En vacances : Scotland
Please let me fling endless pictures of seafood at you.
The most delicious scallops I have eaten in years. From a fish restaurant in Oban, right beside the port.
That was definitely the highlight of the trip.
No. The highlight was going to a beautiful wedding on the east coast of Scotland. At the famous Cambo House and Gardens no less. (It needs a separate post.)
We had ten days of glorious autumn weather on our trip and every possible moment was spent by the sea.
Here in the East Neuk of Fife.
At Crail. Near St Andrews.
Does walking past a field of Calabrese (broccoli) count as part of the gardening section of this blog?
And then on the west coast on Loch Awe.
Our friends have bought a big forest right on the loch.
And they are planning to build their own home and create a bit of paradise on a knoll overlooking this amazing stretch of water.
The sort of ambitious scheme that would keep one awake for ages; consume every waking hour and involve incredible amounts of energy and vim.
And also the kind of project that makes you feel relieved you are already 15 years into yours and there is precious little building more to do on your farm.
We don’t count the ambitious pergola scheme I have for my soft fruit orchard this winter….
There are forest paths, dramatic waterfalls. And no end to an adventure.
Best of all they have an amazing inn close by where they can stay while the house gets built.
Cooked breakfasts!
Egad I love people cooking for me. Breakfast, lunch and dinner for ten wonderful days.
Making one’s own hummus for lunch is so disappointing after all that avocado and ricotta on toast.
Each part of the coastal visits were bookended by staying in Edinburgh.
And my, that has changed since I was a tourist there a few decades ago. Pedestrianised streets just make walking an endless delight.
Yes, blue skies.
Yes exquisite stone buildings everywhere from Bruntsfiend (my new favourite place) to Leith. We did a monstrous 24km day exploring and ogling.
The whole walk fueled by a perfect Australian Lamington and millionaire’s shortbread break en route.
And apples which a kind gardener had left outside their Morningside house.
I came home refreshed.
And resigned to living in a landlocked part of France where a trip to the freezer aisle of the supermarket is the closest I will get to scallops and langoustine for a while.
Never mind, rural France has its delights.
(Even the tombs in the local cemetery near Morningside were fab.
Do I have cemetery envy as well?)
8th November 2022 @ 3:22 pm
C’mon confess Lindy – don’t tell me you went to Oban & didn’t visit the wonderful Oban whiskey distillery! (is with an ‘e’ in Scotland and without in Ireland or the other way round?)
Scallop envy to the max. But a lamington should never have a filling of any sort, no jam, no cream. And chocolate icing only please. My Nanna would be revolving in her grave. 😉
Grave envy too. Who knew the Scots were so flamboyant?
8th November 2022 @ 4:38 pm
We only had an hour in Oban! It was a brief visit for lunch. But I’d gladly go back.
And I agree that like your Nanna, it was a shock to find it filled with cream and pink. But I felt I ought to show loyalty and not scoff two Millionaire’s shortbread….
Whisky with only a ‘y’ for Scots.
8th November 2022 @ 3:50 pm
This post has struck a particular chord. What a coincidence – Fife is very high on my list of “is-there-anywhere-I-could-live-in-the-UK-if-I-wanted-to-go-back”. But I worry about the loooong winter nights. I have made endless lists of “pluses” and “minuses” for staying put or moving to a different region/country, in an old house/new house… I get so bogged down that in the end I feel a throw of the dice would be easier!
8th November 2022 @ 4:22 pm
Oh yes, the long winter nights….. I think you would have to embrace a really great home with excellent insulation and large windows with a view of something grand to take the winter weather. I was gazing at estate agent windows in Edinburgh. A top floor tenement flat overlooking the Meadows on Warrender Park Terrace….