Category Archives: Ordinary

did not collect any awards

Ordinary, Scones, self-service

Dynamic Earth

9 Comments

The title picture is of Dynamic Earth in Edinburgh with the Salisbury Crags and Arthur’s Seat in the background. Obviously you want to know the age of Arthur’s Seat, everyone does, don’t they? It’s a 346 million year old extinct volcano, give or take a couple of million. Back then, fire and lava would have been spewing everywhere!  But,of course, that all happened when Scotland was much closer to the equator than it is today … obviously!  Another old Celtic explanation is that a huge dragon used to terrorise the city until one day it ate too much,  lay down to sleep and turned into the Arthur’s Seat.  Today, looking up at the craggy hill, for some reason the dragon explanation seems much more believable.External view of Dynamic Earth

Awkward questions

The only reason we are able to furnish you with these little nuggets is because we’re here with a couple of granddaughters at the Dynamic Earth Science Centre and Planetarium. It tells the epic story of how planet earth began. The girls are always asking awkward questions so this seemed like the place to get some answers.Internal view of Dynamic Earth

You know how they say that the best place to start is at the beginning. Well. here you can enter a Time Machine which takes you all the way back to the Big Bang. The visual and sound effects are amazing. At one point you have to hang on to railings as the ground violently shifts and rumbles beneath your feet and volcanoes explode all around. Luckily, rather than millions of years, it only takes about 90 minutes to walk all the interactive experiences from the Big Bang back to the present day. However, you do emerge from the Time Machine with more than a touch of information overload.Lola and Ebba holding up the world

Facts and figures

Our 9 and 11 year old girls are fascinated by tectonic plates and how mountains and valleys are formed so this was ideal for them. Did you know that continents move 2cm every year? Did you know that 200,000 people are born ever day or that 2 people die every second? Well, if you didn’t, you do now!

These days, for Pat and I, information overload kicks in pretty early. What a relief then to find A cheese scone at Dynamic Earththat there was no thinking  or decisions required at the cafe. Cheese scones, take them or leave them!  We took them along with a bowl of lentil soup. The girls had a kiddies goodie bag which they emptied in double quick time.. The soup/cheese scone combo was surprisingly good and much easier digested than some of the rather mind boggling facts and figures. It was never going to be a topscone but enjoyable nevertheless.Internal view of Dynamic Earth

Differentiation

Our 11 year old is fascinated by Time Machines. When we suggested that she just wanted to go back to the beginning of time, we were emphatically corrected. “No. I just want to go back 70,000 years!” Okay, why just 70,000 years?. “Because that’s when human’s cognitive abilities developed so that they could differentiate themselves from other animals“. she explained in her serious voice. A slow “okaaay” was our only response. These girls are a constant source of surprise and joy.

Cognitive development
Lola holding up the world
Maybe she can save the world?

However, given that we have presumably been developing our cognitive skills over 70,000 years it makes the slanging match that characterises the American Presidential elections somewhat puzzling. You’d think, after all that time, that selecting the most powerful person on earth would be a tad more sophisticated.

But we should know by now that people are fickle. Australians, for example. Recently Lidia Thorpe protested during King Charles’s visit to Australia with “You are not my King“. Charlie’s official title is “King Charles the Third, by the Grace of God King of Australia and His other Realms and Territories, Head of the Commonwealth”. The question is why do people, particularly straight thinking Australians, put up with this sort of nonsense? Even the King himself, a thoroughly decent chap, looked embarrassed being reminded of Britain’s genocidal land grabbing tendencies. Privately, we suspect he would have been on Lidia’s side.

Now they are discussing dropping the word “Empire” from the King’s honours list. Could this be yet another attempt to sanitise Britain’s history. Perish the thought!

External view of Dynamic Earth
Starting to get dark as we left Dynamic Earth
Fungi?

The only slight disappointment to our day was the  Planetarium visit. We had always assumed that Planetariums only did things about planets.  On this occasion it was all about fungi! Interesting enough but not what we had expected. In terms of learning, we did learn not to make assumptions! An very enjoyable day of time travel for everyone concerned.

