The hills are alive

Two things that one should remember not to do again: 1. Promise the grandchildren that you’ll take them to Portrush before term starts and 2. Forget that it is a bank holiday weekend.   

Cruising?

Not quite Formula 1

Having said this at least the sun was shining and one could lean “comfortably” against the wind at Portstewart.  The kids were undaunted , made great use of the playpark and then took the dogs along the cliff path down towards Portrush.   

Portrush was gridlocked due to the Mini rally (I used to own a ‘59 mini with mechanical turning indicators) and the marshalls closed off the town centre whilst we were half way through, so Josephine debussed with the children to walk down to Barry’s (where else) whilst I listened to the radio for half an hour and traffic was sorted out. 

Finally joined up with them and indulged in a couple of rides on the Wurlitzer and some other G-inducing  spin around. Luckily they did not want to go on the big dipper this time.  

No room at the inn!!

Absolutely nowhere to get a meal without a couple of hours wait so we went to Mr Chips for fish cuppers and and sat and ate them on the roundabout.   

Myos, Castleknock

Made a flying visit to Mount Sackville College, not far from Castleknock, to do a measure up. Was not there long and as Myos was a prominent feature opposite the Topaz garage where I stopped for diesel (15% cheaper than the North) and the car park looked pretty full I decided that it couldn’t be too bad for a spot of lunch.

An alcove

Entering the large open plan bar area the response to my query as to the availability of a sandwich was that there was only the carvery at lunchtime.

In for a penny in for a pound; I went round to the counter. There were a couple of people ahead of me so I got a chance to look at the offerings.  The roast beef and bacon joint looked really well but I am wary of the amount of food one is expected to eat: asking for small portions is normally greeted with disbelief  and the request ignored anyway.

Carvery

I looked at the plates (about the size of serving trays) of the persons in front of me and saw that they were piled high with meat, roasted and mashed potato and a selection of vegetables.  If I’d eaten that lot I would have needed to sleep for the afternoon!

I settled for the peppered beef with rice and turned down the offer of vegetables and potato on the side! As it was it would have fed a family.

One could not complain about the quality or the quantity.  They serve decent quality food at a reasonable price (€10.00 for the carvery).

As for clientèle; amongst others there was a party of three young mothers with their children, a couple of local businessmen, a construction crew and the architect and the principal of the college. Not a bad mix for a Tuesday lunchtime.

]]> http://josmic.com/?feed=rss2&p=2355 0 http://josmic.com/?p=2294 http://josmic.com/?p=2294#comments Mon, 23 Aug 2010 15:57:28 +0000 Michael Jackson http://josmic.com/?p=2294

Knockagh Monument

A Saturday walk with the dogs along the Loughshore at Whiteabbey gave me another chance to practice with my telephoto lens.  These photos are the best of the bunch. Click on the them to see larger versions.

Watching the camera - curlew & oystercatcher

Coming in to land

Formation flying

Study in black & white

Follow my leader

Showoffs

Takeoff

You go your way, I'll go mine

Beached Jellyfish

Rochestown Park Hotel

The Rochestown Park is another of my favourite haunts on the South Coast.  It is quite a while since I was last there as business needs made the Blarney Park (unfortunately now closed down) or the Carrigaline Court more convenient.  As it was my appointment was in Curraheen,  just off the south circular road as is the hotel.

Last time I boooked in they were looking €120 a night and it is now back to €89 for B&B, a sign of the times.  Having said this they were fully booked which cannot be bad for mid-week.

The rooms are “old world” with plent of space, mine had an L shaped desk with Leather swivel chair as well as the usual dressing table, combined ironing board and trouser press, tea and coffee, etc. etc. Free WIFI as well.

The leisure centre

They have an excellent leisure suite and pool plus a spa which, due to time constraints, I did not get round to using on this trip.

I went for an evening meal in the Sutton Bar rather than the main restaurant. They have quite a good menu and I picked on the duck breast with oriental vegetables and noodles.  The duck was well cooked but I felt that the sauce/glaze was a little too reliant on 5 spice powder.  The vegetables were very good but relied too heavily on various coloured peppers for the volume, whereas I would have preferred a little more in the line of water chestnuts and bamboo shoots.  What I did like was that they served the noodles seperately in a bowl so that one could mix in the sauce as one wanted.  They have quite a good line in wines by the half bottle.

Sutton Bar

The bar was really busy but they have service very well organised with waiters and waitresses allocated to specific areas of around a dozen tables (you may guess the overall size) and you get typical Cork service with a smile and a chat.

I had a fairly early night and was up early for breakfast; there was a notice in the lift suggesting that, due to the number of people in residence this would be a good idea. There was plenty of fruit and a comprehensive selection for an Irish breakfast. My only complaint would be that the cold table consisted of chorizo and a rather bland cheese, not a sign of Irish ham or smoked salmon, which was rather disappointing.  Never mind the tea and toast was most acceptable.

