View from the Badachro Inn
looking towards Gairloch
Ever
since 2011 we have been spending all or a substantial part of August in
Scotland. Mainly in Newtonmore in the Cairngorms but always with a week away on
the road every year. This has taken us to the Outer Hebrides, Orkney, John
O’Groats and the islands of Skye, Mull and Islay.
The
scenery, of course, particularly on the West Coast, is very often spectacularly
breathtaking. The weather can either be wonderfully magical lighting up the
landscape, in particular long views over ranges of mountains or chains of
islands stretching out into the far distance. It can also be spectacularly wild
and foul - high winds and long periods of rain. The 60 hours of rain on Islay
last year will remain etched on my memory for many years to come.
I
have posted on a number of occasions about the renaissance of Scottish food. It
is now possible to eat well widely in Scotland with the country’s produce
celebrated whether it is from the sea or the land. It is not just at luxury
establishments like Fonab Castle, where we were for a couple of nights last
week and where you would expect to eat well, but in many other more modest
establishments that serve excellent food.
On a day trip to Orkney last Friday we each enjoyed a very tasty bowl of seafood chowder at the Ferry Inn at Stromness that included a very generous portion of smoked haddock. This chowder was a creamier version of Cullen Skink, a traditional hearty Scottish soup, made with smoked haddock and potato. It is almost a meal in itself and certainly ideal for a light lunch.
Lentil
soup is another popular and traditional dish and again a good lunchtime option.
We stopped for a Sunday lunchtime snack at Balnakeil near Durness, the small
town on Scotland’s north west coast and closest to Cape Wrath. Balnakeil was
once a military establishment but has now become a craft village. We had an
excellent lentil soup at The Whale Tale, a new and very welcoming café that
only opened in April of this year. This came with good bread, which is another
sign of the change. Increasingly cafés and restaurants either make their own
bread or source good locally made bread. Cheese scones, which can be delicious,
are also often served with soup.
Fish
and chips remains a popular option - either cod or haddock. We have had some
delicious examples on our current tour around the north of Scotland following
the North Coast 500, the now popular 500-mile round trip around the northern mainland
of Scotland that starts and finishes in Inverness. Most visitors go clockwise
round the circuit, while we opted to go round anti-clockwise so didn’t have to
follow too many camper vans. Examples include a very fresh fish fried while we
waited in a friendly chippy in Thurso and very good haddock at the Seaview
Hotel at John O’Groats.
Most
of our 2017 stay was at in one of the well-equipped cabins at Natural Retreats
at John O’Groats. My friend and frequent commentator, Luc Charlier, will be interested
to know that there is good cycling to be had up here on mainly very quiet
roads. On Sunday, however, we moved on westwards to Gairloch going along the
stunning north and then down the north west coast.
Here
we stayed at Easan Beag, an excellent bed and breakfast run by Louise and
George Mackenzie. They were very welcoming, the accommodation very comfortable
and reasonably priced. Easan Beag is very certainly recommended if staying at
this attractive bay resort.
That
night we ate well at the Badachro Inn, just across the bay from our
accommodation but a nine-mile drive around the bay to get to the inn. However,
It was worth the journey - yet another example of the plenitude of good places
to eat now in Scotland.
Starter: Loch Fyne smoked mussels
Starter: duo of salmon – hot smoked and smoked
Fillets of sea bass
Roasted cod
List of special dishes
Wine list with a selection from around the world
It
is interesting to see that this renaissance of Scottish food not only
celebrates the wonderful seafood from around the Scottish coast as well as the
fine beef and lamb but traditional dishes such as haggis and black pudding are
treated with respect and often given a new treatment. Deep fried Mars Bars,
however, remains out in the cold.
Rock Rose Gin
As
well as its interesting wine list Badachro distills its own artisan gin, which
is sold in the inn. This is another facet of the revival of interest food and
drink in Scotland with gin and beer leading the charge. Distilling gin and brewing beer is increasingly
common Scotland as it is the rest of the UK. At the Seaview Hotel in John
O’Groats CRM took the Rock Rose, which is distilled at Dunnet Bay Distillery
a little further west down the coast. This distillery was commissioned on 21st
August 2014. It also distils vodka and for both uses locally sourced
botanticals. Rock Rose Gin is now available from the Co-op in Newtonmore at £34.99.
Staying
at John O’Groats the old fire station has been turned into a brewery – John O'Groats Brewery.
I enjoyed a couple of pints of their Duncansby, an attractively hoppy amber
beer named after nearby Duncansby Head, the most north-eastern point of
mainland Scotland.
It
is no wonder Scotland is attracting many visitors this year – those from
mainland Europe benefitting from a very favourable exchange rate due to the
idiocies of Brexit.
