No Breakfast Outside Tiday
It is not the weather this morning to sit outside and enjoy that first cup of tea.
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General
Highflight Secondhand Bookshop
It was Bill, the owner of the Highflight bookshop who recommended us to visit the Highland Aviation Museum – so we went back and had a look at his books.
He specialises in books about aviation and nearly half the store is taken up by these – however he also has a good selection of general books, and second hand novels ideal for the holiday maker who wants something to read whilst away.
JSC bought a Harry Potter Book (why?!) but I bought this:
When I was at junior school my Dad used to read these, therefore so did I and if you are a certain age I am sure you did too!
Highflight
Aviation and General Second Hand Books
5 Castlebank House
Dingwall
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Found! WiFi in Dingwall
Since arriving at Dingwall campsite, last weekend we have been thinking about finding a WiFi cafe – there was not an obvious one in Dingwall and we went to a cafe in Ullapool where we got WiFi last year but they no longer offered a free connection. It is not so important as I have a really good 3G data deal from T-Mobile but WiFi mean’s catching up on some TV via BBC iPlayer and JSC wanted to FaceBook with his friends.
The Camping and Caravan Club sites have WiFi but when I looked into this in the past it was not very good value, especially when compared to my data bundle.
I went into Dingwall this afternoon and after buying some award winning black pudding from the local butchers I went to Grants Café Deli, in the High Street, where I got a cappuccino and they had a free 30 minutes of WiFi – however it was a BT Openzone access point, so I logged on using my account and had nearly an hour online. I watched Click, edited the blog, logged into a client’s server to check a problem out and updated eight apps on my iPhone.
The opening times at Grants are good; Mon to Wed 9am – 6pm, Thurs to Sat 9am – 8pm and Sun 10am – 4pm, as many Dingwall cafes stop serving at 4pm.
I got back to the site and put my iPhone in flight mode to charge it in the car, whilst we cooked and ate our award winning black pudding – which also got our seal of approval! After tea I got my phone out to update the blog and when I turned it on, the WiFi was still enabled and I have discovered there is a BT Openzone access point within range of us here – and I am now wondering if this is also part of the C and CC Site WiFi which means there would have been WiFi at Dunbar as well! I just never thought to check or ask because of previous costs and my current 3G deal. I will check in future.
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Logie Steading
The weather forecast today was not so great, so we planned a trip to the secondhand book shop at Logie Steading.
Well as you can see from the photos – it was excellent weather.
Click on the Pano image below for a larger version
There is a walk from the visitor centre/shops down to the River Findhorn, where it passes through a gorge.
Below was the view we had from our picnic spot on the banks of the river. Click on it for a larger version.
Click on this Pano image below for a larger version
So remember if you come to Scotland assume the weather will always be unpredictable!
Knockan Crag
The exposed rock at Knockan Crag is extremely interesting as it distinctly shows two different geological layers.
It is also unusual as the older rock is on top of a younger rock – this arises through tectonic movements over many hundreds of millions of years.
There is a visitor centre and a well illustrated walk up the hillside to what is called the Moine Thrust, where you can see and touch the rock layers,. From there you can continue up to a great viewpoint complete with benches to sit on and admire the view from. For more details on the Moine Thrust Belt go here to Wikipedia.
I tried out the Pano app from this viewpoint.
I have only looked at the results on my small iPhone screen not on a bigger screen yet but the image on the iPhone seemed OK. The app was very easy go use – and fun. One thing to remember is if you manually select an exposure point then remember to set it on each of the mosaic images.
Other images from Knockan Crag
Highland Aviation Museum
On the recommendation of the owner of the Highflight bookshop in Dingwall we decided to visit this small museum run by enthusiasts.
It is excellent – plenty to see with many planes and cockpits you can get inside. There are a range of exhibits in the buildings including one about early Scottish island aviation.
If you choose to come be prepared; once you get to Inverness Airport there are no signs! We went into the airport and had to 3-point turn out of there, but then we found a sign to the industrial park and then the museum. (The local council had removed the signs as part of their preparations for the Open Golf Championships – this is what the staff told me.). So get details from their site below before setting out.
www.highlandaviationmuseum.org.uk
Nimrod MR2 – XV254
Valiant B (K) Mk. 1 – XD875
English Electric Lightning F.1A – XM169
Blackburn Buccaneer S.1 – XK532
Tornado GR1 – ZA362
Handley Page Herald – G-ASVO
Jet Provost T4 – XS176
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Fifty
A friend of mine,Richard is fifty this weekend and as I am away for his birthday I thought I should arrange some kind of surprise for him!
So when he got to our BNI meeting this morning, I had arranged a bit of a party for him and the other members of BNI Lindvm.
Thanks to Sue at Caffe19 for all her helping in setting this surprise up.