EH8 8AS         tel: 0131 550 7800             Dynamic Earth

///clots.lived.margin

Ordinary, Scones

Cronies

2 Comments

There are questions and answers in this post. For example … is vandalism still vandalism if it takes the form of a poem. Or, could it then take on some other cultural significance such as  ‘art’.  What if the poem itself is seen by some to be offensive or in poor taste? Okay, okay, there may be more questions than answers in this post from Cronies bar at the Golden Lion Hotel in Stirling.

Reception area at the Golden Lon Hotel
Reception at the Golden Lion

And, while we’re asking questions, do you know the collective noun for a group of cronies. We don’t either but some think it might be “The House of Lords”.

Internal view of the Golden Lon Hotel
Cronies Bar
Inscriptions

The ‘vandal’ in question, of course, is Robert Burns, Scotland’s national bard.  How could someone who wrote a celebration of friendship and memories with friends in “Auld Lang Syne” be a vandal? Not that difficult as it happens! 1786 turned out to be an eventful year for the ploughman poet.Logo of the Golden Lon Hotel Earlier in the year, the Earl of Glencairn had gifted him a diamond pointed pen. The intention probably was that he might inscribe some suitable ditty on one of his drinking glasses during dinner. Burns may well have done that but later he used his present to inscribe poems on windows all over Scotland. He even inscribed a window at the Cross Keys Inn, just a few hundred yards from our home in Falkirk. On this occasion, however, he was visiting Stirling Castle and staying at the newly opened Golden Lion.Commemorative plaque in Cronnies bar

Power

The poem in question had no name but has since become known simply as “The Stirling Lines“. In it he displayed Jacobite leanings and his dislike of Hanoverian Royalty and George III in particular. Such was the furore that followed he was forced to return a few months later and smash the offending window to avoid prosecution. So to some, the Stirling Lines poem was ‘art’ but, obviously, to George III ( generally thought to be deranged) and his cronies it was just “libellous vandalism”. And they had the power to make things extremely difficult for the poet.

Painting of Burns with his cronies
Burns with some of his cronies at the Golden Lion

We wonder if the hotel made Burns pay for a replacement window because it has been dining out on the poem ever since. The words are inscribed all over the place.  And we are here dining out on scones in Cronies Bar as well. It’s a comfortable atmospheric space – you could almost imagine Burns and his cronies at the next table in lively discussion over the problems of the day.

A scone at the Golden Lon HotelThe staff were very friendly and soon had us equipped with some fruit scones, nicely presented with little jars of jam and cream as well as a couple of delicious Puro coffees. Both scones were lovely and warm and mine was perfect. However, we thought the jam and cream portions were a bit on the meagre side and Pat felt that a bit of her scone was slightly undercooked. What are we like? Moan, moan, moan! No topscone but pretty close.

Wood carving commemorating wee courin' timorous beastie poem
A large wood carving depicting the ploughman poet and his “Timorous Beastie” poem
Mad

So even back in the 18th century things could be a bit mad politically.  Today we have the UK government sending £millions in Humanitarian Aid to a destroyed Gaza to alleviate the disaster they helped create. We are tempted to agree with George Bernard Shaw when he said “the older I get, the more convinced I am that this planet is being used by other planets as a lunatic asylum.” Burns would have probably have agreed!

FK8 1BD          tel: 01786 475351            Cronies Bar

///charge.wires.trial

ps In our last post from Macmillan Coffee Morning we said we would update you on the final amount raised.. It was £4,810.05 … fantastic! Many many thanks to everyone for their amazing generosity and helping make it such a happy enjoyable event.

english, Ordinary, Scones

Gail’s Artisan Bakery

3 Comments

If you have ambitions to live in London we would heartily recommend Barnes village on the banks of the Thames. We are visiting family here. With its delis, bookshops, small boutiques and fine restaurants it doesn’t feel as if it’s only a couple of miles away from the Houses of Parliament. It just has that pretty little village vibe. Of course, that’s until you look in the estate agent’s window and realise that unless you’re willing to part with a couple of million pounds you’re not going to get much by way of a house. Gail’s Artisan Bakery is a typical up market café for the area.

Working from home?

