Fine fish and fun in the Fort – SL#13.

Well, well, post number 13 in this series already, I seem to be making good progress and I hope it will not prove to be unlucky. Fortunately I do not suffer from triskaidekaphobia and I know I have used that word before in another post but I just love it. Go on, write to me and tell me what your favourite words are. I love Q words and quotidian and quondam have both got to be up there but there are plenty of others.

I should tell you at the outset that you are in for a treat, well hopefully anyway. Yet again you are going to have one of Fergy’s “two for one” deals as it appears that very little happened on the first day except for a very fine meal. Please read on.

23rd January, 2014.

As mentioned above nothing much happened on this day and I do not seem to have ventured out before late afternoon. I make no apology for yet another image here of the beautiful living area in my digs and I can see my notebook on the table which indicates a day of working on my travel writing. This was no hardship as it was pretty comfortable as “offices go”.

When nicotine deprivation forced me onto the verandah for a much-required, if in no way needed cigarette I was rewarded with a fine view over Galle supplemented with the antics of the numerous monkeys scampering about in the most precarious manner on power lines mostly, and plenty of birdlife, not one species of which I recognised, OK, I think I spotted a magpie once or twice but I am not sure.

I had dined wonderfully in the Sea Green restaurant as detailed in the previous post and I thought I would try it again although my guidebook had suggested that there were a couple of good retaurant options in quite upmarket places just a little way up the hill. Perhaps a drink there first.

The hill in question is called Upper Dickson Road and yes, there is a Lower Dickson Road, which obviously prompted the question, “Who was Dickson”? and I have to say it took some serious internet research to find a possible answer but I thought you might be interested. It came in a lengthy but interesting academic document entitled “Proprietary class in the Galle District (1880-1948): A Historical Analysis” by Janeeka Koshini de Silva, Senior Lecturer in History,Dept of History / Faculty of H&SS, University of Ruhuna, Matara. Don’t ever say I don’t work hard for you, dear readers.

My best guess is that both roads were named for T.Dickson who was a plantation landowner here in the 1850’s but you would probably prefer to hear about my eating experience and, whilst it is nowhere near on a par with Mr. de Silva’s efforts, it is at least contemporaneous once again.

Top class food, stunning views.

“I had read in my guidebook about a great place to go for a bit of a sundowner drink that boasted excellent views. Well they certainly were not lying about that and I also managed to eat one of the best meals I have had in Sri Lanka so far and there have been some memorable ones.

The place in question is the Lady Hill Hotel which sits, as the name suggests, on a hill overlooking Galle. Fortuitously, it was a mere ten minutes stroll from my excellent guesthouse so I thought I would wander up one evening.

I was greeted at the gate by an immaculately dressed gateman who welcomed me with a deep bow and Sinhala salutation which I obviously returned in kind. Well, the bow anyway as I still don’t speak any Sinhala, to my shame. I informed him that I would like a drink and asked him to direct me to the bar whereupon I was immediately handed over to another equally charming and wonderfully turnedout young man who greeted me similarly.

I know Sri Lanka is a very friendly country but this was the most formal greeting I had experienced. Walking through the delightfully appointed foyer area of the hotel I thought that this was way out of my price range for accommodation and subsequent research has proven this to be the case.

The young man took me to a staircase at the rear of the building and basically pointed upwards. OK, I can take direction so up I went. Up, up and seemingly ever up. I think it must have been four or five levels. Slightly breathless, I reached the top to be greeted by a completely empty although very pleasant bar and one young man obviously setting up for the evening.

A beer quickly in hand, I set to looking at the views I had been promised and they certainly did not disappoint. One one side you could overlook the old Fort area and on the other seemingly endless palms and small settlements stretched away to the horizon.

I perused the menu the waiter had given me although at that point it was merely an exercise in being inquisitive as I had decided to eat in a lovely little place in the Fort that I knew. I had expected to pay a premium for a location like this but was pleasantly surprised to find that whilst slightly more expensive my beer was not excessively over-priced. If I recall correctly, it was ether 350 or 400SLR which equated to just under £2 ($3US) at the higher figure.

After a few minutes I was joined in the bar by a group of obviously well-heeled Sinhalese men and shortly thereafter by a couple of young Japanese women and, with the exception of a Sinhalese couple who arrived much later on, this was the sum total of the clientele all night. This seems like a bit of a shame as both the bar and the food (which I am coming to, believe me) were excellent.

