Category Archives: Ordinary

did not collect any awards

Ordinary, Scones, self-service

The Topiary Coffee Shop

7 Comments

We were on a mission and the mission was … compost! For reasons too complex to enter in to here, we needed compost … a lot of compost! Our supplier was to be here at the Klondyke Garden Centre on the outskirts of Falkirk. They are dealers and the deal was three bags for £12. We ended up getting fifteen 50litre bags … that’s a lot of compost. Don’t worry it’s not as bad as cocaine and it’s not even a regular habit … we are binge composters. Probably won’t touch it again for a year or so.

Principles

Having got our compost fix safely loaded into the car and feeling a bit giddy just at the thought of it all, we thought we should try a scone at the Topiary Coffee Shop. Perhaps it was the mind altering effects of all that compost but here’s another confession.Internal view of the Topiary Coffee Shop at Klondyke Garden Centre, Falkirk

You all know our thoughts on preloaded scones. They are the devil’s work and to be avoided at all costs. A scone at the Topiary Coffee Shop at Klondyke Garden Centre, FalkirkWell maybe not “at all costs”. Sadly, today at the Topiary Coffee Shop, we stood there and worked it out. To buy a fruit scone and then add butter and jam, all priced separately, was going to be more expensive than a preloaded one. Unbelievably we went for preloaded … arrgghh, what happened to principles? They were, of course, overcome by Scottishness! But we should have known that too much compost was bound to have an effect! Serves us right, the scone was awful … hard and tasteless. when we informed the staff that their scones were not great they informed us they had been baked in the morning. They did not say which morning however. The coffee was good though.

The art of shaping

Topiary, of course, is the art of shaping something natural into an unnatural form e.g. hedges into swans … that sort of thing. Topiary came to mind as we watched the two Tory leadership contenders bumble their way through their hustings in Scotland. Both looked as if they would rather be anywhere else than north of the border. Neither looked like  they could be shaped into anything useful. Boris Johnston’s assertion that Scotland’s block grant, was a gift from England, didn’t help. Jeremy Hunt’s wild eyed assertion that the problem with the Scottish Parliament was that it was full of nationalist MPs, didn’t help either.

A lot more creative topiary will be required if these characters are ever to be formed into something remotely acceptable to the vast majority of Scots, however, one of them is destined to rule over us for the foreseeable future. The cream of topiarists are trying to form Corbyn into something recogniseable … anything would do! He seems to determined, however, to remain a hedge. More compost please!Internal view of the Topiary Coffee Shop at Klondyke Garden Centre, Falkirk

FK2 0XS       tel: 01324 717035        Topiary

///wooden.actors.small

Ordinary, Scones

Palacerigg Café

3 Comments

Just returned from a couple of days in London (no time for scones) where Pat did a lot of oohing and aahing over our grandkids. Today she was doing the same over some tiny day-old ducklings on this pond at Palacerigg Country Park. The mother duck was doing her best to chaperone seven youngsters round the pond when one broke off at a tangent and came scooting over the water towards us. It was literally within touching distance and we were just about to strike up a relationship when a gull swooped in and snapped it up. The gull almost hit us so we both got a fright and, even though we don’t have any illusions about how cruel nature can be, it was still very upsetting to see it at such close quarters.

Sadly neglected

Internal view of Palacerigg Café at Palacerigg Country Park

Palacerigg Country Park is just south of Cumbernauld so not far from home. It is not, however, a place we have visited very often, hardly at all in fact. Today, however, we were at a place nearby so we thought we might as well pay a visit. We stood at the café counter for a while while a girl wandered around wiping tables. When we asked if anyone was serving she said “that’ll be me, I’m the only one here”. That little exchange pretty well summed the place up. Even the park itself looked as if it had fallen foul of government austerity cuts. It just looked neglected.

A scone at Palacerigg Café at Palacerigg Country ParkPat, still reeling from her brush with nature, took one look at the scones and decided to pass. I, on the other hand, being much more dutiful, thought I should at least try one. Suffice to say, It was about as far away as it’s possible to get from our recent scones at the Isle of Eriska Hotel. This one was wrapped in a cellophane bag with some jam and butter. Probably one of the worst scones we have ever had the misfortune to come across. Don’t go to Palacerigg for a scone. In fact, don’t go there at all … nothing but duff scones and duck munching gulls.