Incredibly, the last time we reviewed Gail’s was more than nine years ago. It hasn’t changed that much but we felt it had a slightly different less welcoming feel about it this time. Baking at Gail's in BarnesStill the same range of delicious looking breads and other bakery and still the same assortment of baby buggies cluttering up the place. Of course, there were also lots of people “working from home“. It must be frustrating for cafés like this to have all these laptop folk sitting for hours with a single cup of coffee.Internal view of Gail's in Barnes

Not that we were much better. It wasn’t long after breakfast so two americanos and a fruit scone to share was the order.A scone at Gail's in Barnes When it arrived at our table we were slightly perplexed to find that the scone was on its own. No butter, no jam and no cream. Did they expect us to eat the scone ‘neat’? Pat had to go and ask and came back with nice little pots of butter and jam … no cream. Maybe with this being an ‘artisan’ bakery our hopes were unreasonably high but suffice to say our scone certainly did not live up to expectations. It was decidedly average and neither of us even finished our halves. Scones at Gail's in Barnes

It wasn’t until we were leaving we noticed that they had other offerings. Sour Cherry & Chocolate as well as Maple & Pecan scones. We should have tried them!

Reward notice for stealing a lambThis is a Range Rover/Porsche kind of area where lots of celebrities live. We came across this notice which seems to indicate that it may always have been relatively affluent. Quite a generous reward for this sort of misdemeanour. Not sure what would have happened to the felon if caught. Probably hanging or even worse … transportation to Australia. That last bit is just for our Australian readers.

A tiny ray of hope

One of our Israeli readers has informed us that people are leaving the country rather than stay and watch the stupidity of the atrocities being carried out in their name. Presumably they’ve worked out how utterly pointless it all is.

Talking of felonious actions, at home we have the Conservatives outraged at members of the new government receiving gifts of clothing. Pot, kettle, black comes to mind! On the other side of the pond Trump has gone ever more extreme with his accusations. It’s a mad old world.

SW13 9HH            Tel: 020 8741 0987          Gail’s

///honest,quiet.oasis

Ordinary, Scones, self-service

John Lewis

3 Comments

As department stores go John Lewis is just a little bit different. It began back in 1864 with a small drapery shop in London’s Oxford Street and has prospered ever since. Okay, but what makes it different? Its full name is the John Lewis Partnership because all of its 74,000 staff are partners in the company and share in its success. Part of their mission statement states “Driven by our ambition to make the world a happier place by leading with kindness and delivering integrity“. The cynic might say “Well they would say that, wouldn’t they“

Well we were a bit cynical as well but then we experienced it first hand. We’ve given up looking for hydrangeas and now we are on the hunt for an armchair. John Lewis has a huge furniture department hence we’re here at their Glasgow store.Entrance to the cafe at John Lewis department store in Glasgow

A slip of paper

However, In spite of an amazing range we couldn’t quite find what we were looking for. One of the staff tried very hard to help us but eventually he apologised and gave up. Asking if there was anything else he could help us with, we asked “the war in Ukraine?” He just smiled and took himself off. A bit later on, however, he caught up with us again and handed us a slip of paper. He felt bad that we hadn’t found a chair so this little piece of paper entitled us to free coffee and cakes in their cafe. How kind was that? For us, the world was indeed a happier place.Internal view of cafe at John Lewis department store in Glasgow

Baristas?

Suffice to say, this little piece of paper forced us to find their cafe and eat scones and drink coffee. Otherwise it would never have crossed our minds … honest! Previously we have reported on The Cafe by Benugo which is an independently run restaurant on the third floor. This time we were in their own self service cafe ‘The Place To Eat‘ on the first floor. Like the store the cafe is huge. There was a bit of a log jam around all three coffee serveries (it takes a long time to make a coffee these days) but eventually we had what we wanted and were able to find a table by a window.

View down Sauchiehall Street from our table
View from our table up Sauchiehall Street on a rainy day

They have a large sign saying “Please leave everything on your table, we will clear it up“. And they did! There must have been about sixty or seventy tables but as soon as anyone left, the table was cleared and cleaned. a scone at John Lewis department store in GlasgowIt was diffucult to choose between looking out the window at everything going on outside or just watch all the comings and goings in the cafe. Dilemas, dilemas! It was all really good. Nice little pots of clotted cream and jam and the scone iteself was wonderfully textured with just the right amount of crunch. A topscone had it not been for the self-service nature of the place.Internal view of cafe at John Lewis department store in Glasgow

A happy place?