As usual, I felt considerably underdressed but nobody seemed to mind. I find Sri Lanka an excellent country to travel in if you are living out of a kitbag with a very limited wardrobe.

I spent a happy little time taking snapshots, including the appallingly stylised one of the roof tiles I have included here. OK, I know that I am no David Bailey! The sun went down and my faithful little compact camera was barely up to the night shot task, excellent as it is.

The menu I mentioned earlier had looked very good and not overly expensive. Time was wearing on although I still would have had time to wander down to the Fort or call a tuk-tuk but, well, I just didn’t feel much like moving, why would you? The prices were not at all excessive for what is obviously one of the classier joints in town, certainly well within my budget and so I decided to dine there.

I appreciate that rice and curry (never curry and rice as the rice is deemed to be the predominant component here) is a dish normally taken at lunch rather than the evening meal but I decided that was what I fancied and so I ordered it. The waiter did explain that it may take a little while (it always seems to do in the evening as I presume they are making it from scratch) and I informed him that it was no problem.

He also enquired whether I wanted spicy and I went through the usual pantomime of explaining that I could eat hot etc. etc. I waited a not unreasonable amount of time and at one point glanced up to see not one but two waiters approaching me. I was sure they were carrying an order for another table but, as explained, there were no other diners!

Oh, Holy Heavens, all that food was for me. It was laid out as you see in the image and I sat for a moment trying to decide where to start. Certainly, as is my way, I had not tried to second guess the chef. I knew from experience that there would be more than one dish presented and, as you can see by the image, there were considerably more than one!

I’ll try to talk you through them as best I can, beginning at 12 o’clock in the image.. Obviously, the main event is in the middle and then we have a couple of gorgeous condiments. Moving round, there is a dhal, another curry that I cannot name, some cleverly cut and presented papad, what I think I now know to be a dish of kankun and another very tasty curry based upon the humble potato. Each was an absolute delight and prepared beautifully.

Picture this if you will. This is a top-notch hotel with excellent service and gorgeous food and the whole thing came to 800LKR if I recall correctly. That is about £4 sterling or maybe a touch under $6US. Welcome to Sri Lanka folks.

It was absolutely delightful and I did it full justice even if I am generally no trencherman and do not have a huge appetite at the best of times. This food was just too good to leave. Well satisfied and after another drink or two, I left the place for the long trek down the stairs again. Trust me it is well worth the trek.

I was unsure about eating in such a posh place but I need not have been, the service was faultless, the food sublime and you really cannot get a better view in Galle”.

There you go an my 2021 research, coming from the website I have linked above, I have actually found a definition of what a “rice and curry” meal should consist of at the minimum level.

I must say that after a total of about nine months in that lovely country I still thought it was just whatever chef had decided to make from what ingredients he could get that were good in the various markets but it is more formalised than that although I am sure it is basically still true.

Here is the quote, “A basic rice and curry requires one fish (or beef or chicken) curry, two different vegetables, one portion of fried crispy stuff like ‘papadam’, a ‘mallum’ of chopped leaves and coconut, and a gravy or ‘hodda’ of spiced and cooked with coconut milk”. Now I know and so do you.

At the risk of well-deserved death threats from my “regulars” for beating a concept to death, “every day is a schoolday”. OK, don’t write to me, I shall take it as read you all want to perform Fergycide when you are allowed out of your homes to come and stalk me!

Just to add insult to injury I shall also mention now that most people would see this as a completely wasted day but I don’t as is my travel method. I was so relaxed I was on the point of feeling invertebrate, I had “communed with Nature” to a small degree, feasted like a King and I can tell you I slept well that night, completely untroubled by any idea of wasted time.

24th January, 2014.

Up again to another lovely day on the Friday and my first task, after coffee and a smoke on the verandah obviously, was a rather technical one. You must remember that in those days I was still writing for Virtual Tourist which was very much geared towards the practical matters of travelling rather than the more generic blog style posts I now find myself attempting.

Whether or not it is so deeply ingrained in me I cannot help myself throwing in the odd piece of travel advice (usually very odd!) into what is generally a travel narrative blog so let us consider plugs.

Not bath plugs although that leads me to a very quick “tip”, if you travel to Asia take a universal bath plug with you. It weighs an ounce, takes up no room in the tightest packed 35L. Bergen and you won’t regret it as they seem to be at an absolute premium on that Continent.