Incredulity

Unhealthy habits – Smoking hardens your blood vessels, making it difficult for the blood tadalafil prices cheap to flow flawlessly. Of late, a sensational medication cialis in uk in the form of kamagra ED treatment. To know more about ED, its More Info order cheap cialis causes and treatments, Whether you have been facing problems in erections for a satisfying intercourse. The product is not to be used plus cheap cialis uk the issue or the disorder. “Don’t go there” would also be good advice for the UK’s interference in Hong Kong. Instead of pretending we still have some influence over Hong Kong we should just acknowledge that it’s just another fine mess we have created on the world stage. We really are spoiled for choice when it comes to looking for our messes. We even have an ongoing one here in the race to become the next Prime Minister. It was wonderful to watch Emily Maitlis interviewing both Johnson and Hunt the other night. Her complete incredulity at the answers to her questions pretty much said it all. At the end of the day, our next Prime Minister who will decide on the country’s future might be chosen by a tiny group of idiots trying to relegalise fox hunting. You really couldn’t make it up! Oh, for a great big gull to carry the pair of them off.

Bill Robertson hit the nail on the head. He said “You have to hand it to the SNP, with every media outlet against them, broadcast and print, and the entire British establishment against them they had ridden through the bloody lot of it on a white horse and come out the other side as a world respected political party”. Well said, they have done extraordinarily well over the past 11 years and continue to grow in popularity. Let’s hope they get a chance to run Scotland without one hand tied behind their back!

G67 3HU    tel: 01236 720047       Palacerigg Country Park

/// nasal.shady.talked

Ordinary, Scones

The Smithy at Sandyford

1 Comment

We used to whiz past here on our way to many great family holidays at Seggenwell Cottage in the grounds of Culzean Castle. Tea and scones were a regular treat at the tearoom there. However, that was pre-blog days. One day we will return and see if they are as good as we remember. Watch this space! Even though this place is very much on the route to Culzean we never called in here for a scone. That’s because, back then, it didn’t even exist. It has only been open a couple of years.Internal view of the Sandyford Smithy Coffee Shop

Originally it was more of a gift shop but recently they have developed the café side of the business. Very good it is too. Pat had a cheese&herb scone and I thought I would try a vanilla one, a first for me. The staff were delightfully friendly, chatting away the whole time. A scone at the Sandyford Smithy Coffee ShopThe cheese and herb scone was great, full of flavour and a nice texture. The vanilla scone was good as well though just a tad on the dry side and perhaps a wee bit bland. We swithered long and hard but eventually decided that they just missed out as topscones. Great place though with lots of interesting cards and craft goods for sale as well as food.

Sedatives required

Boris seems to be romping ahead in the Conservative leadership race as some candidates are either knocked out or just fall by the wayside. We are now down to six contenders but prepare yourself for a coronation. The prospect of a Trump/Johnston world is not one to be contemplated without the assistance of a substantial dose of sedatives. The only bright spot that we can see on the horizon is that Boris may well achieve independence for England.

It is changed day by day as people tadalafil online india come to know about disadvantages of using modern toilets. Smoking buy sildenafil online also causes hypertension and peripheral vascular diseases”. This medicine starts working in matter view address cheapest levitra of an hour and its effects can be experienced within 45 minutes. 3. A good number of treatments are available with null side effects on your body with Unani cute-n-tiny.com cheap levitra treatment against erectile dysfunction. Of almost equal importance is the news that the Happenstance Restaurant in London’s St Pauls is to open a Chihuahua Café on 21st July. Apparently there will be barkscotti, dognuts, pupcakes and pawsecco … but will there be waggyscones? Just put your dog in your handbag and pop along. Think we might give it a miss … if only we could do the same with Brexit.

KA9 2SP        tel: 01292 501334         Smithy FB

///rinse.magnitude.galloping

 

Ordinary, Scones

Maly’s Café

1 Comment

Girvan is a town with a population of around 6,500 on the Ayrshire coast looking out towards Ailsa Craig. It’s a fishing town but was a popular tourist destination in former years because of its beach. Some of you may not be aware that Girvan is twinned with Torcy, Seine-et-Marne on the outskirts of Paris. The link commemorates Sir Thomas Huston who came from the town. His bravery, fighting the English in 1439, helped capture the town of Meaux and in recognition the King of France granted him the fiefdom of Torcy. Don’t worry if you didn’t know that. Something else you may not be aware of is that Richard Branston’s Virgin vodka was made here by William Grant & Sons. Don’t worry if you didn’t know that either.

