Our Holiday In Inverness VII

Days 7 & 8: Friday 9 and Saturday 10 October 2009

We had planned to go to Aberdeen for the day, but instead decided to visit lots of towns and villages near to the sea, with the idea of viewing houses for sale and seeing what the areas were like.


Our mammoth drive included:- Charlestown, Redcastle, Avoch, Alness, Dornoch (that's Henry on the beach again!), Clashmore, Tain, Rosemarkie, Cromarty, Balblair and Resolis. Although we are not really that serious about moving, it's nice to imagine what it would be like to live somewhere different - especially somewhere right next to the sea... We gave each place a star if we liked it and a 'black spot' if we didn't. One day we will go all the way round the British coast line and finally find our ideal house.


One place we stopped at to walk Henry was the Clootie Well walk. The cloot is a piece of cloth that is tied to a tree near the Well as you make a wish. As the fabric slowly rots away, your wish comes to an end. We were told the story by a man walking his terrier around the woods. He had lived in the area all of his life and had made his own wishes, but was a bit annoyed that people had started to use pieces of plastic to 'cheat' the spell. I see from a website that the well was initially for pilgrims wishing to cure someone of illness. A piece of their clothing was tied there, and as the fabric rotted the illness disappeared. There must have been some semi-naked people going about as there were trousers, under pants, socks and all sorts of clothing tied up around the Well!

Good coffee and cakes were later imbibed at the Sunflowers Cafe in Tain - a nice, small town, where I found some lovely buttons in a second hand shop.

Much later that night we went to Nairn, to the Dragon Pearl Chinese Restaurant.
JKW: vegetable wan tans, with chili dipping sauce (shared), stir fried vegetables in Kung Po sauce with egg fried rice (shared), pineapple fritters with ice cream, lager.
RJW: vegetable pancakes, vegetable chow mein, coke.
Cost: £32.00
Efficient staff and a relaxed atmosphere; several families with very young children were made welcome while we were there. The starters were the usual, unremarkable, deep-fried fare. The main courses were tasty, and included a good variety of vegetables, bean sprouts, mushrooms, cashew nuts etc. The fritters were hot, crisp, dripping with golden syrup and delicious. Recommended (if you're not on a diet).

Saturday came round all too quickly and we started off on the drive home. We stopped for lunch at one of our favourite towns in Perthshire: Dunkeld. It is very picturesque, with imposing buildings, the River Tay storming its way under the town's bridge and providing an attractive backdrop to the shops, cafes, delicatessen (Food For Thought - well worth a visit), a great hardware and kitchen shop, hotels and antique shops. The photo below was taken in March 2009.


We brushed shoulders with the rich and famous as we ate lunch in a cafe - Elaine C Smith of Rab C Nesbitt fame was also there!

Our Holiday to Inverness III

Day 3: Monday 5 October 2009

Nairn was our first stopping point today. First, a run for Henry on the gorgeous sandy beach; then into the town centre for a coffee and cake, and a few purchases in the book shop and deli, before a picnic in the park under a miraculously blue and sunny sky.


Next stop was Findhorn, a 'new agey'/hippy sort of community with lots of weird and wonderful eco housing, a cafe, artists' studios, a really good food shop that also sold ethically produced clothing and gifts - interesting! The beautiful unicorn mosaic was upstairs in the cafe.


We drove all along the coastal route to Banff, stopping at an old fishing village called Cullen. This is the home of the soup known as 'Cullen Skink'. Cullen is very picturesque, with lots of small fishermens' houses packed together close by the sea; a harbour; disused viaduct; and nice shops.

12 years ago, we visited a brilliant indian restaurant in Forres. We decided to try and find the restaurant and see if it was still as good.

Dinner: Cardamon Spice Restaurant, Forres
JKW: Poppadom and pickles; onion bahjis; garlic chilli vegetable curry; boiled rice; 2 Cobra lagers.
RJW: Poppadom and pickles; vegetable samosas; vegetable balti curry; boiled rice; colcha nan bread (shared); coke.
Cost: £34.75
The restaurant was comfortable, the staff were friendly and the service swift. The poppadoms, pickles, starters and nan bread were excellent: the main curries were rather disappointing, though. Although the sauces were well spiced, they contained very few vegetables at all - mainly chopped cabbage. Seeing as there were aubergines, okra, mushrooms, cauliflower, potatoes and other vegetables offered in side dishes, I think that the chef could have spared a few for the main vegetable meals!
Recommended?: Yes, but order a few side dishes instead of a main curry to widen the appeal.

Our Holiday In Inverness II

Day 2: Sunday 4 October 2009

We drove up the East coast to Dornock, and stopped for a beach walk with Henry, and a wander round the centre. (Yes, you do have to drive across that spindly little bridge!).


Dornock is a lovely town with nice shops, a deli, a bakery, a small supermarket, beautiful, mellow stone buildings, an old jail (now a shop) and a magnificent hotel with a castellated tower.

On the road up to Wick, the weather changed from sunshine to a dark, slate grey sky with the sun slanting beneath. The white walls of the few houses to be seen were dazzling, with their dark roofs covered in yellow lichen.

At Wick the rain finally came down and we dashed into a cafe for a coffee, before giving Henry a damp walk around the harbour area.

