Balquidder Archives - Scones, history and a dollop of politics

If any of you already know Reinier Sijpkens you should probably stop reading right here. For those that don’t know him let us explain. He has a little boat in which he spins round in circles while playing a horn and winding a mechanical organ thingy. He produces soft melodic sounds and he has a deal with a chap in the local church who responds with the church bells. All fabulously mad!

When we got chatting to him we discovered he was a great fan of everything Scottish. He had recently been to the World Pipe Band Championships in Glasgow and told us that his favourite musical instrument was uniquely Scottish. “Bagpipes?” we asked. Not a bit of it. “The dulcitone” he replied with a wistful smile, “It’s wonderful!”. This was news to us because we had never even heard of a dulcitone. However, having looked it up, he was, of course, absolutely right … and it is uniquely Scottish. You can listen to one here. Also if you click on Reinier’s picture above you can enjoy one of his fabulous performances.

Chance is a wonderful thing

We tell you all this because it amazes us how extraordinary snippets of information fall into our laps. Our boat was even smaller than Reinier’s but we were on the same canal in Amsterdam and just sort of bumped into him. See, there we were pedaling round a canal in Amsterdam and we meet a Dutch guy, a complete stranger, who tells us something we didn’t know about Scotland. Isn’t life fascinating!

“So what the dickens were you doing in Holland?” we hear you cry. Well, it’s a bit of a strange story but suffice to say that we were looking for scones. It was a serious expedition, not any sort of jolly … honest!

Ticking boxes

Internal view of Café Winkel in Amsterdam — Inside Winkel 43

Actually we have a couple of Dutch friends who visited us back in 2017. You may remember we took them to Monachyle Mhor in Balquidder where we had a lovely scone. Recently, they got in touch to ask if they could buy a bottle of my own whisky. They remembered cuddling the barrel and having a we taste. No problem. However, when we were trying to figure out how to get two bottles of whisky to the Netherlands it wasn’t particularly easy. Pat, to the rescue! A mini-cruise from Newcastle-upon-Tyne which gave us five hours in the Dutch capital. This ticked a lot of boxes. We would be reunited with our friends, deliver the bottles and get our first Dutch scone. What’s not to like about that?

Bon voyage

The ship left Port of Tyne at sunset. The following morning after a frantic night of dancing in one of the onboard night clubs we awoke and knew immediately we were getting close to Holland. A sunrise full of windmills … hundreds of them! A couple of hours later we were in central Amsterdam and had managed to hook up with our friends. It was great to see them again and they were keen for us to enjoy a few of Amsterdam’s unique features. They had tried in vain to find a scone for us but had come to the conclusion that Holland did not do scones. Instead they said we should not miss the best apple pie in the world. Hence we ended up here at Winkel 43. Winkel translates as ‘store’ in English but we much prefer the Dutch

It is quite small and tucked away from the main touristy area, however, it is extremely popular with the local people. There were lots waiting patiently for a table. Fortunately, we did not have to wait long and were soon sitting in the sunshine tucking into the biggest slice of apple pie we have ever seen. It was full of chunky apple bits with a delicious crumbly pastry and loads of whipped cream … fantastic! If you ever find yourself in Amsterdam go to Winkel and have some apple pie, you won’t regret it.

Apple pie usurpers

As a visitor to this city you do feel a certain amount of pressure to go on one of these super-long glass covered canal boats. If you don’t it’s like going to Venice and not going on a gondola. Our friends however had other ideas.Feeling lucky

They elected to take us on a canal cruise but on a tiny pedal boat. Thankfully they also elected to do the pedaling. It was just a fantastic experience! For the end of February the weather was fabulously warm, a glorious day. Although complain

Pedal boat in Amsterdam — The port and starboard engines

ing a bit and sometimes a little out of control our engines performed perfectly well. And, of course, if we had not gone by pedal boat we would never have met Reinier and never have known about the Dulcitone. We complained to Reinier that our engines were not as powerful as his. He looked and observed that we had the most beautiful engines in the world. He also said we were extremely lucky and should take extra good care of them. We promised we would and had to admit that we did feel very lucky.

