food – Claire's Blog

6th August 20199th August 2021

Steamer Kelpies

Tuesday 6th August 2019

The forecast for today was for it to be wet with showers all day, however we woke up to a bright sunny sky. On the suggestion of the lady we are renting the cottage from we went to visit Aridsaig and more specifically the Steamer Terminal. At the moment the Steam Terminal has a copy of the Kelpies in miniature on display, having seen the originals on our last Scottish holiday we wanted to see these too. There is a miniature model person on the base to show the scale compared to the originals.

The Steamer Terminal has a very nice cafe so we also had our lunch here and watched the crane unloading the logs off lorries in the harbour at the same time.

It only seemed to take a few minutes for this crane to unload a whole lorry full of logs.

After lunch we went for a walk in Aridsaig and saw the lighthouse and lots of small boats.

We headed back to the cottage then as it was starting to come over dark, and about 3pm the rain that was predicted to be with us all day arrived.

30th July 20199th August 2021

Over the Border

Tuesday 30th July 2019

It was time to say goodbye to England and hello Scotland as we made our way up the motorway with Gavin behind the wheel to Glasgow. It had been raining on and off the whole journey but it stopped, temporarily, as we crossed the border. We had to make good time as we had afternoon tea booked for 1.30pm.

We didn’t have any problems as thought we might with the Glasgow one way system and easily found the NCP car park, and our hotel for the night, Motel One, was almost next door. We were early for check in but they had two rooms available so could leave all our luggage and head off for our afternoon tea at the Willows tea rooms which was just a few minutes walk away.

Note the empty cake stand, afternoon tea was yummy

Gavin saw this tent which was outside the tea rooms and couldn’t resist boasting.

We found a lovely basement Italian restaurant that was a short walk from the hotel for dinner, I had a pasta dish while Gavin went with the steak. After dinner it had started to drizzle again but we went for a walk down to the Clyde by the time we got there (only few minutes) it was pouring. I’d given Gavin my small pop up umbrella to keep him dry but my fold up mac proved not to be as waterproof as I would have liked!

28th October 20189th August 2021

Breakfast in Bed

Sunday 28th October

Bonus extra hour in bed and we had breakfast in bed – well delivered to our room which had a lounge area. A very spoilt way to start the day – juice, cereal, toast, fruit and hot chocolate.

I was feeling the effects of yesterday’s flu jab, lumpy achy arm and a cold 🙁 , so decided to head home after breakfast and re-packing.

It was lunch time when we got to Olney (different route home due to road work), so we had a look around before going to teapots. Gavin had some strawberry and raspberry fizz, soup and chocolate cake, I went for a ham sandwich (with salad, crisps) and the usual diet coke.

All that remained of our lunch in Teapots

Then it was back home to unpack and do some washing. An eager squirrel was on the table awaiting a walnut.

Early night tonight the F1 race is recorded and can wait until tomorrow.

9th October 20189th August 2021

Afternoon Tea

Tuesday 9th October

Today we ventured into Bowness to find the supermarket to stock up the cottage for rest of the week. There was a small Tesco express but was able to get what we needed.

After taking the shopping back to the car with plenty of time left on the parking meter we had a look around some of the shops. I brought some Edinburgh rock for Christine and a chocolate pig for Charlotte.

We found a lovely traditional tea room for some lunch. Gavin tried the potatoe and chive soup followed by apple and cinnamon pie (they had run out of the pear) while I had ham sandwich and victoria sponge.

26th September 20189th August 2021

Let The Holiday Begin!

Wednesday 26th September – distance travelled 215 miles

After a half day at work, loaded up the car and headed north. We stopped twice for comfort breaks, Gavin drove first and I took over for the second half.

We stayed at Romney’s Apartments in Kendal overnight, a lovely 2 bedroom apartment with lounge and kitchen but rather cramped toilet.

For dinner we went to the gastro pub by the apartment. It was amazing, Gavin has steak and ale pie while I had cumberland sausage in a giant yorkshire pudding for desert I had thunder & lightning ice cream (had toffee pieces in it) while Gavin had some pear strudel.