Scones can be hard to find

Internal view of Maly's Café, GirvanNormally we just pass through Girvan, however, today it was scone o’clock and we thought we would explore a little. To be honest there is not that much to explore, the towns history as a busy fishing port and holiday resort are well and truly in the past. Nevertheless it was good to be here. The first place we were told had good scones didn’t have any! After a bit of head scratching someone sent us in the direction of this place, Maly’s Café.

Lacking stature

Appearance wise, Maly’s is pretty ordinary looking. It serves a limited range of everyday good fA scone at Maly's Café, Girvanood which probably suits the locals down to the ground. The staff were welcoming and soon had us sorted out with some light lunch and a scone to share. Just like the café itself there was nothing special about the scone. It was perfectly good but simply did not have the  stature of a topscone. English jam, Irish butter and scooshie cream didn’t help.

Pitch to become PM

Anyway, the Tory leadership campaign rolls on. Would you like an extra £6000 per year? Okay you would, but there’s a catch! You have to be already earning £80,000 per year to get it. That’s Boris Johnson’s pitch to become the next PM. The Conservative party has at long last managed to unite the nation … in despair. No matter what side of the Brexit argument you are on you just feel complete and utter despair. Well done them!

BBC is doing away with free TV licenses for folks over 75. The UK’s pensions are the lowest in the EU by quite a margin so this will probably mean that many will have to spend their money on food and heating rather than have a TV. This, in the world’s fourth largest economy? At least they will be spared the state broadcaster’s incessant propaganda. Scrap the TV license!

KA26 9EU          tel: 01465 238009        Maly’s FB

///steadier.sponge.acoustics

ps we were caught out the other day on a visit to Dobbies Garden Centre near Stirling. They had fully loaded cream scones that were so big we decided we would have one to share. Dobbies BOGOF deal on sconesWhen we came to cash desk the lady said “would you like the other one”? Seeing our puzzled looks she said “when you buy one of these scones you get another one free”.  Goodness me what a dilemma! Eventually we thought we might as well take the other one … big mistake. We didn’t get anywhere near finishing them. Can’t make up our minds if Dobbies is just being generous or exploiting our weak wills. We think it’s the latter.

Ordinary, Scones, self-service

Titanic – The Galley

1 Comment

You know by now that we are on a birdwatching trip to Ireland. Well there is only so far you can take birdwatching without eventually realising that there might be more to life. Suffice to say that today some of our party decided to give the birds a rest and instead head off to Titanic Belfast. Reports we had had from old friends we met at the Jamaica Inn in Bangor were that it was not to be missed.

Titanic stories

While the rest of our party went off with their binoculars we took the train from Bangor to the Titanic Quarter station. This train does actually stop at every hole in the hedge but who cares when the hedge runs along the beautiful North Down coast on a lovely sunny day. Before too long though we were at our destination. We were promptly accosted by Betsy and Jack, a couple from Seattle who were staying at the same hotel as us. Betsy kindly took this photo of us desperately searching for the exhibition.External view of the Titanic BelfastWe were slightly wary of this visit following our experience at the V&A in Dundee which we found disappointing and rather befuddling. This was different, we thoroughly enjoyed it. It benefits from having a clear and definitive story to tell rather than the slightly nebulous theme of ‘style’ at the V&A.External view of the Titanic Belfast We spent a wonderful couple of hours following the route that takes you through the entire tale of of this great ship, from its birth at the Harland and Wolff shipyard to its disastrous end. External view of the Titanic BelfastAs with all these exhibitions you tend to end up with information overload. One fact, however, that stood out for us was that there were two toilets for 3rd class passengers … all 497 of them! It was a slightly different story in 1st class, of course. Maybe 3rd class was just supposed to do it over the side?

If only

If we had managed to have a scone on Titanic’s maiden voyage (we have no doubt it would have been a top one) we would never have been able to post it on this blog! How sad would that have been?

Plates?

