Eclectic Download Collection

Parking some other people's stuff here for a while
Free FTP space for them, what's not to like 😎

"be curious, not judgmental" … Walt Whitman

Lendal Paddlok User Manual

If you are a sea-kayaker and are using an original Ledal split paddle, as I am, you might like a scanned copy of their manual on how to service or replace the Paddlok Locking Mechanism.

My own Paddlok started to misbehave a bit after over 20 years of use. I'd never even looked at it to clean it or see how it worked. Nigel Denis still uses these, in a number of sizes, for his current range of Celtic Paddles. Not for the split joint, but to fix the blades to the shaft of 3 or 4 piece paddles. Thanks Nigel for some new spare parts.

Here are some links to Celtic Paddles in my home town of Holyhead: seakayakinguk.com and paddlok

The original paper copy is quite small, I have resized the PDF to print at A4 for easy legibility.

Lendal Paddlok User Manual • 590kb

Raven Audiobook to try out

Alun Hughes' words read by world-renowned storyteller Eric Maddern, of Cae Mabon, Fachwen.

Poems written and read by the popular poet George Smith, of middle Fachwen.

Sound Recording and Music by talented musician Steve Delight, of upper Fachwen.

Audiobook built by me, Keith, of lower Fachwen.

It would help us if you can let us know what you think of the different qualities. The lowest is still fine to my ears, and quite a bit smaller 😋. A good listen at 2 hours 25 minutes. It will stream from the links below without having to download. Right-click if you want to download a copy to keep.

Raven Audiobook • High Quality • 111mb

Raven Audiobook • Normal Quality • 70mb

Raven Audiobook • Low Quality • 36mb

Raven Poems read by George Smith

Listen to, or Download, The Poems as a stand-alone collection

See note in the side-bar if you have any issues playing Audiobooks. The Raven Audiobook is not linked to the text based eBook in any way… some people think they go together, but they are separate digital entities that are stored in different locations on the internet. You should always be able to find the latest versions here.

Raven eBook by Alun Hughes

The adventures of Piran, an unusually inquisitive young Raven who is a talented flier, full of desire and sense of wonder. He is driven to search for new experiences and new horizons, to explore his world to the full and to seek the ‘truth’

This is an allegorical tale aimed primarily at young readers, showing that true happiness comes from within, and that it is only through searching and seeking the truth that happiness and place come together to find meaning

Ravens are astute birds; very intelligent, inquisitive and communicative. They are the largest in size of the Crow family and so the strongest, but what makes them really different from other Crows is that they can reason. They can make informed decisions. They have a complicated language, and can even learn the languages of other birds. At least Piran, our adventurous youngster can - but he is not born yet.

Raven is a standard format ePub ebook. It's full of photos so it's quite a big download @ 432mb

Download Raven .epub from Fachwen.org

Download Raven as a Kindle .azw3 version • I haven't been able to check this myself yet as I don't use a Kindle, sorry. I don't even know how you'd load it onto your Kindle 😱

Other places to get a copy of Raven:

Download from ZLibrary • An online eBook library, free hosting for us.

Download from Apple Books • An Apple only eBook library. Again, free hosting, so quite useful for publishing. Great if you use a Mac, iPhone or iPad. Your place in the book you are reading is remembered on all of your devices.

Clawdd Offa / Offa's Dyke

Anne and I are looking forward to walking the trail from south to north over 2 weeks, sometime in 2022. As part of the prep I'm having some fun collating various resources and have some files here to download for anyone interested.

Download .GPX File This is a reasonably accurate track of the whole 284km of the Offa's Dyke Long Distance walk and I've added waypoints for all of the 12 Passport Stamping Locations as accurately as possible using Google Street View.

Download .epub This is an ePub description of the Passport System. An edit of a pdf provided by the Offa's Dyke Association. I've added a little bit of history about the lovely enamelled badges from the past.

Anglesey Coastal Path

Download an Anglesey Coastal Path Guide • 21mb An ePub made by me so you can read the text and maps as provided by Visit Anglesey on you phone while walking, no internet connection required.

Polaris Flash Meter

Download Polaris Flash Meter manual • 1.2mb The missing manual on how to use the Polaris Flash Meter. Hard to find on-line, they are no longer in production. So here is a copy for my fellow photographers. It's a PDF of scanned images, not an ePub. Hope you like it?

ePub and Audiobooks

My ePub books are responsive.

They work well on any device and screen size. You have a choice over things like the size of the text, the colour of the background paper, etc. The text re-flows to suit the size of your screen. You can click on images to see them full screen too. As well as many other handy things.

A lot better for reading than fixed layout .PDF files. PDFs can be a bit of a pain to read apart from on large desktop monitors, and who wants to read a long novel sat at a desk?

To open the ePub file you will need an eBook reader app for your device or devices. Most computers, phones and tablets these days have one built in. If not, just use a Google search to download a free one.

Audiobooks are standard .m4b sound files.

They are 'chapterised'. With the right player, you should be able to jump to any part of the book without haveing to scrub through the whole thing. A bit like a contents page in a paper book.

The ones here are DRM free as well.

If you're familiar with audiobooks on your Mac, PC or android phone they should open with a double-click on the .m4b file in your download folder.

If you're not familiar with .m4b then you may have some minor issues.

On a desktop Mac, as always, it will open straight-away in the Books app.

On Windows the standard Media Player can play .m4b files, but your computer might need a helping hand. Try a Google search for up-to-date information. Something like:

Play .m4b audiobook files on windows computer

Here's a handy article from 2017

The only awkward so-and-so's (at this moment in time) are iPhones and iPads. They won't do anything directly with an .m4b file 😬.

Rather than explain here what to do to play the book on an iPhone or iPad, try a similar Google Search as above.

Play .m4b audiobook files on iOS

Sometimes audiobooks working fine on your desktop Mac may mysteriously appear on your iPhone, if you've performed some iCloud magic.

PS … with some testing I found some, but not all browsers were changing the file extension, check yours is .m4b

If you have any issues please let me know, you'll find a conctact link at the bottom of every page on this website.

Keith Robertson • Panoramic Photographer

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