A Tiny Bit of Old Edinburgh

Whist I was down in Glasgow recently I took the new fast electric train to Edinburgh to have lunch with David, a long-time friend and former colleague who has featured many times on this Blog with his dog Molly (who is still fit and well). One of my favourite posts is here. We had lunch in a small French café called La Barantine Victoria in the Grassmarket area. I didn't take a photos so have used one from Google.

I used to spend a lot of time in Edinburgh and had various friends including, for a while, David (pre-Molly) who lived there. I spent some of the morning wandering round some old haunts many of which seemed to have disappeared or been swallowed up by the plethora of new eateries being fueled by the huge influx of tourists.

Most of my exploring was in the region of The Royal Mile:

I was rather sad to see the need, which is now universal it would seem, to protect pedestrians from vehicle terrorism.

There was a Schools Climate Change march. Two things about it rather surprised me: it's examination time and many of the particupants were obviously a great deal older than school age.

I'm Getting a Complex

On Thursday Anna and I went to our favourite Bishopbriggs watering hold for breakfast. Café Torino is usually humming and the previous week we managed to get the last available table when we went in. On Thursday there was no-one in when we arrived. I have to say that quickly changed.

When I stopped for a late lunch on Thursday at The Greyhound Hotel just south of Shap exactly the same thing happened. The lunch was, by the way, excellent and very reasonable too.

On Friday morning when CJ and I went for breakfast at Isabelles (sic) in Heswall it was, unusually, empty although, yet again it changed once we'd settled down to our crossword.

 

 And on Saturday we breakfasted at Brunch in Heswall:

Then we went to the 50's Era Museum in Denbigh. It wasn't the best of weather and the tourist season is drawing to a close and we started with another crossword and coffee at one of their period tables as the only visitors. We spent several very enjoyable hours there reminiscing.

By the time we got into the town centre the wind was beginning to howl and we found an absolutely delightful café - Denbigh Secrets or the Secret Courtyard Café - right opposite the car park. Yes, you guessed it. Lunchtime was well over and we were the only customers although I'm sure they were busy earlier on. They served 4 different very wholesome home-made soups and yummy home made cakes too.

I'll Meet You in Starbucks

"Pardon? I'm in Lewis at the moment."

"So am I. I'm here for the Festival."

"We don't have a Starbucks in Stornoway. Anyway it's a Sunday and only the hotels are open for coffee and meals."

"Trust me. There is a Starbucks. It opened on Thursday. Pick me up and we'll go for lunch."

So I did. And we did.

Mind you I was threatened with men in white coats by one friend who steadfastly refused to believe me when I told her where I was going.

Anyway we had a pleasant lunch in very spacious, airy surroundings even if the weather outside was pretty dreich.

The entrance across the courtyard

The menu - no mention of Starbucks

It is large, spacious, light and airy.

The foyer with shop and more seating and the servery counter to the right.

Exit acroos the courtyard with the newly relocated museum on the left

So not really your typical Starbucks! My guess is that as they are aiming at Americans to occupy the apartments in the Castle the Starbucks name is being used for the coffee to make visitors feel safe and 'at home'. Actually we agreed that the coffee was good.

I won't be moving my loyalty from The Woodlands (which is a hundred or two yards away in the Castle grounds)  but I will visit again.

Back in Scotland

However you look at it it's a long flight from New Zealand to Scotland. I left Wendy and Martin's at around noon on Wednesday 16 March NZ time and arrived at Anna's in Glasgow around noon on Thursday 17 March UK time. NZ is 13 hours ahead of Scotland so the journey took 37 hours. Of that about 28 hours was spent on planes and the rest in terminals and lounges and cars.

In my early long haul travelling days I never slept and between the two countries I actually read each of the books The Glass Palace and Wild Swans on two single journeys. (Two books that I would heartily recommend). This time I slept 6 or 7 hours on the leg from Melbourne to Dubai and another couple of hours on the leg from Dubai to Glasgow. I am extremely fortunate in that I have never suffered, as many people do, from jetlag.

For many years I flew Air New Zealand and felt a considerable loyalty to the airline but their insistence on trying to route me via LA (my preference being Hong Kong) and latterly with no code-share partner between Glasgow and London travel became irritating. So about 5 years ago I did something I'd not done since 2005 and trawled the other carriers for fares. I discovered that Emirates not only flew direct from Glasgow (removing the need to transit via Heathrow) but were about half the price of Air New Zealand. I've been flying with them ever since. 

My preferred eating on the journey:

The first priority yesterday (and today!) was to go to Café Torino for a bacon roll breakfast. Bacon rolls seem impossible to get in Napier so I was really wanting one and their bacon rolls are superb: good bacon on a good quality crusty-topped roll washed down by excellent coffee. 

 

What do Emirates and Café Torino have in common? Excellent, friendly staff.