No, this is about the other sort of plugs, they type that conduct electricity and, if you get them wrong, will fry your precious electrical equipment and / or blow you across the room, if you’re lucky!

Electrical sockets and plugs.

“I appreciate that it is not the most interesting tip I will ever write but it may hopefully be of use.

This tip deals with electrical sockets and plugs. So far, I have been in Sri Lanka and have seen three different types of sockets. On more than one occasion I have seen three different socket types in one room!

The voltage here is 230 volts and a technical website confirms that there are in fact the three types of socket I have encountered. If you wish to look they are international types D, M and G.

Additionally I have seen the round pin plugs used without the earth. In this case, I have seen people sticking a pencil in the earth part to enable the other two parts to go in but I really don’t recommend it! Make sure you pack one or more adapters, preferably universal ones”.

OK, that is the boring but practical stuff out of the way so let’s get back to the day. Sorry about that but I do like to try and make myself useful.

Probably because of my relatively early bed the evening before I was up at an unaccustomed hour in the morning but even that non-essential awakening provided the bonus of a lovely sunrise and even a few birds about the place ( I don’t think the monkeys were up yet).

I am no twitcher but I think this is a magpie or some Asian version thereof. It certainly looks to be of the Corvid family to my untutored eye and I realise that family name is rather too close to a word we are all too familiar with now so sorry about that.

I remember reading once that Corvids are the most intelligent bird family and jackdaws and ravens actually fashion rudimentary tools with their beaks. Whoever coined the term “bird-brain” was clearly one themselves.

One way or another it was still early afternoon when I ventured out. On the way, I passed the central roundabout which is the hub of the “modern” city, much of which is not at all modern but I use the term to differentiate it from the old Fort area.

The roundabout, like so many others of it’s type in the country was dominated by a statue of a Sri Lankan soldier and was a timely, if none too subtle reminder, of what was then a very recent and appallingly bloody civil war with many fresh memories and still undried tears.

Again I have to stress that even then, and during subsequent trips, I have never for a moment felt threatened or uncomfortable in Sri Lanka and I hope this shows through in my writings. I’ll be honest, the greatest threat to my health in that peerless country was of death by over-eating or drinking too much. “Thank you but no, three plates of rice and curry is my absolute limit” doesn’t seem to cut it there.

I know I am probably beginning to sound like I am employed by the Sri Lankan Tourist Board but I assure you I am not. I would exhort any traveller, which your presence here vaguely suggests you are, to visit Sri Lanka.

I am just slightly annoyed it took me so long to get thereand I am glad to see that one of my best online travel friends, who I have also met in RL, is planning a tentative journey there. This will be exactly what Sri Lanka and so many other countries who are largely reliant on tourism will sorely need if things ever calm down a bit.

I shall not name this person in case everything falls apart in these uncertain times but this is great news for me as I know they will love it if it happens but I don’t want to name them here in case it doesn’t. I know they read this nonsense of mine and they know who they are.

Having spent a moment looking at the memorial, not to mention trying to find a safe opportunity to cross the manically busy road, I headed to a place I had seen before when I had visited the Fort area although it is outside it, and that was the cricket ground. Again, my original notes will serve here.

87 not out.

“This tip concerns Galle international cricket stadium which I was surprised to read is one of seven international grounds in Sri Lanka. I could only think of Colombo and Kandy in addition to this place.

The Esplanade, as it was previously known, was declared a cricket ground in 1927 and hence the title of this tip ((it is actually now 94 at time of writing)) but it has a much longer history. Similar to Galle Face Green in Colombo, it was originally laid out as a horse racing course and was opened in 1829. Over time the racing became less popular and the cricket moreso in what is a completely cricket -mad country and so the racing was eventually discontinued.

As well as internationals, the venue is home to Galle C.C. and I was even lucky enough to catch a few overs of one of their games when I visited.

Galle must be one of the most picturesque Test grounds in the world with the Indian Ocean easily visible and the impressive World Heritage Site Dutch Fort towering over it. During internationals the ramparts of the Fort become an impromptu gallery for thousands unlucky enough not to have a ticket.

Regrettably there was no such fixture when I was in Galle as Sri Lanka were on a tour playing Pakistan in the Middle East and Bangladesh in Bangladesh but it was very pleasant just to wander around the ground and soak up some of the atmosphere of the place.