We were impressed, this place does do it’s best to make the world a happier place. Of course, there’s only so much they can do. Our young chap didn’t have any answers for Ukraine but then, no-one else does either. It’s impossible to see how either side can win. And now, with long range missiles in the mix, it seems to be in danger of escalating in to goodness knows what. In the Middle East, with the might of the US behind them, Israel cannot help but win the war … but they will never know peace. No winners, only unhappy losers. With their expertise in kindness and making things ‘happy’ perhaps a John Lewis management team  could provide a few pointers?

G1 2GF        tel: 0141 353 6677          John Lewis Partnership

///upper.clips.tides

Ordinary, Scones

The Glen Café

3 Comments

In our previous post from Simply Sarah’s in Doune we mentioned that the village was famous for making pistols. The sort of weapon used by gentlemen who felt their reputation had been besmirched. Besmirching was usually done by gentlemen to one another and dueling was seen as an honourable way of resolving such situations. Common people couldn’t duel; a) they couldn’t afford a decent pistol and b) it would be unseemly for a gentleman to be shot dead by someone of lower social standing … perish the thought!Logo of the Glen Café

Quick draw

Today we are at the Glen Café in the little hamlet of Clachan of Campsie. Just a few yards from the cafe stand two ancient Spanish chestnuts, “the duelling trees”. They mark the site of a duel between a Tory and a Liberal politician in the 1600s. The Liberal chap, Malcolm Kincaid, lost the duel … and his life. The victor may have retired here (it used to be an Inn) for refreshment and to enjoy the congratulations of his admirers. When you think of the endless inconsequential arguments between politicians these days, dueling seems to take on some merit. Can you imagine the quick draw contests between our current world leaders? The problem is that self evidently all that duelling in the past didn’t actually solve anything. They’re all still arguing. A poster at the Glen Café

Do we need a dog?

This morning the weatherman said “go west if you want sunshine” so we did. Falkirk was decidedly cloudy when we left but by the time we got here we were bathed in glorious sunshine. Well done that weatherman! The café is quite big and virtually joined on to the historic St Machan’s graveyard. It’s a favourite place for people to access the paths onto the Campsie Fells and perhaps unsurprisingly is very dog friendly. In fact there were so many, at first we thought it might be a prerequisite to have a dog but luckily, it wasn’t.

Internal view of the Glen Café

It was still early so we decided on a light breakfast followed by a scone to share. Our coffees arrived first and we were delighted to find that they used our favourite coffee … Henry’s, fantastic! A scone at the Glen CaféThis is the way to start the day! Helpfully the staff had said that they would hold our scone until we had finished our breakfast. Then, when we were ready, they asked if we would like the scone warmed. Why not? No cream but they came with plenty butter and jam. Unfortunately none of it was locally produced, not even from Scotland. A bit of a black mark there. On the plus side the scone itself were really nice.

Who was St Machan?

We really enjoyed this place with its friendly service and beautiful location. We decided to visit St Machan’s graveyard next door and asked one the ladies behind the counter who he was. “Who?” was the puzzled answer. We would have to find out for ourselves.

St Machan's graveyard
St Machan’s graveyard with the remains of the chapel to the left and the Lennox Mausoleaum in  the distant right

Turns out not much is known about him. Firstly he was a Scottish 6th century bishop, educated in Ireland, ordained in Rome and spent the rest of his life as a missionary here in Campsie Glen. Secondly, how did he do all that back then without Easyjet or Ryanair? The chapel in the graveyard was built over his grave. 

Luxury mausoleums

The Lennox mausoleum was built in 1715 by the powerful family who lived at nearby Lennox Castle.