If you want a good hotel on the south side of the City with perfect access to routes out to West Cork then you could do far worse than this.

You can always find a space in the busy car park and no matter what time you arrive there is a menu to suit. Their latest promotion is the 5 to 10 (p.m) menu  with all starters at €5 and all mains at €10. Examples: starter – Mussels in white wine sauce, main – Grilled Pork Chop and Apple Sauce.

On this trip I just opted for the Seafood Chowder and a coffee to keep me going until I got to the Rochestown Park Hotel not far from Cork city. More of that in the next post.

Village Hotel, Otley Road, Leeds

Flew over to Leeds for a couple of meetings with suppliers and after a trip out to Skipton and a tour of Leeds University ended up for lunch at the Village Hotel North, on the Otley Road about 8 miles from Leeds/Bradford airport. 

Very smart looking building and big airy foyer.  The receptionist recommended the bar rather than the restaurant.  This has two big screens showing Sky Sports News, luckily without any sound.  They also have smaller screens with the hotel channel showing easy  listen music videos. 

The menu is pretty extensive with all the usual “pub-grub”, burgers etc.  One chooses and then goes to the bar to order. My only concern would be that they take your credit card off you and keep it behind the bar in a glass.  In these days of credit card and identity fraud personnaly I would not be too happy about this. but my companion did not seem concerned. Trusting crowd Yorkshire people (and not a bad thing either I suppose). 

My associate does not indulge in red meat and chose the chicken burger and chips and, as he was driving, blackcurrant and lemonade.  For myself  the spaghetti with meatballs in a lightly spiced tomato sauce and a glass of Sangiovese. 

Cheerful service, very good food, inexpensive and a big car park. If you can live with the credit card problem – or get them to process it when you order – a good place to eat.

Busy Bees

It's in there somewhere

The day was bright and sunny with the bees (we are lucky enough to have a large number) buzzing around the flower beds, so we decided to make the most of  the weather and see what was happening in the area.

Sentry Hill House - Front Entrance

Isn’t it funny that one can live in an area for 25 years without noticing a local landmark. On Sunday afternoon we took a run up to Sentry Hill House, not ten minutes drive away, and found a 19th century farmhouse with an accordian band playing in the courtyard. They offer tours of the house itself and also have a local historical collection that was bought by the Newtwonabbey Borough Council together with the buildings. In fact the source of nearly everything in the house and collection was William Fee McKinney who lived there for most of his life and amassed and catalogued items of interest from both the local area and his family abroad.
Local schools apparently also use the venue for their history lessons.  One lives and learns!

Knockagh Accordian Band

Following this we took the dogs down to the Loughshore for a run and for the first time this year came across a party in the water at the end of Gideons Green.

Loughshore steps at Gideons Green

It was a flawless performance and I was reminded of the Hedgy Road Plays production at St Genevieve’s back in the ’80s when their dramatic society was producing works that would have graced such a venue had there been one available.

Anyway I feel I must mention a few outstanding performances (in my opinion) as far as this musical was concerned.

Ruaidhri Maguire was magnificent as Thenardier , he  oozed sleaze and came across perfectly as the ultimate opportunist. Fantine, played by Gemma McMeel brought real pathos to the part, Megan Mooney was absolutely obnoxious as Madame Thenardier and Aidan Walsh made Gavroche, the street urchin, truly “sympatico”.

Apart from the actors there were a few eycatching costumes about the foyer. You may notice that wine seem to be a common denominator as well!

Killymaddy Restaurant

From Belfast Killymaddy TIC is about 7 miles to the west of Dungannon on the lefthand side of th main A4. I have stopped there many times over the past few years for coffee or a snack.  It has recently been revamped and includes a craft and knicknack shop and manned (or rather womanned) information desk.  They have the most comprehensive collection of brochures and leaflets covering both local Tyrone attractions and the rest of Northern Ireland and the borders.   They also havae a very comprehensive and free  ”Where to Eat” in Ireland booklet. 

As far as the restaurant goes there is a good variety of dishes including the staples of burgers and fries.  On this occasion I was on my back from a round trip to Sligo (again) and had an excellent bacon and mushroom omelette and chips.  It was much needed as the café at which I normally get breakfast on the outward journey had had nothing prepared.   

Another plus is the clean toilets, hot water and paper towels (there are hot air dryers if you are into that kind of thing) 

Picnic Area

The Centre from the carpark

Just discovered that all the photographs had disappeared from my Picasa album and thus there was a blank slidshow on the 15 Int Pl page – Have now rectified this so click here to see it.