Walking The Bay

A few weeks ago Hubby and I visited our daughter in Cardiff Bay. It's a superb area with such a variety of bars, restaurants and attractions. It's quite a distance for me as it's a good 6 mile walk but I was up for the challenge so off we set to 'walk the Bay'.

We have walked it before a few years earlier but walked anticlockwise from the Pierhead so this time we set off along Clarence Road crossing the River Taff. To walk in the opposite direction. The Cardiff Bay Trail then follows the Taff out to the Bay giving great views of the magnificent road bridge carrying the A4232 out of the city.

The trail path passes by Cardiff Rowing Centre and through Ferry Court apartments. Cardiff International White Water is worth a pause to be amazed at the canoeists and kayakers racing down the fast flowing water.

Further along and we meet another river. The River Ely brings boats, lots and lots of superb boats. It's an amazing sight seeing all the tall masts against the background of tall apartment buildings.

Time for a break, coffee and toasted teacake at Coffi Co. We've been to many places around the world but this has to be one of the best places to sit with a coffee and enjoy the view. 

The footpath crosses the River Ely via a swing bridge to allow the tall yacht to pass through. Upstream is the massive road bridge, more apartments and plenty of yachts, downstream is the Bay. It is amazing how it opens out, stunning views. 

This part of our walk brings back memories as when she first moved to South Wales our daughter lived in Penarth Marina. So many beautiful boats, lovely apartments and houses all along the waterfront. Penarth itself is high on the cliffs to the left, I remember it being a steep walk up but worth it for more magnificent views across to the city.

The highlight of the Cardiff Bay Trail must be the Barrage, locks that allow the boats and yachts out to sea. There is a swing bridge here too lifting the road (pedestrian and emergency traffic) as the locks are in operation. We stood and watched the rise and fall of the water inside the locks bringing boats in and out. It's also a great place to stand and see how far we have walked ... and how far we have to go! 

There is a breakwater at the Barrage stretching out to sea. From the very end we could just see the Severn Bridges in the distance. The English coast was also visable looking past Steep Holm and Flat Holm.

Leaving the Baraage behind we set off on the leg leg of our walk, along the embankment past the Aqua Park. Tempting though it was we hadn't brought our swimmies so we couldn't have a go! 

Instead we took breather on one of the many benches and watched a large container ship sail into Cardiff Docks. This is the sea side of the Bay and there is a separate lock for these large vessels to enter the docks. It was huge passing by us, amazing how they float!

Nearly back we passed by the Norwegian church and the sailors statue. The church is now a community hub with a cafe, it was originally built for the Norwegian seafarers and settlers.

The views around the Bay are amazing, whichever point of the trail you are on you can see for miles. One of my favourite views is the Pierhead and The Senedd (Welsh Goverment) as you approach the bustling bar and restaurant area. There is so much history here, it's very different to when it was all dockland. 

Having now walked the Bay in both directions I think this walk was my favourite. It is, as I said, around 6 miles, very do-able with so many places to stop and enjoy a coffee, drink and/or a bite to eat.

Our final stop was The Mount Stuart, our go to pub when in Cardiff Bay. It's a Wetherspoons so we know what to expect regarding food and drinks with the most spectacular views. Our pint and glass of wine was very much deserved and enjoyed looking across to the Norwegian church.

Hopefully we'll be back in Cardiff again soon to enjoy another 'walk the Bay' and of course see our lovely daughter. 

Bond Street Distillery

 

Last Saturday we entered the 'Gin-dom of Heaven', locally known as Bond Street Distillery. What an amazing location; dating back to the late 1800s the building has seen many occupants before becoming home to Bond Street Distillery (BSD). 

It began in 2018 when Sally Faulkner, founder and head distiller, purchased the building and began renovating it to become the distillery, bar, Gin-school and function bar it is today. On all three floors you can see carefully restored elements of the original hosiery building: old beams, sand blasted brick and original feature window all create a high class environment. 

Our visit began with Afternoon Tea served on a three tier copper stand in keeping with the copper surroundings relating to the gin still. A delicious selection of sandwiches with slices of quiche, vine tomatoes and pepper rings filled the top tier. The second tier served traditional scones, clotted cream and raspberry gin infused jam, whilst the lower tier held a selection of desserts. 

From top to bottom our Afternoon Tea was delicious, accompanied by tea, coffee or gin with mixer. My first gin choice was Bond Street Raspberry served over ice with Fever Tree Lemonade garnished with raspberry and mint. 

My husband opted for Bond Street Blood Orange served with Fever Tree Mediterranean Tonic and orange garnish. We both chose BSD Signature for our second gin; a 40% ABV with hints of orange blossom and high notes of pink peppercorn complimenting the pine and citrus of a traditional London dry. Our Signature Gins were served with Fever Tree Indian Tonic and garnished with orange and pink peppercorn.

A distillery tour followed, a step into the hub of the building to meet Claire, the gin still, standing tall and striking with her copper gleaming brightly. Sally gave an extensive insight into how ethanol is turned into gin using the distilling process. Separating the 'heads' 'heart' and 'tails' of the distilled liquid is such a precise moment in distilling, getting this wrong can easily result in a bitter taste to the finished gin, distilling is certainly a fine art.

Following our tour it was time to make our own gin, something we have not experienced before. Bond Street Distillery have a dedicated room on the first floor for their Gin-school in which there was extensive array of botanicals to choose from. We thought this would be an overwhelming task but soon found botanicals we both preferred. With careful measuring we blended them together until we had an aroma we both liked and which would, fingers crossed, produce an enjoyable gin. 

Within the Gin-school are eight mini stills, they looked amazing all shining in a row. Each still has it's own name; two that caught my eye were Sweet Caroline and The Engineer however our Gin was distilled on Baby Gary.

