Bike n' Binge

Yesterday I joined some of my roommates for an event they refer to as "Bike n' Binge".  Don't worry, despite the name, it does not involve copious amounts of alcohol.  Instead, it's a homegrown food tour by bike of the Boston area, organized by their friend, Amit.  At about 3 in the afternoon, about twenty of us headed out from Brighton by bicycle to visit 5 foodie destinations in Boston, Brookline, and Cambridge.  The stops were as follows, with my (naturally excellent) choices:

Clear Flour (french bakery, Brookline) - I had a delicious chocolate croissant, and a taste of their regular croissant.  Not the lightest, flakiest pastries I've had, but still excellently made.
 

Lone Star Taco Bar (hipster tacos, Brighton) - The description might say "hipster", but it's really quite refined.  I had their grilled avocado taco, which was, frankly, phenomenal.
 

Formaggio Kitchen (artisanal cheese shop, Cambridge) - Excellent selection of cheeses, a fair number of wine, etc.  I bought some Parmesan that is made by essentially a single farmer in Italy and aged for 2 years, and a 2010 southern Rhone (that was okay, but unremarkable).  We all shared what we had chosen, and took home the rest.  I got half a pound of the Parmesan, which I plan to nibble on over the next month or so.  I also bought some raisins still on the vine.  I haven't tried them yet, but I'm excited to give them a taste soon.

Guru The Caterer (authentic Indian, Cambridge) - Amit, our unofficial Indian tour guide, claimed this is very legitimate Indian.  Honestly, I thought it was okay but not amazing.  And while I don't claim to be an expert on Indian food, I have been to India, so I feel like I have at least a sense for what good authentic Indian food is.

Toscanini's (ice cream, Cambridge) A, in my opinion, somewhat pretentious ice cream shop with a line you wouldn't believe on a Saturday night.  We shared a variety of flavors.  The Earl Gray and Basil with Blackberry (the latter flavor which I couldn't really depict) were excellent. The Saffron with salt several people described as tasting like chlorine (so much for containing the super expensive spice saffron), while the Strawberry tasted and had the texture of a good jam.  I still prefer my favorite flavor, made by J.P. Licks: Coconut with chocolate chips and almond.

Upon finishing out ice cream, we raced back to Brighton in the dark (we unfortunately had fewer lights than I would recommend).  Dano pushed the pace, and we were home in a jiffy, panting and sweaty.  But hopefully we burned off a few calories from the days binge.

Scotland in Hindsight

I finally published the remaining posts on Scotland from my trip last Fall.  It took me almost a year to get myself that organized.  But I think now I am free to take another adventure to Europe.  In order to fully capture my trip, I thought I'd post a few last thoughts.

On my next trip to Scotland, some things I definitely want to check out include (in no particular order):

·      Visit Iona

·      Visit Island Life Museum on Skye

·      Explore Mull

·      Hike some tough mountains in the Cuillin Hills on Skye

·      Explore the outer Hebrides

·      Stay at some farm B&Bs

·      See the inside of the Mackintosh school of art in Glasgow

·      See some live music (with bagpipes, please!)

·      Try haggis

·      Do a long 'advanced' tasting at a distillery

·      Mountain bike?

·      See some other castles, such as Scone, Dunvegan (on Skye), etc.

·      Go sailing?

I also wrote very brief reviews on each of the B&Bs I stayed at.  All were at least fairly decent.  I relied a lot on my guide books and Trip Advisor.  I often booked only a couple nights in advance - I think if I'd even planned a few weeks ahead, I could have likely booked at almost all of the top recommended B&Bs in my books..

·      Garfield House Edinburgh (B) – Good breakfast, tiny room, very hot shower, great host

·      Montague House, St. Andrews (A-) – Good breakfast, very nice, helpful host, but most expensive (60 pounds)

·      Craigroyston, Pitlochry (A) – Good breakfast, sweet host, good breakfast, right in the middle of town

·      Craig Villa Guest House, Inverness (A+) – Great talkative (in a good way) host, excellent food, good location,  very nice rooms, only wish it had parking

·      Dalriada Guest House (B-), Portree – Food was just okay (sausage was not good), helpful host but gave me an uncomfortable feeling like he didn't like his job, no character to house, great views. Next time I would opt for something else, but being up on the hill is quite nice

·      Mayfield B&B (A-) Helpful and nice host, decent room (but private bathroom), solid breakfast, outside of town but did have good views of Ben Nevis

·      Kilchrenan, Oban (A-) – Very nice breakfast room, host didn’t seem terribly interested in me, but they do have sherry or whisky to welcome you, breakfast was decent, nice building and close enough to town to walk it

·      Adelaide’s Guest House, Glasgow (B-) – Very simple, but adequate, very nice hosts, big, with little character, cheap and in decent location

 

Would I go back to Scotland?  Absolutely!  Although first, I would like to tour Ireland in a similar fashion.

