pinkbirdflies

Padstow is an old, pretty fishing port on the estuary of the Camel river in north west Cornwall with plenty of golden sand and a very popular destination with the English. Celebrity Chef Rick Stein has invested heavily in the town since establishing his first Seafood restaurant here. There is now a Rick Stein cafe, bistro,  fish and chips shop, hotels, patisserie, fishery and seafood bar, deli, gift shop and now bar. I ‘m staying in St Petrocs, one of his accommodation options, ate at the seafood bar, drank at the bar, had dinner at The Seafood Restaurant  and spent today at the seafood cookery school. I must say how it is all lovely, stylish and very well done. An amazing ‘conglomeration’ of good quality and exceptional food.

Spent a night with Jenny and James in essex before flying from Gatwick to Newquay…well Flybe tried to land 3 times..aborted landing 3 times…flew to Exeter..sat in the plane at Exeter..flew back to Newquay and finally landed in the fog! Picked up a snazzy black Audi and drove to Pastow on the west coast of Cornwall where I’m staying at one of Rick Stein’s properties, St Petrocs Hotel in the sweetest room. Certainly needed a strong coffee and wine which of course I found!

Spent the last week relaxing and catching up on home cooked food, having coffee at Costa, reading and accessing faster internet! Managed to have some nice walks each day in the country laneways, along the banks of the Thames and in Brayfield nature reserve. Walked around windsor, Maidenhead and the tiny village of Bray where Heston Blumenthal has his 3 foodie haunts. Jenny and James came for 2 nights and we had a truly lovely dinner at The Hinds Head. Had a great day driving through the Cotswolds to Highgate Tower and the nice Morris and Brown cafe. Managed to be able to go down a nuclear bunker which was fascinating. Wound our way back through various cotswold villages and had a Pimms at the pub in Kingham which is where I took Steph, Floyd and Lucy on our first trip to England…no longer is it the quintessential English Pub but a totally and beautifully gentrified gastro pub called the Wild Rabbit. An amzing thing was also driving past and recognising the old gatehouse cottage where I stayed with Jane Manton for a night way back in July 1991…Said my farewells to the Scruffy and Apple and spent a night at Jenyy and Jame’s home in Essex before the next leg of my travels.

Flew to Heathrow then picked up a car at Slough before staying at the River Arts Club before commencing my third house and pet sit, back with Scruffy the Border Terrier and Apple the Tabby cat. Nice to have some home comforts and cooking and just relax and revive after some intense touring. Did some country drives, visited West Wycombe Park, lots of walks by the Thames, a walk around Bray Village (where Heston Blumenthal owns the Crown, the Hinds Head and The Fat Duck), Windsor and Cookham. I have witnesed all things quintessentially British…churches, cows, ducks, white swans, the Thames River with canalboats, rowing on the Thames, cricket on the cutest green oval and polo players and ponies with flash cars and champagne.

Traversed the well trodden pathway to through the Fairy Glen and thought about you Grandma, Steph and Floyd and the Bonny Hills Fairy Glen!! With all the fairy dust and elven activity,  I saw Flora the Merrythought Antique Rabbit in the shop window in Cromarty and somehow, magically, she got posted back to Australia to live at Waverley Glade. Farewell Scotland!

Took the tiny Nigg ferry (2 cars only) across the firth to Nigg and found the lovely Nigg Old Church and carved stone inside. Drove along the coast and saw some pretty sandy beaches along the way to Portmahomack near the entrance to the Dornoch Firth. This firth had quite a lot of yellow sand surrounding it. Passed through Tain and across the bridge to Dornoch, before driving home the ‘long way’with views across Cromarty Firth to the Black Isle.

Dropped April off at Inverness airport and drove across the Kessock Bridge in Inverness to the Black Isle which is not really and island at all but has the Moray and Cromarty Firth on both sides. Passed through the villages of Avoch, Fortrose and Rosemarkie out to Cromarty where I checked into a gorgeous B&B, The Factors House, so named because the Factor or manager/overseer for Cromarty House and Estate lived there. A few days spent relaxing a little and not so much touring. Cromarty is an historic village on the edge of Cromarty firth which is a deep water natural harbour. It is now managed by an authority which sees it the mooring area for oil rigs for the north sea either waiting to be hired out or being repaired. maintained. Its a weird site seeing at least 6 just sitting there like alien creatures. The cruise ships also use this port. It looks like it has affected the sandy beach that is now rocky. Explored an old cemetery for the wealthy and Noble peolpe who marked their graves with the very fashionable skull and crossbones. Also saw a tunnel that the servants were made to walk through to enter Cromarty house as the owners did not want to see them or be seen??!!

A beautiful rainbow appeared across the Loch this morning which photos dont do justice to of course! Another day of touring and exploring…back up through Glen Torridon and followed the edge of Loch Maree to Gairloch for lunch and onto Inverewe. The sun was shining as we spent a few hours in the gardens of Inverewe. The gulf stream warmer waters bring moist, warmer air here enabling lush growth of species that normally couldn’t be cultivated here in Scotland. On the way back I spotted Red Deer grazing in the long grass so was quite thrilled to try and get a closer look at them.

Awoke to some blue sky and clear conditions to cross the Bealach Na Ba (crossing of the cattle)  and fortune shone upon me as the lovely cafe was open and made a reasonably good, hot Flat White! I needed the caffeine to tackle the high pass as it was stunning and a true test of nerves and driving capabilities! An amazing drive led down to the west coast at Applecross with views across to the Isle’s of Raasay and Skye. Followed my nose and saw some lovely coves and inlets with seals basking on a rocky islet. The road passes around the coast and makes a round trip back to Gracies. Applecross folk museum and church were interesting and there was a pretty sandy beach and people acting like it was summer! Bought some hot smoked salmon straight from the farmers kitchen and passed a standing stone that no one could get near.

Set off driving in search of a morning coffee and the first one I wanted to try was closed so kept driving to Sheildaig, then Torridon….all closed. I had read about a place at Diabaig so continued on a very narrow one lane road with worsening weather and a steep climb! A pretty scary drive ensued through thick cloud/mist/rain and a two points the road dissapeared and I had thin stick markers to give me an indication which way the goat track went…a relief to arrive in the remote but pretty Diabaig to find the ‘interesting’ cafe closed…Scotland closes on Mondays obviously! With no caffeine I somehow made it back to Torridon for lunch at the quite modern outdoor activity centre. Drove home to Gracies and April took to the lounge and the fire got a workout, although it really wasn’t unpleasantly cold. I walked by the little local stream or ‘burn’ and the shores of Loch Kishorn which I find fascinating with the healthy seaweed growth and different species, wild growing mussels (they are farmed on ropes stung in the lochs), lichens and other flora growing on the rocks and the old croft houses. These crofts where, and still are, small parcels of land that the people farm and build a stone crofthouse on. There are numerous abandoned crofts dotted everywhere and I can only begin to imagine life for families in these in the past in the harsh conditions and isolation.