ISYS OUTDOORS Newsletter 2006/04 - A Short Break in Guernsey In this Newsletter Plastered on a Short Break in Guernsey Program News Hill News Hints and Tips Humour This is the Newsletter for users of ISYS OUTDOORS Software: Hillwalker, MapWise, MapWise and Alpiniste. PLASTERED ON A SHORT BREAK IN GUERNSEY Guernsey is a lovely little island just off the coast of France. When I had the opportunity to visit it for a family wedding, I decided to take it. So all the ISYS Directors went off for the slightly extended weekend. It was a great wedding with ceilidh style dancing afterwards. It was late on that the 'short break' took on a new meaning and I ended up in hospital with a broken wrist. A week later we got back! Everyone had tried hard to keep on top of Supply and Support but of course, the service was not up to the usual standard. It's good to know that Directors serve a purpose! My apologies for any slow service, especially to those users whom I was looking after personally but that is the story how I became plastered on a short break to Guernsey! Interestingly, Guernsey, a Crown Dependency, is not part of the UK nor even part of the EU! Medical Services are all private and travel insurance is therefore important. An ambulance callout alone costs £147. A&E want £125 before they even look at you! Perhaps the NHS is not too bad after all! My Munro total now stands at 276, just 8 to go! I guess the recent burst of enthusiasm has come to halt for a while. PROGRAM / WEB NEWS The new Map Drawing program is released. This is MapWise Standard v6.2 or World on a CD (was MapWise International) v6.2. If you have either program v6, upgrade by download without charge to v6.2. Drawing allows you to plot your farm, estate, location of anything (orchids, bell towers, waste recycling points, metal detection finds). You can plot lines, areas and points. If you draw circles, these can be fixed size on a map (for example to indicate a cairn or car-park) or a fixed size on the ground (for a radio range for example). All MapWise 50 CDs now have the 2006 OS Mapping. The tiles which have been updated in 2006 can be seen at www.isysoutdoors.com/downloads/2006/New Landranger Areas.jpg Incidentally, this image was created using MapWise Standard. The website now has QuickFire, a facility to help you choose which programs are right for you. To enter, visit the front page of the website isysoutdoors.com and look at "What we can offer you." The first question is, "Are you a hillwalker?" Please send any comments on this facility to webmaster@isysoutdoors.com. HILL NEWS Ellen Regan has completed all the Wainwrights. This is a great personal achievement but why does it warrant a mention here? Ellen is aged just nine years and ISYS have sent her a copy of Lakeland Fells as a congratulatory present. Ellen now hopes to start on the Munros. Dave McLeod of Glasgow has climbed the world's first E11 route, Rhapsody, on Dumbarton Rock. Have you climbed Beinn Nibheis (or Ben Nevis if you must!)? I have. Actually, I have climbed it three times. This fades into complete insignificance beside the feat of Charlie Anderson, 34, who climbed the Ben six times in 24 hours. Beinn Nibheis stands at 1344m so the total day's climb (and descent) was 8064m. By comparison, Mount Everest is 8848m. The current penchant for creating long-distance footpaths continues with the opening of a path from Tarbert to Southend, The Kintyre Way. The entire route can be accommodated within a set of MapWise 25 Twenty Tiles, giving OS Explorer Maps of the whole of the Kintyre peninsula. Because of the exceptionally good weather, midge numbers are well down on last year. Last year must have been really bad! As we have now passed 12 August, beware of grouse shooting on Scottish hills. Apparently grouse numbers are well down this year too, but the reason is a plaque of ticks. Are barelegged walkers a thing of the past? In 1990, Joss Naylor, MBE, then 54, made an incredible run from Pooley Bridge to Wasdale, some 77km, climbing 30 summits with nearly 5,000m of ascent in just 11.5 hours. A challenge was offered to veterans, over 50, to replicate this run in set times according to age. John Gay, 56, accepted, in memory of his friend John Scott who died earlier this year of cancer (he was an accomplished Alpine and Himalayan climber and a former officer in the Parachute Regiment.) John Gay completed the run in 13 hours and 22 minutes, raising £1400 for Macmillan Cancer Support. Joss Naylor himself appeared to greet John at the finishing line having been on a day's run preparing to do 70 tops at age 70! Joss's advice has always been, "Don't think about the climbs. Just do it!" HINTS AND TIPS In Versions 1 & 2, the program made sure that the CD was in the drive so that all files could be accessed. In Versions 3 and 4, we still checked that the CD was there in case we needed files although it was possible to install the optional files on the hard drive. In Versions 5 and 6, the expectation is that all files will be installed although it is often possible not to install them and to access the files from CD. If you do not install all the optional files, and the CD is not in the drive you might find that you have white maps! To cure, install the map files or run with the CD in the drive. If you have only PhotoMaps or MapWise, you can draw summits on maps but you cannot select a hill. To select a hill by name, in Hillwalker and Alpiniste, visit Tools | Hillfinder. As there are less than 5,000 hills, the search is fast and will work on name fragments, eg talla will find Seatallan. To find a place using Point Finder, use "Starts with" if you can. With GB MapWise there are over 300,000 names and a "Contains" search can be slow. Like Hillfinder, a Contains search reduces the database entries, as you type, by selecting only those names that match the Search string until there are few enough left that you can see the one you want. Walk long and safely. Iain R White ISYS OUTDOORS www.isysoutdoors.com support@isysoutdoors.com HUMOUR? Some days I wake up grumpy. Other times I let him sleep! And one for the geeks. Actually it is better as a cartoon but this Newsletter is sent in plain text to avoid any risk of a virus. Imagine a crowded beach with a swimmer in trouble, waving his arms and calling, "F1! F1!" (Maybe better as a cartoon!) Mrs Davidson's dishwasher stopped working, so she called a repairman. He couldn't accommodate her with an evening appointment, and since she had to work the next day, she told him, "I'll leave the key under the doormat. "Fix the dishwasher, put the bill on the counter, and I will mail you the cheque. "By the way don't worry about Spike, my Doberman. He won't bother you. But whatever you do, ... do NOT, under any circumstance, talk to my parrot!" When the repairman arrived at Mrs Davidson's apartment the next day, he discovered Spike, the biggest and meanest looking Doberman he had ever seen. But just as she had said, Spike just lay there on the carpet, watching the repairman going about his business. However, the whole time he was there, the parrot drove him nuts with his incessant yelling, cursing and name-calling. Finally the repairman couldn't contain himself any longer and yelled, "Shut up, you stupid ugly bird!" To which the parrot replied, "Get him, Spike." Thanks (I think) to Fiona Page for this last one. Why did Noah not swat those two midges?