Scotland - Day 11

So today marked my last day in Scotland. The weather in the morning was fitting – gray, chilly, and rainy. I made my way from Oban to Glasgow, skirting Loch Lamond, which is supposed to be a favorite holiday spot for Glaswegians, but it looked dreary to me in the weather, so I didn’t make any stops.

It took me a little while to navigate Glasgow to find my car rental drop off, but I did so without too much fuss. Unfortunately, a series of mistakes led me to pay for an extra day. I’m rather irritated about it and plan to write a letter because I feel I was treated poorly. I was almost through my checkout when the attendant mentioned I had not filled up the tank.  I had simply forgotten in the stress of navigating the city, so I asked how much it would be to have the rental service do it, and she said 48 pounds. Gas is expensive here, I had 3 quarters of a tank, and that’s about 75 US dollars. I said I’d rather fill it up myself, so she kindly gave me directions to a “nearby” gas station.  It took me a while to find it, including several wrong turns, but finally I did and topped her off/ However, upon my return (probably 45 minutes later), I was told I was now outside the grace period and now had to pay for an extra day. I couldn’t believe it – I’d arrived on time and had not even been warned I was risking the fee if I didn’t speed back. Between topping of my car and the extra day’s fee, I ended up paying close to 45 pounds, which is almost what I would have paid to do nothing, but at least then I would have been spared the stress of wandering about downtown Glasgow and would not have lost nearly an hour of my afternoon to explore Glasgow. I was so taken aback; I only protested a bit – the attendant indicated she couldn’t do anything anyway because it was automatic in her system. But in fact, she hadn’t even really told me I was be charged an extra day – I had to ask, because the amount seemed higher than I had originally been quoted. I imagine she hadn’t called it out because she was embarrassed. I don’t blame her, although I would have appreciated a warning.  I think it’s a ridiculous corporate policy that is entirely antithetical to customer service. I can’t imagine nickel and diming a customer like this. It would have been different had someone been waiting for the car or were they very busy, but neither were true – it was a lazy Monday afternoon, and they had a surplus of cars sitting around.

In any case, I took a cab to my guest house and then took off by foot in search of food. I eventually stumbled upon a crepere, where I picked up a crepe with pesto chicken and emmenthaler cheese, which I ate in the central square of Glasgow, George Square. I then followed a self-guided walking tour layed out by my traveling companion Rick Steves. Other than some nice walking malls, Glasgow is fairly bleak. It’s hard to put my finger on it, but it simply doesn’t have the charm of many European cities, although it certainly does look European.  Rick Steves had warned that Glasgow wasn’t terribly exciting, which is why I had only left an afternoon for it, so perhaps I was biased, but it seemed true to me.

Along the way, I happened upon what I think is the only gothic cathedral in Scotland.  Apparently the rest have been torn down by religious movements over the centuries.  No trip to Europe is complete without visiting at least one of these magnificent beauties.

Glasgow Cathedral

By the time I was wrapping up my walking tour, I finally started to feel truly homesick and was excited to get on a plane to head home. Interestingly, my cab driver had mentioned to me that a movie starring Brad Pitt had recently been filming in Glasgow, which they had made up to look like Philadelphia. It’s seemed to me a sign that it really was time to return to Philly. (The movie, by the way, is supposedly a high-brow zombie movie – I know, what!? – and is apparently using a highly lauded script that has a similar feel to Children of Men).

Scotland - Day 10

Today I made the brief trip from Fort William to Oban and made my first and only somewhat regrettable mistake on my journey. I had hoped to make it to Oban in time to make it to Iona, the tiny island that is considered the birthplace of Christianity in Scotland. To get there, you have to catch a ferry from Oban to the island of Mull, take an hour plus bus ride across Mull, and then take another ferry to Iona. Because it’s such a process to get to Iona, where you supposedly get about 2 hours, you have to catch the first ferry of the day.

