Tag Archives: Fort William

Café Ecosse

 “Hands up anyone who has the slightest inkling of what is going on in British politics.” After yet another farce in the House of Commons last night that would be a perfectly valid question to ask. “No, Theresa, put your hand down”.

Let us have a go at defining ‘farce’. The British people, voted to leave the EU. We disagree fundamentally but recognise it as a simple straight forward instruction – ‘leave, no deal’! The fact that they did so on the basis of fairy tales and lies is beside the point. However, almost all our politicians, including the PM, are promising to “deliver on that instruction from the British people” while, simultaneously, ruling out ‘no deal’. That’s the farce … all ‘deals’ are contrary to what the people voted for. And just when you thought it couldn’t get any more farcical Theresa May announces, after all this time, that she is willing to speak to the opposition? Whatever next?

What’s in a name?

Today we are in the town of Invernevis .. or at least, that’s what it will most likely be called once Scotland gets its independence from ‘the farce’. Currently it’s called Fort William. Originally it got its name from William of Orange who built it in order to control the locals. It was then renamed Gordonsburgh, then Duncansburgh before eventually reverting to Fort William. However, this time the ‘William’ bit was after Prince William, Duke of Cumberland otherwise  known fondly by Scots as “Butcher Cumberland”. Hopefully, when Scotland becomes independent it will rid itself of the name along with all other remnants of colonialism. Invernevis sounds good to us.

Internal view of Café Ecosse, Fort WilliamThe second largest town in the Highlands after Inverness it sits at the foot of Ben Nevis, the UK’s highest hill. It therefore has it’s own weather system as the rain clouds sweep in from the Atlantic. Annual rainfall is three times that of Edinburgh. It rains a lot and today is no exception. It also sits at the northern end of the West Highland Way and the southern end of the Great Glen Way so there are always a lot of wet walkers around. This place, Café Ecosse, is just the sort of place you might find them … it’s pretty basic. Nothing wrong with that as long as the scones are good!

Rescued hat

We were served by a young lady of indeterminate A scone at Café Ecosse, Fort Williameastern european origin who seemed to be running the place single handedly. They have a very elaborate customer service notice on every table which we felt was a bit OTT. We didn’t bother using it because the list of things in need of improvement would have been too long. We had a couple of sandwiches which were okay then we shared a scone. No cream but with plenty A notice at Café Ecosse, Fort Williamof fruit, it was okay  … no topscone but okay. At least we were in out of the rain. When we left Café Ecosse the rain had gone off and the young lady  who had provide our scone came running after us with my hat. I think Pat wished she hadn’t bothered. There’s nothing wrong with my hat so at least I was grateful!

Beira

Let us tell you about Beira, mother of all gods and goddesses. She was a giantess who had blue skin, rust coloured teeth and one eye. Hand down Theresa!! Beira built Scotland’s mountains with a magic hammer and when her maid Nessa was naughty she transformed her into a river which eventually formed Loch Ness. Ben Nevis was Beira’s mountain throne. Now, if you think this might be a little far fetched, can we refer you back to ‘the farce’ at the beginning of this post. Beira, suddenly seems quite plausible.

PH33 6AT                   tel: 01397 705751               EcosseFB     

 ///obeyed.spurring.revised

Onich Tearoom

We were heading north for a few days but were caught up in some sort of cycling event. For the first one hundred miles of our journey there was a cyclist every two hundred yards. With a queue of traffic waiting to overtake each one, it made for a very slow journey indeed. Having finally shaken them off at Ballachulish we thought a congratulatory scone was called for.

Onich Hotel at the Corran Ferry was our destination of choice since neither of us had ever been there in spite of having passed it many many times in days gone by. It was sconeless! The girl we spoke to, in her broken English,  only seemed to have the vaguest idea of what a scone actually was … aarrgghh! In high dudgeon we set off for Fort William but no sooner had we started than we came on this place, Onich Tearoom … just the ticket!

K4s and K6s

The eagle eyed amongst you will have immediately spotted a K6 red telephone box. It is currently used to store baby seats for the tearoom. We couldn’t get access to the manufacturer’s label but it would almost certainly have been made in Kirkintilloch.

K6 telephone box in Buenes Aires
K6 in Buenos Aires

We say “almost certainly” because our indomitable Trossachs correspondents, on return from their K6 experience in St Kitts & Nevis,  remembered a similar experience in Buenos Aires a couple of years back. What are they like? When they looked out the photos, however, they were surprised to see that it was made by the Carron Company in Falkirk and thought it might be a fake. Definitely not a fake. A few K6s were indeed made in Falkirk but the vast majority were made in Kirkintilloch. On the other hand all K4s (the ones incorporating a post box) were made in Falkirk. First to send a picture of one of these wins a prize!

