ChrisR

Hi Beo. My husband told me about your post. I paint, mainly watercolours and mainly canal and water scenes. You can have a look at what I've done on my Paintings page. I'll also be at the Audlem Canal Art Exhibition, which of course will give you a huge range of styles and subjects to choose from. -- Chris

Thanks guys I'll go looking for that Dongle. If I go the repeater route I'll go for the tall one rather than the sharks fin despite it's more grandiose claims. Chris

Thanks guys If I'm understanding things correctly then all I achieve with the booster is the same signal level as if I had stepped outside? At the moment we use the dongle on a stick method, and we were hoping to improve on that. We already have a BPC mag mount aerial but since upgrading our phones none of them has an aerial socket. Is the wrap round attachment the BPC do any good ? does anyone know of a dongle with an aerial socket ? Chris

Hi folks - We're trying to get a better 3G signal for phones and PC while on the boat. We have found these two 'repeater' type antennae. Has anyone had any experience with either? They claim to boost the signal rather than needing to be plugged into the phone, but are not powered. Universal Repeater Antenna Cellet® Shark Fin Passive Antenna Repeater I have a Samsung Galaxy Ace on the Tesco network - no aerial socket that I can find - and an old Vodaphone dongle which also has no socket. Or is there a better way? Thanks for any input! Chris

Our solar panels survived that storm (we are just a few miles away). Good picture, I didnt have our camera ready in time but it looked pretty impressive from where we were too. Chris

well it's £6 more than anywhere else for a canalside overnight mooring. TC

Thanks everyone - plenty of good information and I'm sorted :-) -- Chris

Umm... yes... Thanks Brian, but it looks a very busy road and I see no crossing. I'll send the map to my friends, but also see if I can talk nicely to the guard to let them park in the compound for a couple hours. And if not, there is the car park across the road. Ah - important awareness, Graham! Thanks.

Thanks Graham - useful link, why didn't I look there?! (Sometimes I think of Streetview, sometimes I don't. Doh!) Looks like space for one or two cars inside the lines next to the entrance. And if it's after hours, the guard may be willing to let our friends park in there for a couple hours. -- Chris

Thanks haggis :-) Do you know if road/parking access is via Lichfield Rd to the North or Jameson Rd to the south? Looking at the map, I guess Lichfield Rd as it's the off-side?

Hi, We're passing through Brum enroute to points north in May, and have established our probable overnight mooring places. One place is Cuckoo Wharf, and some local friends want to meet up with us there. I see that there are security gates around the development, and someone on this forum in 2007 said that a security guard will let you out of/in to the area. Does anyone know if that is still true? I imagine access is via Jameson Road. Will there be any issues with having non-boating visitors for the evening there? -- Chris

And Domino_2 - is that what you want to read from others? It sounds like a Log to me - which isn't perhaps the same thing.

Trip reports (now often done as blogs) have their fans and enemies. But what I'm wondering is - for those who read them, or those who would like to but haven't seen any they like - - Q: What sort of content or style makes for the kind of trip report you most like to read? Technical? About the landmarks and views? Or boat-y aspects of the experience, like mooring, shopping and pubs? Or just a well-told story? Or something else?

We loved the Caldon, you may enjoy this piece I wrote about part of the experience. NOT a blog, nor a trip report... Prose: Froghall Hanley is an interesting contrast! I was unaware of the canal when I lived there in the 70s as a student. Travelling through by boat inspired this bit of writing: Poem: Hanley

Much depends on how and where and what type of tank is fitted, but the marked dowel down the filler works fine for a tank with straight top access. So you can spend your fit-out money on something more interesting! Apart from the points raised by everyone else, clearance for bridges matters. While on the Nene and Middle Levels a couple weeks ago, we only just cleared a couple of the very low bridges and ours is not a tall boat. The steerer just about had room to see over the top - a 6" tank would certainly have been in the way! chris