I knew this schedule and thought I left enough time. However, I got held up on the journey by some unforeseen delays on the road (I should have learned to expect these by now – they happen wherever you go – it always takes longer than you think). I still made it to Oban with time to spare, but ended up going to the wrong side of town. Once I figured out how to get to the ferry, I got close, but again had trouble finding the correct parking lot. When I finally figured out the right parking lot (and I wasn’t totally sure), I realized I only had a few minutes to make the ferry. But suddenly my stomach felt very upset and I lost my motivation to hurry to the ferry. In a couple minutes, I heard them call out the last call to board and realized I really wasn’t going to make it. Soon enough, I watched the ferry head off for Mull.

In retrospect, I was disappointed I didn’t make it all the way to Iona. It would have been a beautiful day to see the island. And actually what I most wish I could have experienced was the bus ride across Mull, which is usually fully narrated by the bus driver with all kinds of interesting tales. I shouldn’t have cut the timing so close. But luckily, I did find an alternative so as not to waste the whole day. I took a ferry to Mull and then a short ride bus ride to Duart Castle.

 This is the home castle of the MacLeans, which is still lived in by the chief of the clan. Unlike Eilean Dolan Castle, which is used as a vacation home, my understanding is that Duart Castle really is a full-time home. It wasn’t particularly unique from the other castles I saw, but I do love castles, and I found an interesting story, below:

One benefit of missing the trip to Iona was that I ended up taking what was maybe my best photograph of the whole trip:

The ferry to Mull.  I love this photo, with the lines of the boat and dock  almost intersecting with the lines of the clouds.

One thing my journeys to the Isle of Skye and Mull has led me to further grasp is that Scotland is not only an island nation, but also nation of islands. There are quite a number of populated islands on the west of Scotland, several of which are quite large (among them Skye and Mull). There is quite a network of ferries to move about the islands. I remember learning that Great Britian always had a powerful navy, but it never occurred to me how central water travel was to the inhabitants of the island, probably even more so in Scotland than England.

To conclude the day, I chose a local pub for dinner called Cuan Mor. I really liked the interior – wood and metal, mostly collected from beaches along the west coast of Scotland. In contrast to my expensive and disappointing dinner the night before, this dinner was relatively inexpensive and delicious. The main course was absolutely delicious: chicken stuffed with pork sausage and pistachios, in a Drambouie cream sauce, on a layer of mash potatoes. Simply excellent. (Although I could have passed on the beer – similar to a number of other Scottish beers, I wasn’t a big fan, probably in part because it’s too smooth and not carbonated enough for my taste).

Scotland - Day 9

Today was the day I would climb my first mountain that could claim it is the tallest within its nation’s borders. Now in the grand scheme of things, Ben Nevis is not all that tall, but it’s certainly not an easy hike. In preparation, I stuffed my bag full of warm clothes and other handy things, including my headlamp, just in case. I even emailed my plan and contact info to Nikki in the event I didn’t turn up that evening.

The hike started off quite rainy, and I covered myself head to foot in rain gear. If this whole hiked was going to be in the rain, it was not going to be a very enjoyable adventure, but I was determined to make my ascent – it was my only day for an attempt. Luckily, only 15 minutes into the hike, the rain subsided and the sun itself (seen only rarely in Scotland it seems) made an appearance. I was more than happy to take off my rain gear, as the trail was becoming steeper and I was getting hotter – “breathable” rainproof gear is only mildly effective in my opinion.

I made good time up Ben Nevis, reaching the summit right around 3 hours, including a few stops for photos along the way. Even though the last hour had been in a damp cloud, I was so hot from the effort of ever-ascending that I was down to a t-shirt. But as soon as I stopped moving, I realized how cold it had become, and quickly stripped off my damp t-shirt and put on all of my other clothing to try to stay warm.

Looking back at a mountain loch halfway to the summit of Ben Nevis

The cloud line was clearly defined

At the top, it was very foggy and crowded.  It was a strange scene.  I had to wait  in line for a summit picture.

The summit of Ben Nevis - a eerie and crowded spot

Climb the tallest mountain in a country - CHECK!