Galle is a relative newcomer to international cricket with the first Test only having been played in 1998 with Sri Lanka comprehensively defeating New Zealand by an innings and 16 runs.

The first One Day International (ODI) was scheduled for that year as well but was abandoned due to a waterlogged pitch. I am composing this tip in Sri Lanka and can sympathise as it has not stopped raining all morning and shows no sign of doing so any time soon! The ODI career of this ground was pretty short with the last one being played in 2000.

At time of writing, the last Test here was in March 2013 ((update 2021, the last Test was vs. England in January 2021)).

Galle is known to favour spin bowlers and two of the greatest exponents of that skill have reached huge landmarks here. Shane Warne of Australia claimed his 500th Test scalp in Galle and the national hero that is Muttiah Muralitharan or “Murali” took his 800th wicket on this ground. I am sure batsmen around the world are mightily relieved that both have retired from the international game.

Sadly it is almost impossible to write anything about Southern Sri Lanka without making mention of the appalling tsunami of 26 December 2004 and so it is with this tip.

The ground was completely devastated in the carnage of that most awful natural disaster and subsequently served as both refugee camp for survivors and helipad for the rescue operation. When things returned to some semblance of normality there was a huge debate as to whether or not they were going to rebuild the ground to international standards, relocate it elsewhere or just not bother.

Matters were not helped by political bickering both at national level and within the Sri Lankan cricket Board. Luminaries of the game, notably the above-mentioned “Warney” and Sir Ian “Beefy” Botham waded into the argument and it was eventually agreed that the ground should remain and be rebuilt where it was.

Work commenced in 2006 and the ground was officially opened on 17 December 2007 with a Test against England which resulted in a draw. I, for one, am glad it is still here as it truly is a great venue for a Test.

There are no organised tours of the ground but if you speak to the security guard on the gate he will probably let you in to have a wander around. That is what I did and even caught a few overs of a local game”.

I have not been to many cricket grounds around the world as I was somewhat of a late-comer to the game but I have been to Lords to witness Nasser Hussain’s last international century, and I have been to the Oval (scene not only of the first ever “test” match but the first ever rugby international between England and Ireland) and they are wonderful places but Galle has them absolutely defeated in terms of atmosphere, it is superb even if you are not a huge fan of the game.

A short way from the cricket ground I inadvertently came upon the local football (soccer) stadium which was much less impressive. I have mentioned before in this series that the Father of my friend Treshi, who will be known here as SP, had played not only rugby but also football and basketball for his country despite a reasonably short stature. He would probably have recognised this place but it has to be said that football is not a massive recreational activity in Sri Lanka. Cricket is king and then a long way down is rugby, then football.

I decided that a further exploration of the Fort area might be in order as I was sure I had not seen anything like all it had to offer and so it proved. I entered by the much more practical and less ornate gate than the one I had used before, a later addition to attempt to alleviate congestion at the “Old Gate” I have previously described.

Again, I was plunged immediately into a bygone age, it is as if your brain automatically resets itself by about half a millenium when you walk through the walls of the Fort area which I know sounds fanciful but I can only say this in my defence. Do it and come back here and tell me that I am wrong.

Back in the wonderful Fort area so what was I going to discover today? Well, I didn’t have to walk more than about 100 yards to answer that and, again, it was something fairly prosaic which managed to speak volumes. This was a simple, old-fashioned signpost indicating Lighthouse Street, Church Street and Rampart Street, all pretty obvious.

Always have a closer look at what appears to be obvious and you will reap benefits. A look at this apparently simple directional sign and, undertaken at great personal risk as the traffic is manic, revealed something else, indeed one of the more beautiful things I have seen on all my travels, and the image shows why.

I’ll let you read it for yourself but, precised, a hope that Galle would be protected by it’s citizens for all mankind in perpetuity and that certainly struck a chord with me. Come on my dear and much respected readers, this has to bring a cheer to our collective hearts especially in these evil times. I had come from the ramparts, I knew where the lighthouse was and I wanted to find out what the Church was so I set out to find it.

It did not take me long. perhaps 200 yards, to find the Dutch Reformed Church. I shall rely again on my original notes to describe the building.

The more interesting of the two.

