In the lead up to my impending move (next Friday!) we decided to grab abit of R & R to round off the summer.
We started off for Cumbria, heading for Ambleside near Lake Windermere, where we found the prettiest little hidey holes and scenery this side of the border. Sheep everywhere, grazing in little dry-walled mountain valleys; low mist one minute, clear blue skies the next. Lots of twisty turns through gorgeous towns and villages, with old stone cottages dotted about the lanes.
The lake itself is huge and alive, with people and animals all making the most of it. We drove all around it...nice.
Ambleside itself is a small but busy town, where we ate some delicious, simple food in a place called The Priest's Hole, which served the most gorgeous bread. So lovely was this offering, that I was compelled to ask what kind of bread it was, and the answer was Treacle bread. Shit, shock, horror! That wasn't the answer I'd expected!
They give you a little recipe card for it with your after dinner sweetie, so I shall be inflicting my version of it on the troops at home, soon. I hope I can do it justice, because it really does deserve it's world famous status. The service was absolutely fantastic and the wine just that bit too moreish!
The second night, we ate the most expensive yet mediocre Chinese food ever experienced by this humble gob. I can say no more than that about it. Suffice to say, they won't be included in 'Katey's Guide to Some Good Eatin' in Ambleside'!! No siree.
We drove down to a stretch of Morecombe Bay, overlooking it from a place called Barrow in Furness, and I have to say, it is an eerie, misleading, beautiful phenomenon and I'd urge anyone to have a look from that side of it.
All in all, I'd recommend it as a great way to spend some very peaceful time with someone you enjoy, or indeed the whole family. The Cumbrian people themselves were really friendly and welcoming (we stayed in a pub called the Churchill Hotel) which really added to the overall appeal of one of the nicest parts of this country that I've now visited.
So after this rather pleasant little jolly around a fair chunk of the area, we headed for the Highlands of bonny Scotland, with our end destination being a marvellous hotel and seafood restaurant called The Pierhouse, down on the shores of Loch Linnhe, in Port Appin.
It was a breathtaking journey, taking in the gigantic body that is Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park, Rannoch Moor, and the Glen Coe range, amongst other glories.
While the Lakes are as pretty as a picture, the Highlands and the Lochs are tear-jerking. Seriously wild looking, with waterfalls and kestrels and ancient scars all over the heather filled landscape.
We went up Ben Nevis on one of our missions, in the cable car, which did my cast iron constitution no favours at all! We watched some crazy young turks fling themselves down it on mountain bikes. Respect! It is something I'd give a go to, but I think I'd look a bit of a tit on my ladies pink £50 pretend machine. It has a saddle that sorts the wheat from the chaff, and not in a good way. My wheat and my chaff have taken a hammering on the flattest of tarmac......anyway that's probably not something anyone needs to imagine and as ever, I digress.
There is a lovely sweeping view from the cafeteria that is located almost at the summit of Wee Ben, and to my total amazement, there was a Polish girl serving me!!! They get everywhere those determined folks! I thought it rude to enquire how the hell she'd landed such a job......
Imagine the ad:
'Conscientious person wanted to run tea room in Scotland, UK. Must know what a panini is and have a head for heights. Must be prepared to scale the regions highest mountain each morning'
Quite bizarre. And still the blessed girl was cheery and smiling.
In our hotel restaurant we were treated to the most delicious salmon (both smoked and fillet) that has ever passed my grateful lips, and I had lobster for the first time. I do not intend for it to be the last. Let it be known.
I also had a big fat share of lovely oysters, langoustines, mussels, and to my disgust, herring. Another first, although I guarantee, a last. Too grey and 'not quite dead yet' looking, like the greasy palour of a man about to have a heart attack. This, married with the flavour of really quite fishy pickled fish. No thanks, if it's all the same.
Marvellous poached eggs, or scrambled with smoked salmon or kippers, or a lovely traditional Scottish breakfast to start the day, made the whole eating part of this adventure just divine.
The location (and I would suggest you make it your business to go there) will speak for itself.
And so, we have returned to the official go-ahead with the move and things are more busy than I could have imagined.
It's great to have a big fat clear out, and a car boot sale is not out of the question. This time next week I expect I'll have fobbed my tat onto some unsuspecting buyer......
Apologies in advance if I am absent from your blogs, my cherished virtual buddies, but hopefully I can get all my work cracked out and then I'll get a chance to visit.
And on that note, I apologise for my self-absorption, but cannot stop the flow at this point in my existence.
Just when you thought you were in it for the duration, life goes and gets all interesting........