Old Amsterdam

All too soon, our five hours were up and it was time to take our leave. Not before we visited one of the many cheese shops to buy some Old Amsterdam, however. Apparently they eat cheese for breakfast, lunch and sometimes dinner as well. They like their cheese in Holland. The cheese neatly replaced the lost ballast left by the whisky.

Welcome home?

Then we had to return to our slightly bigger boat and return to the UK. When we arrived in Amsterdam that morning they glanced at our passports and waved us through. On our return, however, we had to stand for an hour and a half in a queue waiting to have our passports scanned. Apparently, it’s a new system and it’s absolutely dreadful. Many in the queue would have had to wait much longer. We felt ashamed to be British but then again that wasn’t for the first time. If it’s a sign of how things are going to be after Brexit then we might have to move to Europe … or get an independent Scotland to stay in the EU. We’ll go for the latter.

Many many thanks to S & C for looking after us so well. It was fun!

1015 NA +31 20 623 0223 Winkel 43

It’s 2017, belated happy new year to all our fellow sconeys, we hope it will be a good one. Predictions for the year, however do not look too promising! The UK government continues with its headless chicken act over Brexit. Problem is, it’s not an act! It seems that the Labour party’s new year resolution, particularly in Scotland, is to be even more irrelevant than last year. That’s a tough one but, under its current leadership, probably achievable. At least the Scottish government is giving all newborn babies a ‘baby box’ full of nice things so that they all have the same start in life. And all for no more than the cost of one banker’s bonus. Laudable as this is, rumour has it that the Tory government is investigating the ‘box’ to see if it qualifies as extra accommodation under the bedroom tax?

Before we all get too cynical maybe we should get on to the good news. It’s a brand new scone year and where better to kick it off than back in Rob Roy country in the splendid isolation of Monachyle Mhor. We’re here with a couple of young Dutch friends who, having been here a couple of years ago, wanted to return. Also, I used to spend my childhood holidays in Balquidder, where my uncle was head forester. So for me it was a great chance to revisit old and fond memories. Two birds with one stone so to speak!

This working hill farm has 2000 acres of fabulous scenery overlooking Loch Voil and Loch Doine enabling it to provide walking, hunting and shooting holidays. Since the old days, when it was just a farm and I used to come here to get the milk, Monachyle Mhor has become a ‘destination’ for foodies. Watch this video to see how they do it. You can even come for lunch by seaplane if that’s what floats your boat. Otherwise it’s a somewhat tortuous drive along an ever diminishing road which eventually peters out completely at Inverlochlarig, just a few hundred meters further on from Monachyle Mhor.

We were welcomed into a lounge where the log burning stove was promptly set ablaze for our comfort and the twenty minutes we had to wait for our scones to be freshly baked was taken up with playing Billie Holiday tracks on a record deck. There is definitely something special about vinyl!

Before long our scones arrived beautifully presented on silver cake stands. There was plenty jam, butter and cream and the scones themselves were wonderfully warm and fresh. We couldn’t wait to get started! If there was a criticism it was that they were too big. And there were two each!! Pat also felt that, even with them being freshly baked, they were slightly doughy in the center and our friends from Amsterdam agreed. I was outnumbered. As we have already said, the scones were too big and too many. And, though we didn’t have to eat them all, you know how it is. None of us needed much to eat that evening.

Antler christmas decoration at Monachyle Mhor — a typical Monachyle Mhor christmas decoration hanging above the reception desk

No topscone award unfortunately. But overall we thoroughly enjoyed our visit and it was great to be back in this neck of the woods. As the Mhor empire continues to expand with a chip shop, a bakery and a motel, we wish it well. It is great to see such entrepreneurial flair in this part of the world. Many thanks to our readers for unstinting support throughout 2016 … here’s to more scones in 2017 … cheers!

FK19 8PQ tel: 01877 384622 Monachyle Mhor

Scones, history and a dollop of politics

Tag Archives: Balquidder

Winkel