Lennox mausoleum
The Lennox mausoleum

In 1819 Miss Lennox had it restored and added another storey with a fireplace. She used it as a “sitting room” to receive guests between services. She, in turn, was buried here in 1832 and in 1884 it was sealed up permanently using ancient Kincaid tombstones from the graveyard. And we thought one of them might have belonged to our old duelling loser, Malcolm, but apparently not.  It is fascinating to read the inscriptions on some of these graves. They shed light on what life was like centuries ago. However, some were unashamedly looking for an easy passage into heaven. Quite blatantly bragging  about how saintly they had been during their time in Campsie Glen.

Other mysteries

Sadly, besmirching seems be a thing of the past. Perhaps there aren’t enough honourable gentlemen around these days? Vulgar insults and “see you in court” seems to have replaced it.

This was a beautiful day. We returned home via the Carron Valley, which supplies all the water to Falkirk. Seldom do we think, when turning on the tap or taking a bath, that this is where it all comes from.  How does that work? It’s almost as mysterious as St Machan’s travels all those centuries ago.Carron reservoir

G66 7AB         tel: 01360 238258            The Glen Café FB

///year.earmarked.piglet

Ordinary, Scones

Simply Sarah’s

7 Comments

Today we are in Doune at Simply Sarah’s tiny café. Usually when we are here we go to the Buttercup Café on the other side of the road. HydrangeaHowever, we didn’t come to Doune intent on visiting Simply Sarah’s, no no no, we came in search of a hydrangea. We need one to match another we already have in the garden. Pat suggested that we look for one here because there’s a teeny wee place that sells plants behind the Buttercup café. Coincidentally there just happens to be two of her favourite clothes shops here as well. The fact that we had to drive past several mega garden centres to get here didn’t make me in the least suspicious!?Main Street in Doune

Trevor Davis

Although you might not think so this little village is famous for making guns, pistols to be exact. The demise of highway robbery and gentlemen throwing down the gauntlet,  of course, led to a drastic drop in demand. Now the village is just a nice place to live … and it has a couple of nice clothes shops. Wall plaque in DouneDoune Castle is a big attraction but in spite of the fact that many famous people have stayed there you would never know. They don’t do blue plaques here. That’s not to say that they don’t do any plaques. This one just outside Sarah’s is to Trevor Davis. A local hero and fount of all knowledge by the sounds of it! 

Anyway, surprise surprise, there weren’t any hydrangeas for sale at the little plant stall. Did I mention that two of Pat’s favourite clothes shops are here? There was nothing else for it but to visit one of them, Doune Chic.  They didn’t have any hydrangeas either but the did have lots of clothes. Suffice to say they don’t have as many as they had before we arrived. It was when we were on our way to second clothes shop (to see if they had any hydrangeas) that we visited Simply Sarah’s.Internal view of Simply Sarah's in Doune

It’s very small, only two tables. Everything is home made by Sarah so we were keen to try their scones. A scone at Simply Sarah's in DouneNo cream but we were asked if we would like butter and jam with the scone. However, we hadn’t expected them to preload them … argh! As you know, we like to do that ourselves. There was certainly no skimping on the jam. It would have to be a fork and knife job to avoid very sticky fingers. The scone was delicious and in other circumstances could have been a topscone.

This is a great wee place and very busy. Lots of chat so, in the absence of Trevor Davis, probably the place to find out what’s happening in the village. We left to go to the clothes shop next door, Woodlane of Doune. No hydrangeas but lots of other stuff.

It’s interesting to speculate on what pearls of wisdom Trevor would be dispensing these days while helping folks cross the road. We suspect that he would be so disgusted with the state of the world that he might mutter nothing more than “look left, look right”. Trevor would have known where to get a hydrangea. We miss you Trevor!

FK16 6BY       tel:  01786 842304          Simply Sarah’s

///desktop.ironic.shadows

Ordinary, Scones

Coffista

5 Comments

Today is a day of firsts. Certainly the first time we have been in this place, Coffista in the Fife seaside town of Leven.  We got here by travelling on the brand spam=nking new,  Levenmouth railway. Closed in 1969 but reopened just two months ago. It was a miserable wet day so what else would we do but take a train trip? And if we made it to Leven by train that would be another first. Logo of Coffista in Leven

Good advice

Actually the day started with yet another first. It happened when  the two of us went to our local station and asked for  return tickets to Leven. The girl said a Falkirk/Leven return ticket would be a few pence short of £40. However, she said she could give us Falkirk/Edinburgh tickets then separate Edinburgh/Leven tickets for a total of £33.  We don’t understand either but it was the first time we had been offered this sort of advice … great! You end up with a bundle of tickets but a saving of £7 could pay for our scones.Leven carved in stone

And here’s another first. Although  the Forth Rail Bridge has been there all our lives, we had never actually been over it. Sailed under it, flown over it  but never over it on a train. The Edinburgh/Leven part of our journey would sort that.

