No Signal

 It was a leisurely start to the day. Ellie came down the Gorse Fox but once she had got a fruit juice and the cartoons, she was perfectly content to sit quietly. Urban-Cub would be taking her over to Pistol Pete's later, but we had our quiet time.

The morning was punctuated by updates to the iPhone and iPad before the Gorse Fox got a chance to look at theOrdnance Survey maps. He fancied another walk, but this time he wanted to go somewhere different. He fired up the maps only to find that the OS had brought out a new app and were discontinuing the old one. The Gorse Fox had to register for the new app then list all of the maps he had previously purchased. This took quiet some tracking down but eventually the registration was complete and the new app installed. His previously purchased maps would be restored over the next few days (apparently).

Once the maps were sorted, the Gorse Fox headed for Kingley Vale (National Nature Reserve). It had been recommended bu Cousteau-Cub during the summer and the Gorse Fox kept it on the back burner. He set the SatNav and headed across to this lovely spot in Down, just west of Chichester. It was clearly very popular as there was no room in the car park, and it was a matter of parking along the road. The Gorse Fox changed into his walking boots, grabbed his rucksack, set the GPS app for his camera, and headed out.

Unlike many of his walks in the past, there was a steady stream of people making the most of the Autumn sunshine. He had got used to leaving his car, in the past, and then after about a kilometre he wouldn't see another soul. Not so today. There was a steady stream of dog-walkers, couples, families, and lone hikers all heading along the bridleway towards the Nature Reserve. The Gorse Fox kept up a fairly quick pace and managed to pass most of them. Then once into the Reserve he kept to the less obvious tracks and finally found some peace.

This is, of course, where it all started to go wrong. The Gorse Fox had seen a particular stand of yew trees. It looked almost impenetrable, but he managed to find a route. He had to clamber over some fallen limbs, and limbo under some others. In the middle was the most wonderful dappled light as the sun peeked down through the gnarled limbs of these ancient trees. (The information board at the entrance to the reserve tells us that the stands of yews are over 500 years old). As the Gorse Fox started to pick his way back to the path, he became aware that his phone was missing. He had had it in his hand when he entered the stand, but pocketed it when he had to start clamber over and under tree limbs. Clearly, it had leapt to freedom from his pocket. He retraced his steps. The phone was nowhere to be found. He retraced his steps again. Still nothing. He watched the symbol on his iWatch too see if it would suddenly reconnect to the phone once in range. It wouldn't. The Gorse Fox concluded it was lost(*). Frustrated, he made his way back to car (passing Tinkerbell on the way - she had met up with a friend for a walk). He had hoped for a good long walk, but it was curtailed at about 5km.

Back home the Gorse Fox started on the process - disable/wipe the phone, contact BT to disable and replace the SIM, contact the insurance company to order a replacement. All of this took about an hour, but to be fair, it was pretty straightforward. In fact the implication was that a replacement phone will be here on Monday. (Somehow, the Gorse Fox suspects that to be wishful thinking, but we'll see).

(*) There was no mobile phone signal in the area - so we couldn't ring it from another phone, nor was there any 3/4G signal to allow a "ping" via the internet.