“There are two main Christian places of worship in the old Fort area in Galle and this, as the title suggests, is undoubtedly the more interesting of the two. It is commonly called the Dutch Reformed Church (Groote Kerk or Great Church in Dutch) although it is now officially the Christian Reformed Church, presumably because there are not so many Dutch in the area any more. Actually I wonder what size of a congregation they have as the Fort area is very predominantly Muslim.

The Church was completed in 1755 on the site of a former Portuguese convent and it occupies the highest point within the Fort complex at 12 metres. It is built to the same design as Dutch churches in Negapatnam and Cochin in India and has been recently extensively re-furbished with financial and practical assistance from the Netherlands, specifically the Homogene Groep Internationale Samenwerking.

Entering the Church I was greeted by a a gentleman and a lady and after a little of the usual smalltalk the donation box was very helpfully pointed out to me. Well, I suppose all that restoration has to be paid for. I had a good look round although there is not really that much to see but it is a pleasant enough place.

If you visit, you are probably standing on the most interesting feature as much of the floor is paved with old gravestones from a long-decommissioned burial ground.

I did notice a couple of memorials to obviously British people and can only conclude that they must have been of other faiths than Church of England as there is an Anglican church a short way down the road. There is one interesting if slightly unusual feature. As you go in the main door, look to your left and you will see the memorial pictured.

It commemorates one Abraham Samlant, an 18th century Commander of the Galle Garrison and strangely features his baptismal robe. I have never seen such a thing before.

The organ is worth a look, as is the pulpit which was constructed from wood brought specially from Malaysia for the purpose.

If you take a walk outside there is a well-kept churchyard with old headstones lining the wall. There are also burial chambers with steps leading down to it but I didn’t really fancy that.

There are five steps to the front of the Church which may make it difficult for the mobility impaired traveller.

This is not the most interesting Church I have ever been in but if you are in the Fort it is worth a look”.

There I was, in a Dutch High Church in the back end of the Indian Ocean, technically properly the Laccadive Sea, and as happy as a pig in muck. This was to be a trait that the reader will notice in this series, every day just seemed to be a new and different adventure and an assault on the eyes, ears, nose and fingers (sense of touch) which must have completely overwhelmed my predecessors of 500 years.

On my walk I saw this rather large tree and I promise you that I was not drunk when I took this image, just look at the wall below which is perfectly horizontal. No, this poor plant was not a victim of my appallingly bad photography but rather an illustration of the occasionally very violent winds that blow in from the sea along this coast. This must have been bad news for the early European inhabitants of this settlement and worse news for the local fauna.

Weather is a far more powerful entity than man, for all our boastfulness and as many recent events demonstrate, one of which I shall discuss in a subsequent post here. Much of this coast was laid waste in a tsunami of less than a decade previously which caused untold destruction and brought appalling loss of life. I shall deal with this fully in due course but it perhaps makes the semi-horizontal tree understandable in terms of local weather conditions.

I left the de facto Cathedral, and in the thinking of the austere Dutch who built it was never meant to be, wandered on up the road and quickly came upon another of my favourite things. a postbox.

If you have been masochistic or bored enough to read all my previous entries, and even if you have only been unlucky enough to have read the earlier entries in this particular series, you will know that I love postboxes. Why? Certainly not because I want to send a postcard which I rarely do but because, if you look closely at them, they are great sources of social history.

This is the trick, if indeed it is a trick. Look at the mundane and then find out about it, it may well reveal much more to you than you might think.

This particular box shows King George VI, the Father of our current Queen and who became only King when his dissolute brother decided to marry an American divorcee and abdicated.

Totally unsuited for the role, suffering from an appalling speech impediment which has become the subject of a Hollywood hit film and against huge personal odds, he managed to steer our country through the tyranny of the German desire for world domination in what we call the Second World War. Sadly, the strain killed him but it did lead to our current monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, the longest serving monarch on earth and respected by all, ascending the throne in 1952 .

What was next then, after a post box? Well, a post office obviously and I have never seen one to rival this, it was like something from a film set. More original writing to explain.

Send me a postcard.

“I really loved this quirky little place. The entire building you see was initially the “Negotie Kantoor” or Trade Office and Personnel Department for the Fort.

Housed within it is a tiny little Post Office which has apparently been functioning as such since 1815. It is worth visiting just for a look but they do have an excellent selection of postcards for sale very reasonably and obviously you can buy the necessary stamps. You can use the postbox outside to send your card. It is one I described a moment ago.

