So I just would like to formally thank everyone here.
Ok now with the question. I can manage joining of 2 paths but it takes about 5 attempts and I am unsure on the correct way to do it. Say I have drawn two shapes and I want to bridge them together. I select the Nodes that I want to join and currently *mash commands" lol firstly I "Break path at selected nodes" then fight between "Join selected nodes with new segment" and "Join nodes" eventually I get it to work, but I really want to know the correct way. The attached image illustrates what I am saying. The problem is sometimes extra nodes get created and get in the way stopping it from joining, then sometimes after I do join them I cannot smooth the line afterwards which I think maybe because the path is not joined?