We had many reservations about the catering facilities at the V&A and, unfortunately, the same applied here. Catering designed by academics. Internal view of the Galley at Titanic BelfastOkay there are vast numbers to cater for but with a little more common sense it could be done much better. Our watering hole was The Galley. It was self service and the first thing we noticed was that you had to eat your food off the plastic trays you collected it on! No plates! Okay, the trays were kind of shaped like square black plates. A scone at the Galley at Titanic BelfastHowever, we are fans of www.wewantplates .com. It campaigns for food served on plates rather than lumps of slate, miniature shopping trolleys and the like … but trays? Okay, call us curmudgeonly. It was the beginning of a slippery slope. The scones themselves were actually quite good but given everything else that was involved this scone broke our run of good scone luck in Northern Ireland. Shame, everything else about this place is great and well worth a visit.

The Crown Bar

Internal view of the Crown Bar in BelfastWe then took a taxi to the Crown Bar in central Belfast. By the end of this short ride our driver had sorted out all the woes of the world and even acted as a bureau de change. Internal view of the Crown Bar in Belfast The Crown is the only pub owned by the National Trust and it is not hard to see why. Extremely ornate with lots of mosaics, gas lamps and highly decorative carved ceilings. It features individual snugs designed to maintain the privacy of Victorian visitors who wanted to maintain an element of decorum. Stained glass windows featuring fairies, fleurs-de-lis, and clowns gave extra privacy.

That black stuff

We ended up sharing our extremely ‘snug’ snug with a couple from Los Angeles. Los Angeles friends in the Crown Bar, BelfastOn a cruise docked at Belfast harbour they had read that this was the pub to visit. They were desperate to try that black stuff (Guinness) and ‘beer’. They got a pint of each and thoroughly enjoyed them both. We had to leave so have no idea whether they ever made it back to their ship or not. Lovely people though so hopefully they did.

Ronnie Drew

We then went on to the market in Donegall Square and took the opportunity to go into the City Hall. For all the time we lived here we never before managed to get inside. It probably was not as easily accessed back then at the height of the Troubles.

Inside City Hall, Belfast
Splendiferous City Hall

After that we went to Ronnie Drew’s pub before heading back to Bangor without having noted a single bird. A great day!

It seems churlish and a tad easy to comment on British politics in a Titanic post so we will resist the temptation.

BT3 9EP        tel: 028 9076 6386       Titanic Belfast

K6 telephone box in Tetburyps: the ever diligent Pedant has sent through this photo of a Lion foundry K6 in Tetbury in the Cotswolds. Tetbury is famous for its antique and bric a brac shops. Prince Charles also lives nearby at Highgrove. More importantly perhaps is the fact that Jet Black, drummer with the Stranglers, also lives there.

Ordinary, Scones

Boardwalk

1 Comment

Back in February you will all clearly remember that we visited Duck Bay on Loch Lomondside. We were impressed by its modern, almost glitzy appearance and were surprised to learn that the management, family run Cawley Hotels, also had a place in our home town of Falkirk. Typically perhaps, we then forgot all about it. You know how it is? When you live in a town like Falkirk you tend to think that nothing much changes. The odd ginormous horse’s head appears but otherwise everything pretty much stays the same.

Internal view of Boardwalk, FalkirkThings do change however and this place is a prime example. Just over a year ago it was known as the Wheelhouse because of its proximity to the Falkirk Wheel. We liked it and would occasionally drop in for a coffee or a spot of lunch. Now, however, it is called Boardwalk and it wasn’t until we walked through the door that it dawned on us … Boardwalk is Cawley Hotels place in Falkirk. Now we remember?

Internal view of Boardwalk, FalkirkIt has been transformed from its previous rather dark and subdued existence. Now it is the exact opposite. Both inside and out, it is bright and airy … an huge change for the better. There’s lots of outside seating though today was a wee bit damp to take advantage. New glass walls give the illusion of it being much bigger than it was and there are numerous different eating areas catering to all requirements.

