June 16
Glasgow
A late morning but the sun was starting to shine. In the absence of trains through Dumbreck on Sundays, Bonnie had to drive me to the nearest underground station, Shields, about five minutes away. I proffered my over 60s rail card in the hope of saving some cash but my offer was completely ignored. The train rushed in too fast to take a photo and then rushed out again.
The same happened 15 minutes later at Hillhead. The man at the top of the escalator said he didn't think my Freedom Pass would work on the underground as the local council and the train company didn't like each other. He couldn't have been nicer, however.
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The Hilton is an ugly building about 300 yards along the busy and cosmopolitan Byers Road. The receptionist - of West Indian origin - was charming, very helpful, and found me a room even though it was before the official check-in time. The room was smart and I abandoned my belongings and set out again.
Byers Road was busy. I window shopped my way down it and found an old pub, The Aragon, in which to have a decent real ale and a packet of crisps, the nearest to food that they served.
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The Hanoi Bike Shop, up a side street, is small and scruffy but does good Vietnamese food. I ignored the temptation to have a pho, that would have been far too big, and had a couple of cold spring rolls instead. They were good and the larger meals I saw being served around me looked excellent.
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At the end of Byers Road are the Botanic Gardens. On a pleasant Sunday afternoon, they were heaving. I took lots of photos, visited the hot houses and had a reasonable look around.
The clouds started to thicken and I'm sure I felt a spot of rain, so I collapsed in front of the tennis on TV and the cricket on the computer. I felt really tired and had a snooze, thus missing some of both sports events.
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At the appropriate time, I was washed and changed and was outside the hotel in a calm and warm evening. There were a few clouds about but I felt able to leave my waterproof behind. Ashton Lane is cobbled, trendy and full of bars and restaurants. The Ubiquitous Chip is a rabbit warren but I managed to find the brasserie, which is upstairs on a sort of mezzanine floor. |
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They were expecting me but had sold the fishcakes that I wanted. I chose the ox tongue with pickled oyster, instead. This turned out to be interesting but not something that I would choose again. The tongue had been shredded & deep fried so that it had the consistency of Chinese fried seaweed. Pickling oysters is sacrilege! It was fun though. The Yealands Sauvignon Blanc by the glass was good.
The 500 ml carafe of red - a French Merlot - was a good idea. As with the half bottle the other night, it enabled me to have a good drink without going over the top. As it only cost £10.60 for the carafe, it was relatively cheap.
The pork with crispy polenta and broccoli puree was very good. Lots of interesting flavours and textures. There was a flavour in the pork that I couldn't identify, which will annoy me for ages.
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The pudding menu had one item that combined rhubarb with Rutherglen Muscat. What else could I chose! It was wonderful although, perhaps, a little more rhubarb would have been nice.
I was still warm and the area was crowded with Sunday night revellers, drinking outside the local clubs and bars. The continent comes to Glasgow!