Napier Café Culture

I'm told that 20 years or so go there was very little in the way of coffee café culture in Napier. Now it's a huge industry. I was sure that I'd blogged about this on my other blog but I can't find any real reference to it. Anyway this is a very small selection of some of the ways to spend time having a coffee or meeting friends in the city. One of the things I've always found curious is that many cafés are open very early (one opens at 4.30 am and many at 6.30 am) but almost all (Starbucks excepted) are closed between 3 and 4pm.

The first two shots are of a café  named Ujazi. I was the first place I had a cofee in Napier in 2005. Wendy said "I'll meet you in Ujazi" and that became a meeting place for a long time.  

I should add that some of the café  pictures like that of Café Devine were taken pretty early on before things had got going last Saturday. There wasn't a vacant seat in the place for most of the rest of last weekend.

 

And two Taradale cafés: the first being the one that opens at 4.30am.

And then to Ahuriri:

This was where I used to go in my early days here when it was Café Ahuriri run by Cheryl about whom I blogged a week or so ago.

A Visit to Eoropie

On Friday CJ and I went up to Ness and spent some time doing a few things CJ hadn't done before and I hadn't done for a long time: visiting Eoropie Beach, St Moluag's Church (which will merit a separate post) and the Eoropie Tearoom.  Actually CJ and Jo tried to eat there twice before but it was full each time although there's more room inside than you might think from the exterior.

Keeping out of the wind

Leakey's Bookshop and Café, Inverness

One of my favourite places for a drink and something to eat is Leakey's.  It is not only convivial and friendly with good coffee and food but is also a wonderful place to browse:

What?

When Anna and I went to the Kelvingrove Art Gallery to see the Glasgow Boys Exhibition - about which I have not yet blogged much to my shame - we also had coffee in the Gallery's restaurant.  On the table was a curious thing:

What, I wondered, was it?  Well the answer was a

Not the best piece of photography I'm afraid but I think you'll get the drift.  I would have got something a bit clearer from their website but it's down at the moment.   And actually I did wonder what had happened to good old service where a waiter caught your eye or whatever.  There was a bit of conflict in my brain, however, between the me that is the old and the Mr Gadget representing the new.  However it was all a bit academic on the day because I didn't get whatever it was that I'd ordered until after we'd finished our coffee and were just getting ready to leave.  By then I didn't want it and didn't have it.  So perhaps all the gadgets in the world don't necessarily provide good service after all.

The Second Day: Result

Well the tournament ended today.  I had a thoroughly enjoyable couple of days ending up runner-up.  The winner of the Scottish Golf Croquet Opens Championship this year was James Hopgood.  Ranked 200 in the world out of 2000 (against my 537 at the moment – I was, I think 267 at my best) he defeated me 7:3 and 7:4 and I, if not at my best, was not playing badly!

Jamieson Walker presenting the Walker Cup to James Hopgood

To round off the day one of my dearest friends (who, 35 years ago was the originator of the boring old fart comment and more recently rescued me with home truths) came over from the Edinburgh side of the country and we met in town and went to Café Hula for dinner.  If you are in Glasgow and going for a companionable meal before the theatre or any time really then it’s in Hope Street opposite The Pavillion Theatre.

Breakfast at The Rio Café

I was invited out to breakfast with friends today. It was a fascinating quartet who sat down to eat. One living in Spain, one in Dubai, one in Glasgow and me, a transient occupant of this City with a heart split between New Zealand and an Island in the Atlantic off the West Coast of Scotland. We met at The Rio Café in Partick. The original idea was for an eggs benedict breakfast but one of the company doesn't like eggs so that was a nono. One preferred eggs florentine leaving one eggs benedict and....me. Now I'd actually been off food for a while and couldn't even be tempted by an absolutely delicious Moroccan lamb dish at the Café Hula on Monday evening which I just about managed to pick at when out with David. But this morning my appetite returned and I managed a breakfast which far exceeded my total food intake since Sunday!

The Rio Café

The breakfast I polished off!

Wirral to Exeter

My satnav was very kind to CJ and I today. I had fully expected our journey to be down the M53, M56, M6, M5 ie a fast (Bank Holiday weekend traffic permitting) and exceptionally boring journey. As it happens Garmin took us down through Shropshire and eastern Wales to the Severn Bridge and thence via the M49 and M5. It must have been able to read our minds. Just before Church Stretton we came across a wonderful café for morning coffee at Leebotwood: the Copper Kettle. The usual Edwards coffee and crossword was completed and the journey continued.

Once over the Southern Severn Bridge - a most elegant structure - the traffic was very heavy and slow and the least enjoyable part of the journey. A quick stop in Bridgwater was quite delightful despite a very unpromising drive into the Town.

All this was in marked contrast to my drive down through the Scottish Borders and Cumbria to CJ's from Glasgow yesterday: