Off on our travels

After 3 months in the Western Cape, its time for a change, so we're back at Cape Town Airport on our way to Colombo via Doha.

Good to get away from the heat wave this week with 37 /38C for the last few days - although a pleasant 24C as we reached the airport this morning. 

Unfortunately, the Qatar lounge here is provided by Bidvest - a stuffy crowded cubby hole of a place. Filled the water bottle and left. Will have to wait for my glass of Fizz until we board.

We have a couple of nights in Doha - one full day to explore and then onwards to Colombo for three nights at the Mount Lavinia hotel - recommended by Angie. Then we are joining an organised activity holiday with Explore - Linda asked for the size and age profile of the group - 7 people from 30's to 70's - and started to complain about putting up with some 'oldie' before she realised that it was me. 

More stories to come, I'm sure 

Dinner at Nobu

At the Paarl Rotary Wine Auction in October - after lunch and a glass or two - I had bid for and successfully bought one of the lots which included quite a lot of wine and a special dinner for two at Nobu. This had to be used before the start of the Christmas holiday so we booked for 15th December - the last available date.

Moving from the cocktail bar to the restaurant, we handed over the voucher for two 'Special Omakase tasting menus' and were guided to our table. Almost immediately, the manager arrived and suggested that he could offer us a much better experience if we were prepared to let him choose a different menu for us. Having suggested that we would like to drink a light Pinot Noir - we left everything to him and in LP's words invited him to 'impress us!'

As we waited for our first course to arrive - and as the evening progressed - we noticed that the restaurant was popular with a variety of 'fashionable' folk including a number of larger ladies whose attire displayed more flesh than I have seen since the strip joint we visited on Rupert's stag night in rural Ontario

While we may have eaten meals of equivalent quality in our time, it is hard to think of anything that was better than the selection of 10 courses which followed. I would love to describe them on a blow-by-blow basis but words and memory fail me.

We managed to finish the bottle of wine, ordered a couple of extra glasses and then enjoyed a dessert with a glass of sweet wine. Slightly apprehensively, I asked for the bill - expecting that we may have spent quite a bit more than the value of our voucher. 

To our surprise, our waiter informed us that, even including the wine, we still had credit left and offered us some takeaway food or a bottle of wine to take home with us. We settled for a couple of nightcaps and left with a small credit balance and a decent tip for the staff as we headed for the concierge and a more conventional - but much more expensive - taxi back to out hotel.

A Christmas treat??

We were in Cape Town for the weekend and despite my natural reticence, Friday evening's events warrant a blog piece as nothing else.

We were staying at our home from home - Rouge on Rose - for our 10th year -  and had dinner booked at an exclusive restaurant - Nobu at the One and Only Hotel.

Since I am still unable to set up an uber account - refer to a couple of posts from January 2017 for the story - I booked a taxi through Bolt, although I may not have examined all the options  - it was very cheap! 

We were picked up by a very friendly and competent driver in a brown Ford Focus!! which had covered a lot of miles. It was only as we arrived at the hotel - and a pair of uniformed doormen rushed to open the car doors for us - that we noticed the three cracks across the width of the windscreen! 

Having settled into our seats in the bar for a pre-dinner cocktail, LP chose a bramble gin drink while I settled for my usual Negroni. Linda's drink looked a bit like a blackberry slushie and after a sip or two she declared herself unsatisfied - shades of the 'what the f*** is that' incident in Kleinmond a few years ago.

On checking, our waitress confirmed that the mixologist had made a mistake and served her an alcohol-free concoction which included a bramble syrup but no gin! 

And that was before we reached the restaurant!! 

Trossachs trip

 On Sunday evening Linda had messaged Ali about the weather forecast and suggested that we change our plan for Monday and recommended a low-level hike at Balquhidder instead of the climb up Ben Ledi. Ali reckoned that her weather app gave a better forecast and we should stick to the original plan. 

So, on Monday morning we drove to Ben Ledi - passing Balquhidder on the way to find the weather was looking quite good as we prepared for the climb - only for Ali to announce that she now thought we'd be better to heed the original forecast and go for the low-level walk instead - so we drove 25 minutes back to Balquhidder and enjoyed the hike from the churchyard by Rob Roy's Grave with no sign of rain or strong winds, a clear view of the top of Ben Ledi in the sunshine (!), a waterfall at Kirkton Glen and a lookout point at Creag na Tuirch - the gathering place of Clan MacLaren - with views along Loch Voil towards Ben More. - apparently Ali thinks that I'm intolerant??

Monachyle Mhor was very pleasant - an excellent restaurant - with a lot of South African staff - an impressive wine list and a comfortable room - with a pair of slipper baths??

Breakfast was just as good as dinner the night before - fuel for our trip to Loch Katrine, where Ali had booked three E-bikes -for Linda, Toby and herself- and a 7-speed 'hybrid' bike for me. Good view of SS Sir Walter Scott preparing for it's first morning voyage along the loch.  

It was a lovely morning for a ride - bright and sunny with the threat of rain showers. Perfect Midge weather! It was fine while we were moving - so we didn't stop for more than a few minutes at a time on the outward 13 mile ride from Trossachs Pier to Stronachlachar. A few more hills than I had expected - no problem for the e-bikers on turbo mode but I was glad of my regular spin classes. The biggest hill was downhill on the way out but promised pain on the return.

Good coffee and cake at Stronachlachar pier, but the rain started as we started the return journey. The big climb was a 12.5% gradient which was a bit testing and meant Linda was standing at the top waiting to take my photo as I reached the crest.

Thankfully the sun came out so we had dried off by the time we got back to the Pier.

Summer in Scotland

We had planned a couple of days on the Isle of Seil with Mary and Brian and we were then carrying on to Balquhidder to meet Ali and Toby for a couple of nights at Monachyle Mhor We'd been watching the weather forecast for a week or so hoping that the showers, high winds and heavier spells of rain would pass us by - however we packed all the wet weather gear and a few extra changes just in case.

In the end, we were quite lucky with most of the heavy rain falling overnight - or when we were already inside. 

Since we were last in Seil in May, Brian had managed to fall off his ride-on mower and fracture a couple of vertebrae so he has been strapped up in a back brace for more than two months with a week or so until his next check-up. 

He was a bit limited in his movement but we managed a couple of beers while we watched the Wales v Springboks game - a bit of a challenge for my Welsh host - but a good performance by the Boks. We managed another beer for the first half of the Ireland v England game before we had to leave for dinner - a good performance by Ireland who deserved the final scoreline.

Got caught by a short shower on the way from car to front door at Tigh na Truish* but as before, we enjoyed an excellent dinner - the venison loin was probably the best dish, although the baked Scallops looked good too. 

*means 'house of the trousers' where island men changed from their kilts which were forbidden on the mainland from 1746 to 1782

On Sunday we drove down to Ardfern for brunch at Lucy's - one to remember as long as you BYOB and then we had a walk with Mary while Brian settled down to watch West Ham v Chelsea - disappointing for Chelsea fans!

Again, despite the forecast we had a walk on Monday morning in warm sunshine before heading for Ben Ledi and our planned hike with Ali and Toby

From Paris to the Isle of Seil

 Our third day in Paris was spent on a little light retail therapy, a few petit cafés, 

followed by a bit more sightseeing, a glass or two of white wine and good Salade des poulpes at the Bistro de la Bastille.  

We met Paul and Kim for an early supper before we headed for the airport and had the chance to catch up on their news. All was going well until we arrived in the departure lounge at Paris-CDG to find that our  flight was delayed. Easyjet at their best - just as on our departure from Edinburgh!! nobody had any information on which gate or when the incoming flight was expected or how long the delay would be. Having spent nearly three hours waiting in a terminal full of noisy weans we finally took off nearly 2 hours late - apparently due to some baggage handling problem at Gatwick according to the pilot. 

Arriving in Edinburgh after midnight we took the easy option and went straight for the minicab rank - bypassing the airport bus on the way. 

With only 30 hours at home before we were due to leave for Seil, Linda had to get busy with the washing machine while I had to remove some shelves and repair and paint the wall in preparation for the arrival of a new painting - which we bought on our last weekend in Millport. 

This was followed by a bit of organising and repacking ready for a visit to Mary and Brian on the Isle of Seil and a couple of nights at Monachyle Mhor with Mad Ali and Toby.

I'm back - but why? and who cares!

So we're in Paris for the first time in 14 years. Not sure how that has happened but suffice to say we've been busy with other things!

Our friend Jimmy C - oft mentioned for our regular readers - is celebrating his 80th Birthday and in light of our past relationship it seemed like a good idea to show up uninvited for his birthday lunch.

With some help from Kim, we arrived in time for pre - lunch champagne on the banks of the Seine

The restaurant was able to make room for us and we passed a very pleasant afternoon with Jimmy and Kim along with their Parisian friends Laurent and Corinne.

Despite the usual copious quantity of wine - of every colour - I managed to stagger home 'sans embarass' and even managed a late supper in a local bistro.

I'd forgotten how much we used to enjoy our regular visits to Paris when we lived in London but it's great to be back.

We spent today on a Seine cruise, a visit ato the Musee d'Orsay and finished with dinner at Le Chardoneaux - a restaurant of TV chef Cyril Lignac. We enjoyed an excellent meal - worthy of a return visit - and joined a French couple at the next table in celebrating their anniversary.

I'm sure we will enjoy tomorrow in Paris before our flight home to Edinburgh.