet direct to Catherine De Barnes one day. Catherine De Barnes to Braunston would be 3 days really, so say 4 days from Curdworth. The other way round perhaps is a little quicker, there are a lot less locks that way too. Caveat: not checked canal plan, that is just off the top of my head.

On rivers you can see that the need to close the gates is not the same as on canals. On the River Avon, ANT say to leave the exit gates open and all paddles closed. Does CRT say anything specific on their river navigations? For example on the Soar, which when we did it in the summer, everyone like us closed the gates as you would do on a canal.

Last year when they were extracting a lot of water due to Chasewater, it was very orange, and did make you think twice when you stuck you arm down the weedhatch, but earlier this year it was very different and clear. It is a shame about the warnings about winding as it is not really true, and perhaps it puts some people off. You don't need to use the bridge hole to the basin, the canal just past the basin is wide enough to turn in, and Richard confirms that even 70ft is OK. There is a post on the BCN Challenge thread from a local who lives in the new houses there that makes interesting reading, http://www.canalworld.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=52496&page=18#entry1091514