Ambling and rambling

Feeling blue about leaving Fife without having had the chance of cycling more than 500 yards due to a buckled wheel, I decided to head down to Northumberland. Reluctantly bypassing Edinburgh, I joined the road down the Golf Coast, a region peppered with, as the name indicates, several golf courses. 

In Gullane, I looked for and found an old restaurant called La Potinière, which in the late eighties was one of the very few Northern places listed in most of the food guides. Still going strong despite the proliferation of innumerable new restaurants around it.

Further along, the small seaside village of Eyemouth is a sight for sore eyes especially on the sunny day I happened to stop by. Once, during a quiz, I mistakenly argued that it was located in Northern England instead of Southern Scotland.

Winding my way down the Coastal Trail, I came across the busy resort of Seahouses which, I am told, boasts some of the best fish and chips restaurants in the UK. And of course, I had to check one of them and I definitely agree. 

I arrived at my final destination, a seaside caravan park by late afternoon and headed straight to a local supermarket for food supplies.

Although Amble has its fair share of fish restaurants, I decided to make good use of the well-appointed tiny kitchen. As it happened, many of the local eateries were booked up for days anyway, as most Brits have decided to avoid foreign holidays.

I found myself experimenting and coming up with various new concoctions and uploading them to my blog. A fellow caravaner pointed me in the direction of a small shack selling a wide selection of wet fish on Amble marina. 

After the disappointing start to my cycling holiday, I was happy to be able to get out on my bike on most days, extending my distances with each outing, in anticipation of a longer trek planned with two friends in October. The area has an abundance of cycle routes. I have found myself heading along the beautiful Northumberland coast to Alnmouth or Cresswell, grabbing a coffee and cycling back. I broke my modest distance record by clocking up 30 miles on a round trip to the idyllic port of Craster, well known for its kippers.
As I entered the village, the smell of smoked fish reminded me of the time when I overheated some kippers at home for a lovely summer salad only to leave the microwave stinking of fish for many weeks.  

The successful Eat Out to Help Out campaign has now come to an end. Those restaurants that took part were very busy serving food at half price and I heard that a few are even contemplating a continuation of the offer without government help.

After so many weeks in lockdown, it is no wonder that diners have flocked to restaurants with or without the offer. Personally, I love cooking at home, but there is nothing better than going out with family and friends for a meal without worrying about the washing up.