I had been wondering for a while why whenever I tried looking at Ten Bob Note’s website it returned a 404 page.

 I found this when I was reading the Canal World Forum.

Well, what an unexpected reaction. Many thanks to all of you for your kind comments re my web site.

Why did I take it down?? Well, probably the main reason was the amount of time it required to update and maintain it. My only form of internet access is my mobile phone and on occasions, the link can be worse than useless.

Also, I did feel that I was ‘under scrutiny’ in everything I did, I started to feel a bit ‘uncomfortable’ with it all in recent months.

I never ever expected the blog to become as popular is it became. As Cotswoldman thought, I started it initially so that friends and family could keep up with my adventures and whereabouts.

I have to say it will be a great loss to the canal blogging world as Ernies website was one of the best, It was the first that I would click on when I went online, the photographs were like being there with Ernie .

Blogging should be a pleasure and not a chore, so please Ernie still post but only when you want to, I won’t remove the link to your site just incase you change your mind

So far the blog rebuild is going well. The bit that takes the time is re installing the Gallery section, which due to it’s large size takes a long time to upload. Those of you who had links in the boat blogs section and don’t now, I’m slowly inputting them and will get there soon.

You have probably seen Alacritys blog messed up over the last few days this was because it had been Hacked…….

I am well on the way to sorting it out and we will soon be back to normal so please keep reading.

I haven’t posted since before my holiday due to illness and a heavy workload.

The blog is going through some major changes and hopefully these will be finished soon and I will be back posting.

If you are having problems loading the Canalplan AC website and you are using Internet Explorer 7 its due to problems with this and other sites using Sitemeter…………………….

There is a fix for this its simple………. If you go into your internet explorer security settings and add the following to restricted sites then the page loads.
Go into tools – internet options – security – click on restricted sites and click on sites then enter http://*.sitemeter.com  click add then close then click ok……….close internet explorer then re open it ………..Job done

You should now be able to see Canalplan AC and other sites that were affected………………

I  noticed this morning when doing my usual scan of incoming links (people who have linked their posts to my blog) that the Blog Meister Andrew Denny of Granny Buttons had mentioned in his post “How to start your own website or Blog” that I had learned the self taught hard way.

Remember that Matthew Stibbe is an expert. If you want advice from someone at the self-taught-the hard-way end of things, you might ask John of NB Alacrity. He seems to have taken this same route to getting his blog going including buying the book, so would be a useful second opinion. 

Yes I bought the book, its a good guide but if you use “WordPress” as your blogging platform their support on the web is second to none, if you are more of a try it and see person who learns hands on like me give it a go.

I found that if you are contemplating your own blog or website the first thing to do is find a domain name.

What you have to remember that it will be the first thing people will see and what seems a good idea at the time may not seem so good in 5 years so “choose wisely” (as the knight said to Indiana Jones).

For us Boaters try looking up nbyourboatname replacing the yourboatname with the name of your boat with no spaces as in nbalacrity you will probably find it available for use.

As Matthew Stibbe suggests use 123 reg to check that your intended name is not in use. Don’t do what I did and register the name and buy a hosting package then find the package doesn’t cover what you want. I tried using the free blog registration from WordPress.org but found it to limiting in the themes you could use, so I went independent.

I chose  VARiHOST to host my blog on the basic package  they are so helpful and will sort you out in no time, just read what other people say about them. VARiHOST will register and manage your domain name and provide space for your blog and give you your own email addresses for £3.99 a month (no I don’t get anything for this plug I just believe that they offer best value for money).

If you go the independent route you can customise your blog how you want and have total control of what you see on your blog, yes it’s hard work getting it how you want it and yes you may want to throw your PC into the cut but blogging is addictive, fun and all yours, gripe if you want, your blog is your voice on the web……………………………………………………….

If you want any help or advice on starting your own boating blog use the contact page, I will try and help if I can..