Last Sunday was our last day in Glasgow. We set off to find
an interesting spot for breakfast & were most successful in discovering a
French brasserie called Cote, where
Wes had the best coffee of the trip to accompany his French breakfast, while I
tucked into eggs Royale, poached with smoked salmon.
We headed off to St Enoch’s station to travel on Glasgow’s
Underground, of which we knew nothing! It was built in 1896 & has 15
stations which loop around the River Clyde. We alighted at Kelvinhall &
walked around the University, dodging the film cameras which had renamed the
entrance as “St Hugo’s Hospital” (complete with ancient ambulance). Our goal
was the Hunterian Museum, which was
mind-boggling. William Hunter was a great collector & anatomist, who
bequeathed his substantial collections to the University of Glasgow in 1793.
Eventually I could walk & gaze no more, so we caught
the underground (called by locals the Clockwork Orange) back to St Enoch’s
Station which is the closest to Glasgow Central Station & rested for a few
hours. Dinner that night was at Charcoals,
a busy Indian restaurant nearby & we enjoyed the change in cuisine.
The next morning we left Glasgow by taxi & picked up
our Avis hire car (a Citroen) before heading to the Isle of Arran. We are not
used to driving European cars & it takes quite a while before you hit the
indicators instead of the windscreen wipers as everything is on the reverse
side. However, Wes got the hang of it quite quickly, and after a couple of
hiccups, we found ourselves driving towards the ferry terminal at Ardrossan. We
detoured to the harbour-side town of Irvine, where we stopped at Gro Coffee, a highly-recommended cafe
for brunch. It didn’t disappoint.
The ferry took about an hour & we found ourselves on
Arran driving around as it was too early to check into our B&B, Monamore in Lamlash. We looked at a
ruined castle, admired the mountains & horses & windy roads &
enjoyed looking at water wherever we went. Our room was very well-appointed
& welcoming & after a rest we headed out for dinner. Most of the pubs
were family places, so we ended up at Glenisle,
where two overworked waitresses were managing four rooms of diners. Eventually
a table became free & we enjoyed an excellent meal.
Wes about to tuck into venison
Sadly, I became ill overnight, not sure it was the food,
which was very fresh & well-cooked, but it meant that the next day was cancelled
as I couldn’t get out of bed. Wes very kindly stayed with me all day, which was
reassuring.
We got up early on Wednesday & drove around some more
parts of Arran before catching the ferry back to the mainland & driving to
our favourite spot, Pitlochry. First stop was the House of Bruar, where we had a cuppa & admired all the beautiful
foodstuffs & clothing etc.
We checked into Tigh
Na Cloich, an old guest house built on the site of the stone that gave
Pitlochry its name. I think we had the smallest room in the place, but the warm
welcome & thoughtfulness of our hosts more than made up for it. We had
dinner there that night – a small menu, with everything cooked to your tastes.
Quaint & delightful.
Next morning, after a yummy breakfast, we set off to look
at some of our favourite things – here is
the dam with mist above & below.
Then onto the Fish Ladder, where I was extremely
disappointed to find that the tally box was inaccessible. However, we managed
to walk around as much as we could & I even spotted one salmon getting
ready to climb!
We walked back into town, after collecting our tickets for Chicago, visited some of our favourite
shops, stocked up on Glacier Mints,
a Scottish favourite, and had a quick cuppa in Morton’s, our preferred coffee shop.
That afternoon, we saw the matinee of Chicago, and as is usual here, were blown away by the quality of
the production. Everyone in the repertory group accepted each year for
Pitlochry Festival Theatre has to be able to act, sing & play at least one
musical instrument. This year’s group has talent in spades. We were sorry not
to have seen the rest of the season, which goes from May to October &
finished last night.
Walking back to Tigh Na Cloich after the show
Back in our hotel, we opted for a Hendricks gin & an
Edradour whisky before dinner in the old-fashioned lounge of our guest house.
We had planned to try other restaurants, but the food here is as good as we
have eaten anywhere in Pitlochry.
On Friday, we did some of our favourite walks – through the
golf course, to Moulin & onto
the Black Spout. We walked back into
town along the main road & discovered the beautiful Holy Trinity Church, with the neatest graveyard I have ever seen!
After a reviving hot drink at Morton’s,
we headed for the second-hand bookstore on Pitlochry Railway Station, where the
volunteer, Carolyn, turned out to have been our guide on our backstage tour of
the Festival Theatre four years ago. We very much enjoyed our encounter with
her again & her 18-year old grand-daughter, who was busy getting the
children’s books in some order.
Our guesthouse Tigh Na
Cloich, us at Black Spout waterfall, the neat graveyard at Holy Trinity Church,
garlic at the House of Bruar & dinner at Tigh Na Cloich
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