Regal Princess at the Forth Bridge
As we rumbled over the Forth Rail Bridge the Regal Princess cruise liner was on its way from Orkney to Le Havre. The other two Forth road bridges are reflected in the window

It has to be said that this new Levenmouth railway only adds a further two stations after Kirkaldy –  Cameron Bridge and Leven itself. Not much you might think but it’s almost unheard of for any new stations to be added to the network so we regard it as fairly momentous. Also momentous for this part of Fife which was regarded as a deprived area. People can now live in Leven and easily commute in and out of Edinburgh. Even after just two months of its existence, there  are new housing developments  being built as a result of the railway. 

Spirits

We should mention the village of Cameron Bridge,   home to the biggest disillery in Europe.  It makes  Archers, Pimms,, Gordon’s and Tanquery gin as well as Smirnoff vodka. It also helps make Johnnie Walker, J&B, Bell’s, Black & White, VAT69 and White Horse whiskies. It’s on an industrial scale. and looks more like an oil refinery than a traditional distillery.

Internal view of Coffista in Leven

Leven, a town once famous for weaving, is in the Parish of Scoonie, Might this be an omen for our scone at Coffista? Considering “scoonie” means in Pictish,  “place of the lump-like hill” perhaps not. The cafe has only been going for a few months and is run by a very enthusiastic lady who bakes everything in-house. She even makes all the  jams! It had been raining but as soon as we entered the heavens opened. It was biblical!  We were extremely lucky to have just stepped inside. A warm welcome and then promptly being asked if we would like cream and jam with our scones looked like the good Parish of Scoonie might actually deliver. By the time we took our seats however, we were informed that there wasn’t any cream. Would we like butter instead?

Entertaining

 it was entertaining just being here … there was lots of chat. One old chap, obviously a regular,  insisted on telling jokes to anyone prepared to listen. Slightly obscure jokes seemed to be a speciality but thankfully, at least  he found them funny. Another elderly group were debating the life of batteries and how they don’t last as long as they used to. Maybe batteries become more important as you get older?A scone at Coffista in Leven

The owner was very proud of her steam oven and insisted on telling us all about it. Fairly technical stuff so we didn’t understand much of what she said. However, the scones did taste a little bit like they had been baked in such a device. Perfectly acceptable  but maybe just a little bit “damp”?  The £7 we saved on our rail tickets didn’t quite cover everything but it wasn’t far off. An enjoyable visit for all sorts of reasons but eventually it was time to brave the elements again.

Shelter

Because of the weather we decided against going to the beach. We would just take the next train back home, however, we arrivaed at the station just in time to see it leave without us … aargh! . Expresso martini and a large black labelAn hour to wait for the next one so, considering the weather  we made a dash for the nearest pub. Turned out to be  one of these trendy steakhouse cocktail bars that specialises in BBQs. In spite of being just a few miles from the biggest distillery in Europe they only had only one British whisky and no British beers. Presumably it mustn’t be’ trendy’ to drink British? It was Expresso Martini for Pat and ‘the’ whisky for me. What is the world coming to?

Seashell decorated wall in Leven
A seashell decorated wall in Leven

In our recent post from the Orient Express we travelled on the Edinburgh tram system for the first time.  We’re getting good at these travel firsts. Just build a railway or a tram system and, if there’s a scone at the end of it, we’ll be there!

painting of a Highland cow
A picture in the pub
Bollards

What with Gaza, Ukraine, India, UK, Sudan, and the US  world politics is just too depressing  so here’s something a little different. Recently we had a visitor who announced he was going to Edinburgh to find “the bollard”. We had no idea what was talking about but he said he only knew about it through allaboutthe scones.com. Turned out it was the Edinburgh Press Club post to which he was referring.  The bollard in question marks the centre of the city from which everything is measured. As bollards go it might even be termed a topbollard? Extraordinary, some people are interested in things other than scones!

KY8 4FG         tel: 07415 759832          Coffista

///stencil.drawn.coaching

Ordinary, Scones

Café Sunart

2 Comments

Okay, somewhat belatedly, this is the final chapter of our little Ardnamurchan adventure. Reluctantly dragging ourselves away from Mingary Castle pampering, we are heading back to the Corran ferry that brought us to Ardnamurchan.  Although It’s part of the mainland it feels very like an island. The ferries probably have something to do with it. But the general isolation of the place makes it feel quite islandish.

Education

Anyway, just in case readers think that the educational aspect of this blog is solely dedicated to scones, let us purge any such dastardly thoughts with this little snippet from Café Sunart in the village of Strontian, population approximately 300.Chemical symbol for Strontium

The chemical element No 38 on the periodic table (a new species of earth) was discovered in a mine here in 1790. It was named after the village where it was found. Among other uses, strontium atoms are used in the world’s most accurate atomic clock; “accurate to one second in 200 million years“. Who is going to be around to check? Anyway, who says this blog isn’t educational?Internal view of Café Sunart

Dancing

However, rather than chemical elements, we prefer to think of the village hall. Many years ago it was the scene of one of the best ceilidhs we have ever had the pleasure of attending. Eightsome reels and Strip the Willows galore. We wouldn’t have anything like the required energy these days.

A scone a Café SunartAll very well, we hear you say, but what about the scones? Unfortunately, they were nothing to write home about. The service was friendly enough but the place had a slightly utilitarian ambience about it. Compared to the other scones on our trip this was the most forgettable. However, the village is very pretty and it was nice to be back again.

Shortly after leaving Strontian we were back at the Corran ferry and sadly leaving the Ardnamurchan peninsula on our way home. We have had an amazing time. The Corran ferry coming in to Ardgour

Water of life

In the Olympics in Paris, the triathlon may be demoted to a duathalon. The river Seine is too polluted for swimming. Surely a damming comment on the profligate way in which we live these days. At the Ardnamurchan distillery the water is so pure they can magic whisky out of it. Pat even bought me a bottle of the Ardnamurchan Midge as a reminder of our trip … yeah!

PH36 4HZ        tel: 01967 402277          Café Sunart

///bucks.imagined.currently

 

 

 

Ordinary, Scones, self-service

Ardnamurchan lighthouse

1 Comment

Someone said “Go west young man”  so that’s what we are doing today. Ignoring the “young” bit, we are heading as far west as it’s possible to go on the UK mainland. It is, of course, Ardnamurchan and the most westerly point there is at Ardnamurchan lighthouse. This is as close to America as it’s possible to get on the British mainland. So we feel obliged to interrupt this post with the news that Joe Biden has bowed to the inevitable and pulled out of the Presidential race.

Plonker

We have listened to the endless speculation about what happens next but, for us, the most noteworthy  thing about the whole situation is Trump’s comments about Biden. Only a complete plonker could be soooo ungracious. It’s beyond comprehension that a country like the US could only find Biden and Trump as Presidential candidates … unbelievable! It will be interesting to see what happens now, not that anyone cares much in Ardnamurchan.Map of Ardnamurchan

Not as interesting, however, as this post.  Today we are taking the ferry from Tobermory to Kilchoan. We joined the queue for the 9.30 and guess what, when it was our turn it was full. We couldn’t get on. The only consolation being that we were car no1 for the next one at 11 o’clock.

The ferry at Tobermory
First ferry was full of cars and the second one looked like it might fill up with foot passengers

After a walk around the town we returned only to find a horde of foot passengers.  The boat was so full of passengers it looked as if there might not be enough room for cars. And you think America has problems! It all got sorted, of course, and we were on our way at last. Turned out that all the cheery passengers were going to the annual Highland Games at Kilchoan.

Oil painting of Ardnamurchan lighthouse
A dramatic painting by G Scott Grier of the lighthouse

We disembarked and headed off across more miles of single track roads … the sheep seemed no less indignant. You go until you can go no further; you are at the end of the road and at the lighthouse. Perhaps unsurprisingly, it was very windy with gusts that stopped you in your tracks.

