UK & Europe Trip 2009

Now technology update (v3)…

the TomTom Satellite Navigator is going well, especially in forward planning driving time between places and it has some interesting features…. It can connect via the mobile phone to obtain local traffic updates on route, then suggest ways around the trouble spots. So far it has not identified any serious trouble spots…. The theory is impressive … and that also goes for the car, our Renault Menege, the radio also has a traffic feature that automatically changes channel when a traffic update is broadcast, even if you are playing a CD.

Speaking of the Renault, the indicator controls are on the left of the steering wheel, which is hard to get used to, and it does not have an ignition key… you just put the electronic key tag into a slot in the dash, then push a button, the car computer starts the engine…. Don’t know why Aussie cars persist with ignition keys??

On Wifi… I have been looking at buying a BT Hotspot account so I can log in via the many hotspots BT has in UK, however BT don’t accept Australian credit cards. BT & Telstra are part of the Wireless Broadband Alliance, and then I found on Telstra Wireless Hotspot website this statement:

“Until further notice by Telstra, if you log in to one of our Alliance Partner’s hotspots using the process set out above, there will be no usage charge for your use of the hotspot. Telstra will notify you on this web site if it plans to introduce charging for this service.”

Now just need to find a hotspot … not many Wireless Broadband Alliance ones aroun d with Telstra shown as a partner?? Biggest problem is tools BT give you, you need to be on the internet to search for a hotspot .. ahhhh stupid !!!…

The i-pass/j-wire hotspot locator is better. T-mobile had a file I could download onto the Satellite Navigator showing all there hotspots … a much more useful idea….

So with a 30 day unlimited T-mobile hotspot account, my first use was appalling, constant dropouts & low signal, even had to sit in a hotel hallway to get reception…

Actually if I dropped the Wifi speed back to 802.11b, I got much better performance, with no dropouts…

Saturday, we window shopped around Pitlochry, some interesting crafty shops and wool products…

Then we were off to another castle, Blair Castle …. Another home of the Earl of Mansfield, although predominantly a tourist attraction these days ….

The current Earl lives in South Africa, and visits once a year for the annual Scottish games & ceremony … the previous Earl died in 1996, and had no children, so they traced back along the family tree, and found a distant cousin, once removed, a third generation South African, who was told of his new title.. pretty amazing bit of luck to inherit a castle, although the maintenance bill would be staggering.

The on to our most northern destination, Ullapool, a place Dorothy & Colin had a most interesting experience…

Whilst staying in an Ullapool B&B, many years ago, a man in an adjacent room died overnight, and Dad had to help the owner (Ken) carry the coffin down a very narrow stair case with the former guest inside!! Mum had to console the wife in the lounge room as they heard the thump-thump of the body move about!!

On the way up here, I emailed sister Carolyn to see if she could remember this particular Ullapool B&B. Carolyn thought it was Ken McDonald, and tracked his phone number on the internet and rang Ken. Carolyn related the story to Ken McDonald (who was not the B&B owner we were looking for) and they had quite a laugh together. Ken McDonald subsequently contacted the local undertaker and rang me back, informing us that the B&B was owned by Kenny McLean, who passed away a few years ago, and the B&B closed.

Strangely, Kenny’s wife, Daughter & Son-in-law came back to the B&B home for the first anniversary of Kenny’s death, and that night the son-in-law also passed away … so we chose a different B&B a mile out of town on a isolated peninsular overlooking the village, loch & mountains … absolutely magnificent .. so quiet, and peaceful.
Sunday, we woke to grey skies, quite normal for this part of the world I believe. After a leisurely breakfast and attending to the domestic chores of washing, we boarded the Summer Queen – a small ferry that ferried us at a pleasant speed for three hours around the Summer Isles – a small group of islands a short distance off the mainland, north east of Ullapool (we never did find out why they are called the Summer Isles!!). We saw a few porpoises, seals and lots of sea birds. The rain came and went, the clouds floated low over the rocky mountains, giving the landscape a mystic feel – very beautiful.

Later in the day we drove north from Ullapool following  a one lane road several kilometres across the rugged landscape, next to various lochs, even saw a sandy beach, but unfortunately it was too far from the road to access it, plus this amazing rainbow soaring vertical out of the rocky hillside.

The  Ullapool hotel afforded us a pleasant dinner overlooking the loch and the village of Ullapool lit up in the quiet evening.