Scotland - Day 8

Today I bade goodbye to the Isle of Skye, sadly. When and if I come back to Scotland, I will definitely be back to this beautiful isle for more. I considered doing another hike in the Cuillen hills (shorter this time), but I was a bit tired from my hike the previous day and didn’t want to wear myself out for tomorrow’s ascent of Ben Nevis, the tallest mountain in Great Britain.  It was also a bit rainy, so it felt more like a travel day than a day for hiking. I had planned a different route out of the Isle of Skye, which this time involved a fairy ride back to the mainland. Aside from simply wishing to see some new scenery, I had chosen this route because it is supposed to be quite beautiful and follows closely the route of a famous train. In fact, this very train was used for parts of the Hogwarts Express in the Harry Potter movies. I wasn’t going to ride it since I had a car, but thought it would be fun to at least see some of the tracks and the scenery.

But, as it turned our, shortly after leaving the ferry, I noticed the train was moving almost parallel to me. Suddenly and spontaneously, it occurred to me that I should try to get some shots of the train. It’s an old train, after all, and puts out a beautiful long trail of smoke behind her. Before long, my race with the Hogwarts Express had begun. I would come upon an area that either was in view of the tracks, or seemed to be close to the tracks (based on intuition, mostly), park my car, sprint to a good viewing point, get out my camera, and inevitably, just as I was getting ready the train would come roaring by. The first time I was late by literally just a few seconds and could only really capture its smoke trail as it shot off through the woods. I would sprint back to my car and peel off in search of the next viewpoint. It seemed like each time, I would get a little closer. Finally, at the fourth stop, at a famous viaduct in which the train is often seen in photographs, I had the train beat by a few minutes. I scrambled over a fence and up a rocky embankment to get some photos of the train crossing the bridge. As I clambered up the wet and muddy rocks, I could hear the train coming in the distance. But finally I had it beat and was able to get off a few good shots before it sped on. Unfortunately, a poorly placed electrical line blocked some of the best shots, but I think a few will be usable.

From there, I took my time into Fort Williams, only stopping to snap a few shots of Ben Nevis, its summit shrouded in clouds. I had a decent meal at a local pub downtown, and then headed to bed early in anticipation of tomorrow’s ascent.

Scotland - Day 7

Today was my day to explore the Isle of Skye (Cloud Island in Gaelic) and the weather was extremely cooperative. It was a fairly sunny day for a change – the perfect day for a hike. I began the day with intentions of driving all the way around the Trotternish peninsula on the northern end of the island with a hike in the midde, but things did not play out quite as I had hoped.

As soon as I began to drive up the east coast of the peninsula, spectacular views of the mountains and seaside cliffs greeted me. I seemed to be pulling over every mile in order to take pictures. A key stop included Kilt rock, which is a cliff on the sea that is said to look similar to a kilt, which it does with vertical ridges that look almost like pleats.

Kilt Rock

After a quick break for lunch, I headed up a side rode towards the center of the peninsula towards my mid-day hike. (For the most part, my lunches have been very light – the heavy Scottish breakfasts have left me full until 2 or 3 in the afternoon. But today I wanted to at least get a little something additional in me before I began my hike.) The hike I had chosen is called the Quirang, which none of my books seem sure of what it means. I made my way up a very narrow and steep road that led to a low ridge from which the hike begins.  From there, I parked (had to park in a “passing place” because the parking lot was full – popular hike, apparently) and started out by foot.

I had borrowed a hiking guidebook from my B&B that said there was a difficult side trail up a narrow ridge on the right that was only for skilled scramblers, so I naturally naturally headed up the first ridge I came to. One side was a rocky cliff, and the back side was a very steep grassy hillside. Even the grassy side was incredibly steep, and I found I had to zig-zag to make progress.  There were little mini-grass ridges all along the hillside which I tried to stick to. Presumably these are created by sheep as they make there way up and down the hills. Without them, the hillside was so steep, there was serious risk of slipping and then tumbling down the hill. I finally summitted the ridge, snapped some photos, and then slowly descended the other side of the ridge, only to have to then make a rather difficult ascent back up to the trail.