Internal view of Onich tearoom with K2 souvenir telephone box
Onich tearoom with K2 souvenir telephone box
Definitive guide

To confuse things even further they had K2s for sale inside the tearoom … almost certainly all made in China. Sconey purists are probably thinking that we are getting carried away with telephone boxes rather than concentrating on the day job. Apologies but we do keep coming across them and they do raise a lot of comment. For the allaboutthescones definitive guide to telephone boxes click here. A scone at Onich Tearoom

Anyway, enough of that for the moment, back to the job in hand! We ordered two fruit scones to go with our tea. Our friendly helpful host brought them with a generous portion of jam and a pat of Irish butter. Although freshly baked that morning by his wife, we felt that there was just something missing in the taste department. Couldn’t quite put our finger on it. Enjoyable enough but no topscone!

Onich, lies on the shores of Loch Linnhe just short of Fort William and its name in Gaelic means ‘frothy bay’. At one time it was considered to be one of the prettiest villages in Scotland. On our visit however it was a wee bit dreich (raining) so we didn’t see it at its best. Old postcard of Onich village ... prettiest village in Scotland

Whose fault?

Nothing dreich about Scotland’s economy according to the latest figures. It is both bewildering and amusing to see the media’s treatment of the news that Scotland’s economy is doing four times better than the rest of the UK. And that’s after ten years of SNP government. After years of delightedly reporting that Scotland’s economy was on its knees they are still trying to spin this into a bad news story. The government’s spokesman, Rupert Murdoch, eventually resorted to saying in The Times, that it was all down to the influence of London. We hope they remember that when Scotland’s economy is not doing so well. Then, of course, it is all the Scottish government’s fault.

View from Onich Tearoom
View from Onich tearoom towards Ardgour and Ardnamurchan

PH33 6RY         tel: 01855 821230              Onich Tearoom TA

The Tyndrum Inn

Tyndrum is probably most famous for gold mining and the Green Welly Stop. At a fork in the road, it is always busy with traffic either heading west to Oban or north to Fort William. The West Highland Way provides a steady stream of walkers all year round. The Tyndrum Inn sits along side the Green Welly and provides accommodation as well as all the usual things you would expect from a small hotel.

We found it a little odd from many points of view. It did not look like a self-service kind of place .. but it was. You ordered your scone at the bar and then took your seat wherever that happened to be. As things, like your scone, appeared on the bar you had to go and collect it. The same for your tea or coffee. The order did not appear in one go so several trips were involved just to get a scone and some coffee .. odd. We are sure it would have been just as quick to bring it to the table as dump it on the end of the bar. IMG_8254

That said our home-baked scone was actually quite good. However the Inn in general looked as if was in need of some serious investment. Until that happens we will not be rushing back.

Serious investment is also needed in the Scotland Bill which gets its second reading today at Westminster. The Smith Commission proposals are way too little. If they try to force it through they might as well give up on the Union. Scotland voted for something else completely. Would they be that stupid? Think they might be. Fluffy Mundell has just announced a £170m cut in the previously agreed Scottish budget. Tories in Scotland seem to be on some sort of suicide mission.

FK20 8RY       tel:01838 400219        Tyndrum Inn

The Green Welly Stop

Green Welly Stop logoBecause it is situated in Tyndrum at a bifurcation in the road, one road takes you north to Fort William and the other west to Oban, this is a an extremely busy stop-off place for cars, motorbikes and tour buses. Just as well it has a huge car park to cater for all the traffic. There are several shops as well as the Green Welly Stop which is correspondingly big and must cater to thousands and thousands of tourists. Hence you can get pretty much anything you want on a self service basis. Needless to say it was the scones we were after.

A Green Welly scone!
A Green Welly scone!

 

To be fair they were better than expected. But struggling to get above average … which is pretty good for someplace so busy. Jam was extra. All in all it was pretty much what you would expect from a place like this. Did the job and that is what the Green Welly Stop is set up to do.

Main meal items produced in the main kitchens are hearty affairs. We always have a selection of traditional Scottish dishes on offer, as well as the internationally recognised Lasagne and macaroni. Pasta dishes do feature on our all day menu – these are so popular with the customers who have been hill walking, cycling or whatever healthy pursuit they have been doing!

Always trying to improve quick-to-eat, snack items, you don’t want to miss our range of home made pastries. These are a crispy delight! There is a vegetarian cheese and onion option, and the meat pastries vary daily between Steak, Haggis and Steak Mince. Enjoy these in the restaurant, or purchase them at the Snack Stop! A cracking meal deal is available here – a pastry and a soup to take away and enjoy!

Haggis and Steak

Our home baking continues going from strength to strength – once again, all of our baking is available for you to take home – The Snack Stop and the Filling Station have baking selections and we highly recommend our Fruit, Banana and Date and Walnut loaves – these are all baked fresh for you.

FK20 8RY     www@thegreenwellystop.co.uk     tel: 01838 400271