This Isn’t Your Grandmother’s Oatmeal – Days Nine through Eleven

Day Nine

You’ve just spent a couple of evenings on the Dingle Peninsula, had a full day of adventure touring the Blasket Islands, and you’re getting up to have breakfast at the Heaton’s Guest House.  How can it get any better? 
Yesterday, you found out that the breakfast for this B&B included a traditional sideboard with European breakfast items—sliced deli meats, cheeses, muesli, fresh chopped fruits, several yogurts (the rhubarb vanilla was excellent on the fruit and muesli), cereal and milk (for the un-daring).  Separately there is a table with homemade breads, scones, and bread pudding (with a nicely caramelized crust).  Finally there is a full menu of breakfast items and from the morning before you remember that the small omelets with chives, sliced smoked salmon, and crème fraise were wonderful. 
But you are in Ireland at a great guest house and you see that they have the Heaton Treat as the lead item on the menu.  So you give it a try.  Cheri ordered the fresh haddock for breakfast, which was recommended by the owner, and I am told that it was excellent.
A little later the owner comes to the table accompanied by one of the waitresses carrying a tray.  From the tray he takes a bowl of hot porridge—oatmeal by a different name—that has a few sliced strawberries arranged in the middle, and places it in front of you.  Then from the tray he takes a small bowl of dark brown sugar and sprinkles a tablespoon of the sugar on the strawberries.  Next from the tray comes a bottle of Drambuie, and with another tablespoon he uses the liquid to soften the sugar on top of the porridge.  Finally, a quarter cup of cream is poured over the whole amount along with the instructions, “don’t mix, just slice down through with your spoon and eat it like a layered drink.”  Now this is breakfast!  You feel ready to take on the day…and that’s the way day nine started.
Soon after breakfast we headed out on the road to see some more of the Peninsula.  We headed west from the guest house and after a few miles we came upon an old church and graveyard.

It was interesting, but right after I got the picture of the bee in the fuchsia-like plant the low battery sign showed up on the camera.   So we headed back to the guest house to recharge the battery.  I also took this as an opportunity to write one of the earlier days in the travel-blog. Since we’d headed  back to the guest house, we decided that getting back on the road we would head in the other direction and look for the Minard Castle.  It took us several wrong turns—see the earlier comments about limited signs and lack of directions—but we did get to see some more back roads and areas along the coast.

 

Eventually we found the castle and the surrounding beach area.  You can see the photos of the album in the album to the right.  Something about these rocks called out to me—a sloping back, someplace for my butt—and before I knew it, there I was basking in the sun. Looking up from this reclined position I had a great looking lady next to me…a great way to spend some time on the beach.  And you can see the other view below.

View Full Album From inside the castle you could look back through the entrance and see the coastline outside.  Since it was a nice beach we decided that this was a great place to stick our feet into the ocean. Since we had some time and the weather was beautiful we started to look around for a place to have lunch.  Walking around I saw these rocks along the edge of the beach.

From the beach we headed back to the guest house and then a walk around the town before heading out for supper.  I took a few pictures of the town and you can see them below.

From this point we could also look back and see the Heaton Guest House over the water.  It is the yellow building between the boats, across the water and road.

After a quick stop in the pub, we headed back to the guest house knowing that it was almost time to say goodbye to Dingle and head back to meet Sarah in London.

  

Day Ten – Another Travel Day

Waking up in Dingle for our last day, I knew what it would take to send me on my way…Heaton’s breakfast treat.  After another good helping of Irish porridge (plus fruit and rhubarb-vanilla yogurt….and bread pudding) it was time for us to get on the road.  We drove along the southern coast of the peninsula and after about ninety minutes arrived back at the County Kerry airport.  We turned in the rental car, boarded Ryanair and headed back to London. 
It was a day of driving, flying, taking the train from Stanton Airport (one of London’s other airports) to Tottenham Hale, the tube to Victoria Station and walking back to the Cartref House B&B.  Sarah wasn’t waiting for us (although she had dropped off her luggage and taken a key) so we dropped off our bags and walked over to a different coffee house for a pastry, latte, and tea. 
About an hour later we headed over to The Duke of York to meet up with Scott and head out to supper.  We went to the Seaport Restaurant near The Duke and had an outstanding supper.  This is seafood restaurant that Sarah had been to in the past—based on the recommendation of the owner of the Duke—with Uncle Scott, and it lived up to its great reputation.  It was a really good time and nice that we could spend some time with Scott while in London.