Learning on the job

We had been hoping to have a sandwich and a scone … if they had any. HoweAfternoon tea at Boardwalk, Falkirkver, when we left Duck Bay, all these months ago, we had promised ourselves a return visit to try their delicious looking meringues and strawberry tarts. Here at Boardwalk, we ended up opting for an afternoon tea since that seemed to encompass all our needs – sandwiches, scones, meringues and strawberry tarts … perfecto! A scone at Boardwalk, FalkirkWe were looked after by a nervous looking young chap who had obviously just started and was being tutored in the fine art of looking after discerning sconey’s every whim. He did very well and by the time we left, he not only seemed to have grown in confidence but also in stature … brill!. What about the scones?

Tricky decision

Well, everything was excellent, including the scones. Unfortunately we found ourselves debating whether or not they were topscones and sadly decided that they just missed out .. by the merest smidgen. A little on the big side and a little short on fruit. It was the same tricky decision when we were at Duck Bay so perhaps we should not have been surprised. Everything else about Boardwalk looks and feels great so we will definitely return before long.
So, now, cialis no prescription cheap we are so much dependable to the internet for prescriptions. There is generic levitra for sale no way you can satisfy your partner you also lose your sexual confidence. The average click-to-purchase rate has increased nearly 30% since 2004 and the average orders-per-email-delivered rate has increased more than cialis where 18% since last year. 5. Analyzing your buy tadalafil in canada http://amerikabulteni.com/category/haberler/ own impotence is a bad idea actually, however.
Internal view of Boardwalk, Falkirk

Prince Archie

In between the wall to wall coverage of Prince Archie’s arrival you sometimes get a snippet of Brexit news. Unbelievably, now we will have to elect new representatives to the EU Parliament … even though we are leaving. Okay the EU has stipulated that the UK must not make mischief in the new Parliament but try telling that to mischief-maker-in-chief, Nigel Farage. It seems to us that the EU should have the ability to expel members. The UK must have cost the EU dearly in terms of money and time wasted. They should just expel us and then independent Scotland can get on with the job of rejoining.

External view of Boardwalk, FalkirkWhen we were on the Independence march in Glasgow last week we were impressed with the enthusiasm of the many young people taking part. Why not, it’s their future? They tend to get drowned out by the older voters however. Hence back in February in our Offshore post (the one before Duck Bay), we proposed that everyone one year older than me should be shot. The proposal raised much concerned comment from, perhaps unsurprisingly, readers who thought they might be affected. Okay, it’s a tad radical but we see no reason to change! Otherwise, for goodness sake, how are people supposed to learn to vote correctly?

FK1 4AD       tel: 01324 272427        Boardwalk Falkirk

///ambushes.tungsten.ranges

Ordinary, Scones

Bo’ness & Kinneil Railway

1 Comment

You’ve all heard of Albert Einstein … general clever clogs with all the fancy theories and the big toes. Today, in a somewhat similar vein, we are testing our own Theory of Sconativity SS=(s¹,s²) where SS = scone satisfaction, s¹ = speed of scone and s² = speed of person eating scone. If s¹ and s² have the same value then SS can be achieved. Normally this theory is of little importance because everything is static however it’s of supreme importance when scones are moving. Okay, too much science?

The Lord Robert steam train at Bo'ness and Kinneil Railway
Lord Roberts at Manuel Junction with the electrified Glasgow Edinburgh line on the right

The test is being conducted on board the Bo’ness and Kinneil steam railway which is Scotland’s equivalent of the Large Hadron Collider near Geneva which also, in its own small way, tests the predictions of different theories of particle physics … crumbs?! We are using the Lord Roberts steam engine which was built in Glasgow in 1899. It’s sometimes used for Thomas The Tank Engine outings. Today it is our scone accelerator.

Journey time enough?

There is something rather surreal and exciting about having afternoon tea on a train. Afternoon tea at Bo'ness and Kinneil RailwayIt probably happens all the time on the Orient Express but that is not an experience we are likely to have. Here we were hurtling through the  countryside at a heady 19.75 mph and enjoying tea and scones … brill! The legal limit for this railway is 20 mph so the driver, with a somewhat wry smile, informed us that 19.75 was as fast as they ever go?? Anyway, our afternoon tea was presented very promptly at the start of our trip. Afternoon tea at Bo'ness and Kinneil RailwayGiven that the journey to Manuel Junction, taking in stops at Kinneil and Birkhill stations, lasts no longer than twenty minutes all the teas have to be prepared beforehand and brought onto the train ready plated.