We had dinner that evening at a pub called The Snow Goose back on the outskirts of Inverness. It had been recommended by people in the 'Comments' book at the holiday cottage, but it was packed by marathon runners (there had been a couple of races in Inverness that day) and was right next to a busy hotel.

Dinner: The Snow Goose, Inverness
JKW: Spinach and mushroom lasagna, garlic bread; rhubarb and vanilla cheesecake; half pint of lager; mineral water.
RJW: Asparagus and sweet potato salad; sticky toffee pudding; half pint of cider.
Cost: £26.20
The staff were efficient and friendly, but the food was pretty poor. Rob had wanted the 'Goats' Cheese Wellington' but it had sold out. The salad had no protein in it to speak of, and consisted of a few roasted veg on top of mainly salad leaves. The lasagna was made up of garlic mushrooms (probably those also served as a starter) with spinach and bechamel sauce. Why is it that the vegetarian options always come with a measly bit of salad garnish or a limp piece of garlic bread instead of the vegetables and potatoes or chips that everyone else is served?! My pudding was the highlight of the meal: a base of ginger biscuit crumbs with a creamy, cheesy cake served with a vanilla cream and rhubarb compote.
Recommended?: Not for vegetarians - pleasant, well-trained staff; but limited, unsatisfactory choices for vegetarians; can be busy with queues out of the door.

Visit to Lindisfarne, The Holy Isle

When we go on a trip somewhere, we usually avoid the visitors’ centres and tend to wander around the towns, villages and countryside, enjoying the atmosphere, scenery, wildlife and buildings. Another highlight is, of course, the ‘eating out’.

Journey

Starting out from Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, we decided to take the shorter route across country, rather then heading for Newcastle and up the A1.


We stopped off in Hawick and enjoyed one of our favourite dog walks (with Henry) around the lovely park next to the river. The trees were beautiful at this time of year and the sun was shining.

Even Henry (normally a fractious and intolerant individual when it comes to other canines) managed to greet another dog without incident. Although the newcomer does look surprised by Henry’s rather inept social skills.

We arrived at the causeway to Lindisfarne and (having noted the tide times carefully) crossed by car.

Having reached Holy Isle, we couldn’t resist stopping almost immediately to walk along the margins of the fields and mud flats around the shore. There were some wading birds and gulls in evidence and I read that North Atlantic Grey Seals and Common Seals can sometimes be seen. A woman and two small boys were enjoying a picnic on the beach – hard to believe in November!

Henry got another walk during which we all managed at some point to fall down the deep and unexpected channels in the grassy margin.
We parked up in the visitors’ car park in Marygate (the village that you arrive in at the end of the causeway) and were gratified to be informed by another visitor that the ‘Pay and Display’ ticket machine was out of order: £2 saved!

Lunch

As Rob (my husband) and I are both vegetarians, this can often be a slightly depressing affair. Our lunch on Lindisfarne at The Ship Inn provided the not unusual choice of pasta, vegetable curry and mushroom stroganoff. A portion of the plate was taken up with ‘salad garnish’ of lettuce, tomato and cucumber. I had the mushroom stroganoff, which was quite tasty, consisting of button mushrooms in a creamy, well-flavoured sauce, served with pilau rice and dusted liberally with paprika. Rob had the Thai vegetable curry and rice, served with the extraneous salad garnish, but also a poppadom and small pots of mango chutney and raita. The extras were a nice touch, but let down by the insipid curry. Although the service was efficient, neither of us enjoyed the experience. Only the main bar area was open at this time of year; the proper dining area being curtained off. The small round tables provided, had stools rather than chairs, and, in the busy bar area, we felt uncomfortable and unable to relax. We didn’t stay for dessert. Our two main courses with one coke and half a pint of cider cost around £19.

Afternoon Tea

There are a number of shops including gift and craft shops, two pubs, several cafés, and plenty of self-catering and B&B accommodation on the Island. There was also a centre offering mead tastings and (no doubt) mead buyings, but we didn’t indulge. After just a few minutes wandering around the pretty village,

we spotted Café Bean Goose and it looked so nice that we couldn’t resist going in for a cake and hot chocolate. We sat at a lone table in the same room as the ‘cake table’.

I noticed that the proprietor had sensibly added a convex mirror at the entrance to the room so that no unauthorised cake gobbling could take place. The cakes were delicious and were surely home made. I had a beautifully light chocolate sponge cake with chocolate butter icing; Rob opted for the mincemeat tart decorated with splodges of thick, white icing. The two waitresses were friendly, and although obviously busy, spared the time to chat. We sorely wished that we had come across this place before jumping into the first pub that came in sight. The lunch menu included the intriguing ‘mock crab’, which, if memory serves, was a cheese and tomato tart made with a local cheese. We left feeling relaxed and contented.

Priory, Harbour and Castle

On the edge of Marygate is Lindisfarne Priory, the ruins of a Benedictine Priory built in the late 11th century.

We headed down to the harbour with its picturesque upturned boats, recycled into fishermen’s huts,

and distant views of the castle on its volcanic mound.

We had thought about stopping off at IKEA in Gateshead on the way home, but couldn’t face the thought of the traffic after visiting such a beautiful, quiet island, and instead headed back across country and arrived home just as the sun was setting.

If you want to find out more about Lindisfarne, the following link is recommended:- http://www.lindisfarne.org.uk