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Wondering if this is a good option for newbies?


Thersil

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2 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

The French, Dutch & Belgium canals are 'proper' canals designed for big commercial freight and barges (BIG BIG ones)

The English canals are (jokingly) known as 'muddy ditches' (gjørmete grøft)

 

You can maybe get an idea of the size from this photograph (the boat is 7 feet wide - and the tunnel ahead is 9 feet high)

 

 

IMG_20140428_124317.jpg

Omg! That is narrow! 
 

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1 hour ago, stegra said:

I have a local (Bristol) landline number and two 0800 numbers. However I don't have a landline, or indeed, an address to have one. They're all directed to my mobile.

Apart from the physical address bit (which I have, and clients visit) I had exactly the same arrangement. Until Vodafone completely cocked up and lost them. I had to amend all our paperwork, invoices, web site etc...

 

Out of interest, who do you use as supplier for your numbers? You can answer on PM if you prefer. 

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I think you need to make up your mind about where you would like to keep this boat first, and then start to think about which boat would suit you. The UK, Norway, or somewhere else? Because it would be different requirements.

Edited by Sally Grim
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4 minutes ago, Sally Grim said:

I think you need to make up your mind about where you would like to keep this boat first, and then start to think about which boat would suit you. The UK, Norway, or somewhere else? Because it would be different requirentments.

Yeah, that is true. I am sick and tired of Norway though, so my home country is out of the question. I would like to live abroad, and I love the canalboats. A motorcruiser would make it easier getting about, but I don't feel confident enough to sail about/cruise about the sea, and I know nothing about sailing, so I would mainly just use the engine. I would like to cruise the Thames and the canals in France and the Netherlands, so something I could cruise in rivers and big canals with, I'm not sure if there exist canalboats that can cruise to France from England?   

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44 minutes ago, WotEver said:

Apart from the physical address bit (which I have, and clients visit) I had exactly the same arrangement. Until Vodafone completely cocked up and lost them. I had to amend all our paperwork, invoices, web site etc...

 

Out of interest, who do you use as supplier for your numbers? You can answer on PM if you prefer. 

Not as easy as I thought to say who supplies the service. I'm invoiced from J2 Global as "your Numberstore invoice". A quick Google brings up eReceptionist.co.uk. It's quite a few years since I took the service but as I recall, I paid £10 each to buy the numbers. I pay 30p/day for the service for all three numbers. I think you can have up to 1000 numbers for that price! When I started you got 500 minutes per month incoming calls included in that price; I don't know if that's still the case but I've never had to pay for incoming calls. I have no complaints but I haven't had to do anything that might cause issues. 

Edited by stegra
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I see that, and I really do understand and agree, but have you ever been on a narrowboat? I might be very wrong, but your reaction  to Alan de Enfield's photo leaves the impression that this is new to you. If so, I would strongly recommend hiring first, before committing. The canal society in the UK are great, I'm not saying otherwise. I've got the bug myself. ☺️ 

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15 minutes ago, Thersil said:

I would like to cruise the Thames and the canals in France and the Netherlands, so something I could cruise in rivers and big canals with, I'm not sure if there exist canalboats that can cruise to France from England?   

Yes there are boats that will meet all those requirements BUT they are not what is known in England as 'canal boats'

Something capable of crossing the Channel is very different to something for the UK Narrow waterways.

 

Don't get hung-up on the Thames. There are much nicer rivers (and many more miles of cruising) in the North

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19 minutes ago, stegra said:

Not as easy as I thought to say who supplies the service. I'm invoiced from J2 Global as "your Numberstore invoice". A quick Google brings up eReceptionist.co.uk. It's quite a few years since I took the service but as I recall, I paid £10 each to buy the numbers. I pay 30p/day for the service for all three numbers. I think you can have up to 1000 numbers for that price! When I started you got 500 minutes per month incoming calls included in that price; I don't know if that's still the case but I've never had to pay for incoming calls. I have no complaints but I haven't had to do anything that might cause issues. 

Thanks for the reply. Yeah, my deal was through OneCom but administered by Vodafone (or the other way around... or something...) Vodafone cocked up, the numbers were lost, OneCom were apologetic but powerless...

 

I’ve Googled it since and am unsure if I’ll bother again. All the current deals look a bit pricey for something that’s not that important anyway. As I have a physical address I could just have a phone line installed and have it permanently on divert but that turns out even more expensive.  

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21 minutes ago, Sally Grim said:

I see that, and I really do understand and agree, but have you ever been on a narrowboat? I might be very wrong, but your reaction  to Alan de Enfield's photo leaves the impression that this is new to you. If so, I would strongly recommend hiring first, before committing. The canal society in the UK are great, I'm not saying otherwise. I've got the bug myself. ☺️ 

 

36 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

Yes there are boats that will meet all those requirements BUT they are not what is known in England as 'canal boats'

Something capable of crossing the Channel is very different to something for the UK Narrow waterways.

 

Don't get hung-up on the Thames. There are much nicer rivers (and many more miles of cruising) in the North

Yes, I'm new to this, and I have lots to learn. The houseboat experiance is something I want, but if i choose this or that, I'm not sure of yet.. I have a lot of Research to do. There are however People bonkers enough to cross the channel in a narrowboat, so it's not impossible, nothing ever is. LOL :P 
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1451294/Retired-couple-conquer-the-Channel-in-a-canal-boat.html
Not for me though, but still. 
I think you are right Sally, it would be wise to rent first and then commit. Try out different types of boats and consider if I'm satisfied With cruising the Canals of England, living there permanently on an continous cruising licence, I've understood that mooring is both expensive and very hard to find. Or if if I would like to travel more and see Europe either in a barge of somekind or a motorsailer. and thanks for the Insight Alan. The Thames is probably thame to the rivers up North , :P 

and thanks for all the input, you've all been very nice to someone utterly naive and inexperianced :D 

 

 

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