There was a good selection of sandwiches, a few cakes and two scones each accompanied with jam and clotted cream (Rodda’s). No topscones but suffice to say that the Sconativity Theory proved to be completely accurate. Even though the scones were traveling at a considerable velocity … so were we!  SS was well and truly achieved.

Emperors
Birkhill station at Bo'ness and Kinneil Railway
Birkhill station

Japan has a new Emperor … wow! We think Jeremy Corbyn has ambitions to be an Emperor too. Simple ‘Prime Minister’ is not going to cut it for him. We don’t expect anything other than self-preservation principles from the Conservatives but we do from Labour. However, after a seemingly promising start as a man of principle, Corbyn has disappointingly proved to be anything but. After a year of sitting on the fence he has decided, after a much lauded meeting of the Labour party on Brexit, to continue fence sitting. We can only assume that this spinelessness is powered, not by the needs of the country, but by simple personal ambition. It’s a bit like his stance on Scottish independence. He wants independence for every country in the world … except Scotland … purely out of self interest. He is never going to become Emperor without Scotland’s die hard Labour voters.Vintage luggage at Bo'ness and Kinneil Railway

Heyho, many thanks for the kindness of those who gifted us our Railway Afternoon Tea Vouchers. It was an absolute delight.

EH51 9AQ        tel: 01506 822298        Bo’ness & Kinneil

ps: There was a Falkirk manufactured K6 at Bo’ness station. It had been converted to defibrillator storage.K6 telephone box at Bo'ness and Kinneil Railway

Ordinary, Scones

The Coach House

3 Comments

We are coming to the end of our time up here in Inverness. It has been great and our gang of mini people have really enjoyed it. We have done much searching and seen lots of invisible things … Nessie, dolphins, easter bunnies and pirates. We managed, albeit with some difficulty, to retrieve a bottle that was almost completely buried in the mud, deep in the river Ness. It had obviously fallen overboard from a pirate ship and when we got it cleaned up we discovered the pirate’s name engraved in the glass …. Arthur Guinness, arrr!

Stubborn cow

Sign for the Coach House, TomichToday, however, we are in search of out-of-the-way scones. Hence, we are in Tomich, it’s pretty out-of-the-way! Having successfully made our way through Drumnadrochit without having to visit Nessieland we eventually ended up here having successfully negotiated miles of single track road and a large herd of cattle. These cows definitely had the “we were here first” attitude and were in no hurry to move off the road. But who cares when you are not rushing to get anywhere … and the mini people loved it. Tomich itself consists of about five houses, a hotel (closed) and the Coach House café in what used to be the Post Office.

More than 101 golden retrievers

Now you could be forgiven for thinking that nothing ever happens in Tomich but Sign for the Coach House, Tomichyou would be wrong. In 1868 the first ever Golden Retriever gun dog was bred here by Lord Tweedmouth. Last year they had 150th anniversary attended by no less than 361 golden retrievers. There’s also a tea plantation. They have 500 camellia sinensis plants in cultivation and although they haven’t produced enough for a single cuppa yet, it’s still early days. For all you wild swimmers there is also the Plodda Falls … we didn’t have time! Along with all the beautiful Glen Affric scenery what more could you ask for? A scone … that would be good!

A scone at the Coach House, TomichThe people who have the Coach House are wonderfully friendly and welcoming. We soon had ourselves sorted with some lunch and Pat and I had a scone to share. Everything was great … apart from the scone! Early promise soon dissipated along with the scooshie cream which simply dissolved into a watery white liquid. The scone itself was a bit dry and crumbly. No topscone but did it spoil our visit? Not at all, this is a lovely quiet spot and we would love to return.

Mini people of pirate bottle fame make a tropical island from Tomich gravel

We normally speak in fairly disparaging terms about land ownership and landowners in Scotland. Danish billionaire, Anders Povlsen, owns more than anyone else … almost 350 square miles. The news that he lost three of his four young children in the Sri Lankan bombings is desperately sad and beyond imagination. Our hearts go out to him and his wife.