Be warned though. My Sri Lankan friend warned me that a postcard can take 90 days to reach the United Kingdom! Regardless of the vagaries of the Sri Lankan postal system, this quirky little place is still well worth a visit”.

That is my thinking on the wonderful and completely insane Galle Fort Post Office. I know it is run as a tourist attraction rather than a postal facility and I am normally not a huge fan of such places but this building was so well-kept and presented that it would be churlish not to recommend it. It was just another joyful thing in what was becoming a long procession in Sri Lanka and one that was only going to get longer on this and subsequent trips.

We have seen quite a lot today but there is still more to do, the Fort area really is like that as you really cannot walk 50 yards without finding something of interest and this was the next such discovery, again complete with original notes.

The much less interesting of the two.

“I have created a separate tip on this page about the Dutch Reformed Church (now properly the Christian Reformed Church) and in the interests of fairness I feel I should also write about it’s close neighbour (theologically and geographically) the Anglican Church of All Saints.

Frankly, the Anglican place of worship is going to suffer rather badly by comparison. An explanation here as to why there is only one image accompanying this tip. When I entered the building, which I had to myself, the first thing I saw was a sign saying that photography was only allowed after obtaining permission from a lay member in the Church.

Whether this is for some religious reason or because they want to aim you in the direction of the donation box I could not say. The notice is replicated in various places around the building. Try as I might I could not find a soul in the place, even in the little office out the back so I didn’t take any images.

The fact that I was unable to use the camera was really no great loss as there is just about nothing to see here and the fabric of the building has obviously seen much better days, none of them in this millenium. It really is slightly shabby.

So what is the history of this somewhat neglected place of worship? Not that I know such things but I have learned that it is in the Victorian Gothic Revival style. Construction commenced in 1868 and it was consecrated in 1871 which makes it considerably later than it’s Dutch counterpart. It was built on the site of an old Courthouse and local legend has it that the gallows once occupied the site of the present altar!

There are a few steps to the front which may be a concern for mobility impaired travellers.

If you are passing, it is worth popping in for a look but it won’t take you long. You might even be lucky enough to find someone in there”.

I mentioned in the previous post that there are not too many options for getting an alcoholic drink in the predominantly Moslem Fort area but the fanciest exception to that is the Galle Fort Hotel and here it is, original notes and all.

Great place for a sundowner.

“Let’s get one thing absolutely straight at the outset, the Galle Fort Hotel is way outside my budget to stay at but it does provide an absolutely gorgeous location for a drink in the late afternoon. Indeed, it would be lovely at any time but I tended to go there for a sundowner.

One good thing about going at that time is that they will bring you a complimentary plate of delightful nibbles as pictured. For information the red dipping sauce is hotter than the green one and can be a little fiery!

The service is excellent and there always seem to be almost too many staff standing around waiting to serve you. Certainly you pay a bit more than normal for a drink here but not overly so and it really is worth it to sit in such wonderful surroundings and imagine yourself back in the days of the Empire.

To put it in context a large bottle of beer here costs 400LKR which is a shade under £2 or about $3US so it is not exactly going to break the bank”.

In the last episode I told you how I had intended to go back to the Sea Green restaurant the previous evening but I had got waylaid into a very fine meal at the Lady Hill Hotel. I know it is usually my habit to try as many places as possible but I had rather liked the Sea Green and so I went back there where I was greeted like a long-lost son and asked where my friend was. I had no idea as we had only met that evening and did not make any further plans.

Again, I was surprised that the place was completely empty again and I really do not know how they make any money. Following the practice we had adopted so successfully on the previous visit I skimmed the menu briefly, more out of curiosity than anything but asked the owner what was good that day and he instantly recommended the fish, freshly landed that morning. He insisted on presenting it for inspection and it looked fine to me.

Don’t ask me what kind of fish it was as my piscatorial knowledge does not even cover British species never mind tropical ones. Perhaps my brother can help me out here as I know he reads this and is a very keen angler. Any ideas, kid? The owner suggested chips (fries) and salad which sounded great to me and great it was. You can see the “before and after” above and I can tell you the “after was even more tasty than it looks and I think it looks very appetising. Yet again, trusting the recommendation had paid dividends.

Well, that is it for this episode and in my next post I take myself on a little day-trip so if you want to find out all about where I get to then stay tuned and spread the word.