Day Eleven – The Last Full Day in the UK

We got up on our final full day and had another full English breakfast.  Then it was off to Sloane Square where Sarah’s friend Roddy had let her drop off some of her luggage while waiting for us to get back to London.  Picking up the five bags it didn’t take us much of a walk back to realize that we needed to use a taxi…it was a great idea.
After dropping off the bags and moving some of the packed items around between the bags we decided to head out for the day.  Sarah was going with us for awhile and then she was off to take some photos of her friend Paul.
We went over to the bus stop in Grosvenors Garden and my special tour of London began.  Gentleman that I am I had Cheri and Sarah get on the bus before me.  They got on and swiped their bus passes by the driver and headed upstairs.  Unbeknownst to them, when I swiped my card it indicated that I did not have enough money on the card for the bus fare.  The driver said I had to go to the ticket machine in the bus stop to get my fare—when this happened to Cheri the day before they let her pay on the bus, but I probably didn’t bat my eyelashes as well as she did.  When I stepped off the bus the driver closed the door and I was on the sidewalk waving to Sarah and Cheri as they pulled away.
With nothing else to do, I went to the ticket machine and decided that instead of paying £2.00 for a single pass I would pay £3.60 for a day pass.  In the meantime Sarah called and let me know they would wait for me at the Baker Street Station (our original destination). 
I got on the next bus going to Baker Street and went right upstairs where there were only three other people.  We started along Victoria Road towards Hyde Park and not many people got on or off.  Just past the Irish Embassy…coincidence or fate…the driver made a stop announcement and the three people got off.  So I moved up to the front seat.  We headed away from the stop and turned at Hyde Park, but then we seemed to make another turn back towards Victoria Station.  I wasn’t really sure, so I waited to see what happened.  A few minutes later I saw the Irish Embassy on the other side of the road and realized that we were heading back.  I went down the stairs and realized I was the only person on the bus.  At the next stop I spoke to…surprised actually…the driver who pointed to the bus stop I needed—Grovesnors Garden.
So I got off the bus, headed over to the bus stop we started from and waited for the next bus heading in the right direction—good thing I had a full day pass.  While waiting Sarah called and asked what happened.  I explained that the normal sign on the bus saying which stop is next wasn’t working and when the driver announced that everyone was to get off, I had misunderstood him and so I was back at square one and I could see the bus I needed to take.  So we agreed again that we would meet at the Baker Street Station stop…where they both were already.
Once on the next bus, a different number but the map showed they both go the same way until just past the Baker Street stop, I again went upstairs and enjoyed the ride.  We went down Victoria Road; turned at Hyde Park and then turned in the correct direction towards Baker Street.  The stops on the map came and went—London Hilton, Dorset Hotel, Porteman Square—and I knew from looking at the map that the stop after Porteman was Baker Street.  But the next stop turned out to be Marlyebone, so I figured it would be one of the upcoming. 
We went past the Lords Cricket Stadium (where the English – Australian Test was occurring) and then St. John’s Wood and it just didn’t seem right so I went down to the door and pushed the button to let me off at the next stop.  At this point Sarah called and we discovered that I should have gotten off at Marlyebone.  So I told Sarah I would get off at Queen’s Grove and walk back to the St. John’s Wood Underground station and take the tube to Baker Street.  She knew where I would come up so that was the plan.
I walked the two blocks back to the Underground only to find that the station and that line were closed for weekend repairs (not an unusual occurrence).  So I needed to walk another block, catch another bus—which happened to be the same number only heading in the other direction—and head back to Baker Street.  I called Sarah, filled her in and she said she knew which stop I would be getting off and they would meet me there.
About six stops later I got off at Baker Street.  Sarah and Cheri were no where to be seen so I started walking in the same direction that the bus was heading in case there was more than one Baker Street stop.  Turns out there is and I met up with them at the next stop—my own little tour of this part of London.
Fortunately, we headed out and found the Whiskey Shop I was interested in visiting.  I found a couple of unique scotches to share with some of the readers of this blog.  We then split up with Sarah giving us directions on how to walk to the Duke of York so I could drop off the packages until we met up later in the day.

At the Duke we decided that we should have a little lunch before heading out sight-seeing.  With the continued benefit of the gorilla tripod I got a shot of us having our sandwiches and chips sitting outside of the pub for lunch. Then it was off to find the Banquet House for a tour.  We walked down to Oxford Street and got on to a bus for the ride back towards Trafalgar Square.  After a few blocks it became apparent that we could walk faster than buses going down Oxford Road on a Saturday; so we got off and walked some more.

The Banquet House is beautiful and after watching a brief DVD we went up to the grand hall where Kings and Queens have received Ambassadors and dignitaries since Henry VIII.  The space is large and a little imposing, but the most significant pieces are the ceiling paintings done by P. P. Ruebens.  These were painted in Amsterdam and shipped to London for installation.  They are beautiful and well maintained.

From here we headed back to the Baker Street Station to once again meet up with Sarah and head out to dinner at a Thai restaurant—The Monkey and Me—recommended by one of her friends.  We had a great meal and then headed back to the Duke for Sarah’s going away party.

People were sad to see her going and it was obvious that she has made some great friends during her time in London.  Scott was able to join us again for the send off and we continued to enjoy visiting with him.

The pub had made several finger foods for the party and there were a few Guinness pints consumed along the way.  They finished up before locking the doors at 11:00 with a cake.  Soon after that Cheri and I headed back to the B&B recognizing that we needed to get up and out the door by 7 a.m.

Sarah stayed and visited with her friends until early in the morning and managed to get to the B&B with enough time for a couple of hours sleep before we began our trip back to the USA.
And so, with a taxi ride the next morning and catching two separate flights to Newark, we arrived back home the next day.  Sorry these weren’t all in real time, but I didn’t want to spend every evening writing.  We have been home for several days now and this entry finishes off this extended adventure.

Cheers!