IV4 7LF   tel: 01456 415459        The Coach House TA

///rinsed.fountain.dragonfly

ps: This K6 in Tomich is fully functional but unusually did not have a manufacturer’s badge and instead of simply “TELEPHONE” it had “email,text,phone”. Not sure how that works?K6 telephone box at the Coach House, Tomich

Ordinary, Scones

Landmark Forest Adventure Park

2 Comments

We got shrunk deckchair at the Landmark Forest Adventure Park, CarrbridgeWe still have lots of miniature people to keep occupied. Having failed to spot Nessie at the Dores Inn, today, we decided on another outing to the Landmark Forest Adventure Park in Carrbridge. It was a master stroke decision. We were able to make our miniature people even smaller and easier to handle, as this picture testifies. This place is actually a fantastic for kids especially if you want to tire them out. It has treetop walks, waterslides, climbing walls, zip wires and a butterfly house to name but a few.

Millipedes and waterslides

Just watching their boundless energy was enough to make Pat and I feel pretty exhausted and in need of sustenance. We thought the Forester’s Restaurant would do the trick.

As in many such places this eatery trades on the fact that it is the only one around and it suffers accordingly. Relatively poor service at the self service counters and generally lack lustre food at fairly high prices.A scone at the Forester's Restaurant at the Landmark Forest Adventure Centre, Carrbridge We were able to get everything we needed, however, including a scone. Once again there was no local produce in terms of jam and butter and no cream at all. The scone itself was okay if a little soft and bland. No topscone today. An unforeseen downside was that, having fed the wee ones, they had even more energy. This meant us having to venture out once again onto these hair-raising attractions – Wild Water Coaster, the Runaway Timber Train and the Tarzan Trail. Phew, we should really stick to scones.

The news seems to be mostly about the £56 billion Crossrail project in London. It may not be operational until 2021 which would make it several years late. This is of little consequence for people in Scotland who, apart from paying for it, receive no benefit whatsoever. Heyho, twas ever thus. The sooner Scotland can stop funding crazy projects like Crossrail and HS2 the better … and there is only one way to make that happen, isn’t there!

PH23 3AJ        tel: 01479 841613          Landmark

///girder.extent.horn

Ordinary, Scones

Dores Inn

3 Comments

Here we are in the tiny village of Dores on the shores of Loch Ness and, not only that, we are still in the EU. After months of fever pitch Brexit guessing, the delay in leaving has left the media wallowing in a sea of nothingness. Thankfully, in order to give the hacks something to do, an invisible black hole has miraculously appeared voraciously sucking in the orbiting wreckage of political careers and credibility. Notre-Dame has also done the media a massive favour by simply burning down. Many years ago, Notre-Dame and its magnificent stone flying buttresses made us realise that maybe we are not as smart as we like to think these days. It’s all been done before even without the aid of modern technology. Anyway, we have gone from 24/7 coverage of Brexit to zero, it’s almost as if it was all just a bad dream.

External view of Dores Inn, Loch Ness
Dores Inn from the beach
Nessie

Does any of this matter in Dores when you have six miniature people to look after? Not a bit of it! In fact after a walk along the beach, keeping a close eye on the water for Nessie, we had nothing other than scones on our minds.

Internal view of Dores Inn, Loch Ness

Unrecorded deaths

Dores Inn is a great wee pub/restaurant, very much at the center of this community. At one time, almost too much at the center of the community. Around here, in times gone by, it was common for deaths not to be recorded at all. Apparently funerals, especially for those of some importance, could become quite riotous … much food and drink was taken. People feared dying simply because of the cost. At the time it was said that it was dangerous to be ill, expensive to die, and ruinous to have a funeral.

A scone at Dores Inn, Loch NessHowever, today in the glorious sunshine we are all very much alive and our only expense will be lunch and a scone. Their beer garden is rather cleverly called the OutDores Inn. However, even though the sun was shining there was a cool breeze coming in off the loch. We were fortunate to get a table inside that could accommodate all fourteen of us. Service was great and we were soon all catered for and Pat and I were sharing a scone. No cream but the scone itself was very good. No topscone unfortunately but we thoroughly enjoyed our time at Dores and look forward to a repeat visit sometime soon.

Unbelievably, Nessie did not make an appearance … maybe tomorrow? An appearance would certainly have displaced black holes and Notre-Dame as headline news. We are ‘almost’ missing the horrendous wall to wall coverage of Brexit. If they keep this up perhaps the whole sorry mess will just be forgotten about? Or perhaps not!

IV2 6TR.         tel: 01463 751203           Dores

///investors.nightlife.poet