The whole time I had hiked this ridge I had not seen a real trail. I presumed this was because it was so challenging and out of the way that most people avoided it. However, as I made my way along the path, I discovered a side trail to my right which ascended another rocky protrusion.  And that’s when I discovered my mistake – I had gone off piste in my eagerness to climb something challenging.

My next adventure involved hiking up a very steep scree field to my left between a rocky pinnacle and cliffs. It was so steep and there were so many loose rocks, I started several rolling down the path. Each time it would happen, I would stop and watch its progress, ready to shout out a warning to anyone below, but luckily they would stop each time as if by their own will.

After some more exploring, I descended this area (luckily by a less treacherous route), and continued on the trail towards a pass that would lead me up to the overhanging cliffs atop the mountain. I was hiking at a fast pace (at times jogging), and soon found myself on the ridge and ready to make my way back to my car.  As I ascended the ridge towards the summit of the mountain, I was quickly surprised by how different these mountains are from what I am used to. Probably because they are so old, the tops of most of these mountains are not a peak, but rather a long “gently” sloping side on one end that leads up to a cliff face on the other (by gentle I mean not as steep as a ridge, but still an incline worthy of significant effort). These sloping sides are covered in heather (thick, soft plants low to the ground) and look like a giant sloping field raised in the sky. As I neared the summit, the field became less steep and the path became less clear. Once I actually reached the summit, the only trail I could make out at all was the one I had just come up. Confused, I headed in what I thought was the right direction. Soon, I saw some hikers in the distance and started to follow them.  Before long, I found that I was hiking towards what were actually probably sheep farmers, and I began to find the going quite challenging, as the ground became increasingly wet and uneven. Before long, I was stepping on heather and other spongy plants that would sink down until water was poring over the tops of my shoes, and I was quite disoriented. Eventually, I decided I must be going the wrong way and decided to turn around and try to make my way back to the summit. Luckily, I was able to find it, and tried a new route down, which also ended in me being confused and frustrated. At this point the sun, was starting to dip and I began to become a little nervous. I probably still had 3 hours of sunlight, but I had neglected to bring my headlamp (I had packed it, but thought this hike would be short enough that there was no way I would need it - lesson: always bring a flashlight). After some consideration, I decided to go back down the way I had come until I found the cliff face, and then follow it around until I could not proceed or I hit the trail. (In the former case, I was probably going to have to rectrace my steps the whole way I had come in, which was going to be significantly longer, but at least I would know the way).

Thankfully, my plan worked out and I soon found what seemed like a reasonably well-travelled trail. 30 minutes later, I could see the parking lot, and another 30 minutes and I was safely in my car. Unfortunately, between my excursions off the trail and getting a wee bit lost, I had spent most of the day on my hike, so I wouldn’t have time to see some of the other sights I had planned to visit. Nevertheless, overall it had been a great hike with lots of adventures and good views.

After a quick nap back at my B&B, I headed back into Portree for dinner. Unfortunately, I hadn’t made reservations (was this really necessary in mid-September). Every restaurant I went to either was fully booked or was about to close down. (It was close to 9, and apparently in many parts of Scotland, restaurants close their kitchens about that time. This shocks me because I imagine everyone eating a rather late dinner in Europe, but this does not hold true for at least Scotland). Eventually, I returned to the same place I had eaten dinner the night before and they were happy to serve me. It would have been nice to try somewhere new, but at this point I was famished and my dinner the night before had been quite good.  I ended up opting for fish and chips because after the afternoon’s exertion, fried food sounded amazing and seemed well-deserved.

Scotland - Day 6

For reference, Scotland is about the size of Maine, but has the population similar to the Philadelphia metro area - both are somewhere around 5 million. (To keep things in perspective, Maine's population is far less, at a little over 1 million). In any case, it's helpful to understand that Scotland is dramatically less densely populated than England, even though they are both located on the same island.

I forgot to mention yesterday that at Blair Castle, I heard what was very likely the worst bagpiper I've ever witnessed. About three times a day, at predetermined times, someone goes to the front of the castle and plays. I like the bagpipes and thought the setting in front of a real Scottish castle would be particularly cool. Now I don't pretend to be a bagpipe connoisseur, but this bagpiping was just terrible. While the high notes on a bagpipe can sometimes sound whiny, this guy sounded just horribly out of tune in addition to particularly whiny. I simply took a few pictures and then walked back inside the castle to avoid the noise.