The fog horn at Ardnamurchan lighthouse
Pat at the fog horn, desperately clinging on to avoid being blown off to America.
Surprise

To our surprise there was a visitor centre which sold all sorts of memorabilia … and a cafe with scones!The cafe at Ardnamurchan lighthouse

Being in out of the wind was a huge relief although Pat seemed to actually enjoy the wind more than she should … she found it invigorating. The cafe at Ardnamurchan lighthouse

Manners

Nevertheless, cobweb free we ordered a scone from a chap who was cheerfully manning the centre single handedly. A scone at Ardnamurchan lighthouseThis used to be a stable block. Lovely stone walls and cobbled flooring. It also has an outside seating area however today our scone along with everything else would have disappeared immediately in the wind. Maybe our scone could have nlown over and hit Trump on the head and knocked some manners into him. Having said that our scone was lovely and light so that probably wouldn’t have worked. 

Our visit here was really enjoyable. The climb to the top of the lighthouse involves 152 steps and two ladders. We thought about it for at least a nanosecond, the scone was quite enough for us.

PH36 4LN        tel: 01972 510210       Ardnamurchan Lighthouse

///depths.perusing.gossip

ps: on our away to the lighthouse we came across one of these little honesty shops. Just leave the money for whatever you took. There was even a little bowl of money so that you could take your change … wonderful!An honesty shop on Ardnamurchan

 

Ordinary, Scones, self-service

Compton Acres

2 Comments

Compton Acres isn’t exactly local for us. Indeed, it’s about as far away as you can get in Poole in Dorset. We are visiting our family here on England’s south coast. Compton Acres is a 10 acre ornamental  garden with a restaurant/café. While the parents were working we decided to take ourselves and entertain our grandchildren there.

Personalised SatNav

It’s only a five minute drive from their house but our granddaughters, aged nine and eleven, insisted that we switch off the car’s SatNav because they knew where it was. They would act as our own personal GPS. They then proceeded to impersonate our GPS lady. The main problem was that there was two of them and they couldn’t agree. One would say “at the end of the street turn right” but the other would say “no, it’s left“. Suffice to say that after a couple of circuits of the town they eventually agreed to let us turn on the car’s GPS. As it happened we were actually almost there. If we had left them for another minute or so we might have had a triumphant chorus of “you have reached your destination” .Internal view of Compton Acres

Monsoon

Compton Acres is the sort of place that thrives on bus parties on day excursions. It was very busy. Nothing for it but to join the queue at the self service counter. A scone at Compton AcresIt didn’t take too long, however, and we were soon kitted out with a fruit scone to share and hot chocolate and brownies for the girls.  The scone was excellent and could easily have been a topscone if it hadn’t been self-service. It was so busy that we invited two elderly ladies who were having difficulty finding a table to sit with us. They were a delight and had great chat. Having already been round the gardens they warned us that it was very slippery underfoot in places. Unfortunately, by the time we have finished our scone the rain was torrential. We decided to leave our tour of the gardens until the weather was less monsoon like.External view of Compton Acres

News

In these days of wall to wall bad news one of the benefits of being away is that we hardly get any. Too busy with other things. We can, however, report that the Labour Party is now in government. People are waiting to see if they can make less of a mess of it than the Tories. Hard to see how they could be worse so fingers crossed! Of course, the news that Donald Trump had been shot also filtered through. America seems to be even more divided than the UK and that’s saying something. Hopefully some sort of common sense will prevail and the US, like the Donald’s ear will be able to heal itself.

Much greater than all of that, of course, is the fact that England’s footballers were beaten by Spain in the final of the Euros. The post mortem will go on and on and on. The last team to beat Spain was actually Scotland but we weren’t going to mention that … oops!

Lola at Compton Acres
Trying to take a picture of a cup and photobombed by one half of our GPS system

Making our way back to the house you will be delighted to know that our new personalised GPS system actually worked. It shows great promise if you can put up with the nonsense that goes with it.

BH13 7ES       tel: 01202 700778          Compton Acres

///loads.crunch.wishes