The whole experience felt very very special; beautiful surroundings with the copper stills and equipment. Our starter alcohol liquid, water and botanical blends were all added to Baby Gary and heated until evaporation occurred. The gas was then passed through copper pipes which were cooled with continuously flowing cold water to turn it back to liquid. It was amazing to watch especially when our gin began to drip out.

After a while we had to carefully check our liquid to ensure we did not get any of the bitter tails. Neither of us had any real idea of how it would taste compared to the fragrance of our mixed botanicals but to our delight it tasted really good and we could taste the various flavours we had chosen. 

Once the distilling was complete Sally checked the alcohol content and adjusted it by adding water to around 40%ABV. It was now time to bottle our unique 'Hearnden Dry'. It was amazing to not only learn about distilling but to make our own gin which we can now enjoy at home. The recipe is stored at Bond Street so another bottle can alway be distilled again in the future.

Bond Street Distillery is certainly a venue to visit if you like gin, however I would recommend a visit to anyone. The high finish venue is the perfect place to enjoy one of their cocktails, try the enomatic wine machine or enjoy a draught beer. Their Gin-school experience makes a perfect gift and is certainly a day to remember with your very own Gin!

Bond Street Distillery, 127 Upper Bond Street, Hinckley LE10 1RT 

A six week round up

Over the last six weeks life has begun to seem like my life again, a life Hubby and I are choosing instead of a life ruled by uncontrollable events. The turning point was our holiday to Berwick-upon-Tweed; a change of scene with the reassurance and confidence of better times to follow. 

On our way home we detoured inland to visit Chesters Roman Fort  the largest Roman settlement along Hadrian's Wall. What an amazing site, it was incredible to see the Romans' clever architectural layout of buildings with underfloor heating and running water. A great first visit with our new English Heritage membership. 

Whilst in Berwick I began to increase my walking, made easier with my walking boots. Once home I had hoped to keep up the walking but a slight ankle strain and the hot weather has restricted me. However we did manage a long walk across local fields, along the canal and back into town passing the famous telegraph pole that has no lines! 

In May we visited our daughter who lives in South Wales. We hadn't seen her since Christmas with all the various restrictions in both countries. On our way down we had a great visit to White Castle Vineyard where we have an adopted vine. 

We also visited Goodrich Castle; a few years ago we stayed nearby but didn't get the chance to visit. It isn't far from our route on the motorway and we were amazed how big it was, although ruins there were still some rooms intacted. 

It was so nice to be able to be out and about in Cardiff. We enjoyed breakfast at quiet restaurants, had a lovely meal in the city centre and visited Tiny Rebel brewery. They have a great outdoor terrace with covers and large tables, there were quite a few families with dogs. It was so nice to sit together to enjoy a pulled beer instead of beer from cans or bottles. 

Over the last year we have enjoyed wine and beer at home. My drinks were mainly non alcoholic so it's great to be able to start to enjoy beer and wine again. After we'd been home a few days we received a lovely surprised, Cellier des Dauphins sent us a bottle of their red and white wine. They are our favourite French wine producers, we have met many times in the UK and in France. The wine was a gift for their Art of Sharing and as their letter said we hope to be able to share a glass together in person sometime soon, thank you Cellier des  Dauphins. 

One thing I have really missed is having friends round for dinner; I love the planning, the cooking and the company. As restrictions lifted we invited our friends round for a meal, just the four of us. We had some lovely wines including one from Sicily that I have wanted to open for a while (before it is too old). It was lovely to lay the table and I really enjoyed making the Lemoncello Tiramisus. 

We've had a lovely few weeks doing many things we did before. There are still some restrictions, we all have to play our part regarding Covid and I think I will be cautious for a while yet but we have days out and holidays booked so I'll have plenty more to blog about soon. 

The Cecchi Challenge

Last Thursday I was invited by Brad (@winetimelondon) to take part in the Cecchi Challenge: a zoom event with other wine enthusiasts to learn more about Tuscan wine. The event included a quiz with the chance to win a case of  Cecchi wine. 

Hubby and I know a little but not much about Italian wine, especially wine from Tuscany and using Zoom is a very new experience for us, so we were excited but a touch apprehensive. This was added to as the quiz was using a totally new app to us, Kahoot. 

Our sample wines arrived for Ellen (@freerunpr) in a long thin cardboard box. I was so excited to open it hoping for some information, however it was just the wines .... this was certainly going to be a Challenge! 

Hubby and I set up my tablet for Zoom and I had my phone ready with Kahoot. It was lovely to see everyone online, some wine friends we have not seen for a while and Robb who we met last week at White Castle Vineyard. 

However we could only see four people at a time and had to keep scrolling. I now know that this is a feature of using an android tablet and had we used the laptop we would have seen everyone together; next time! 

Brad and Hannah (@the.british.bouchon) co-hosted the event along with Ben (@freerunpr). We had a fab presentation about Tuscany; the location, the vineyards, the wines. Hubby and I made notes, as I always do at a tasting, and learnt so much. 

The slides showing the vineyards locations, the map of Italy and especially the aerial photo of the vines were so informative. It was amazing to see how each, at times adjacent, field had vines planted in various directions depending on variety. We've added Tuscany to our holiday list, it looks amazing. 

We had set up four glasses each so we knew which was which. I do miss the wine tastings we used to attend and those we hosted, not only to see our wine friends again but now my tastebuds have returned it is great to start enjoying wine again.

And so to the quiz, Kahoot is a great app that was fun to use, the quicker you answer the better so fast fingers were a must. Of course you can't answer quickly if you don't know the answer hee hee. All the questions were mulitple choice based on Tuscany and the four wines. 

Some of the questions were quite tricky, we'd remembered (looked at on our notes) some answers from the presentation but had few wrong (guesses hee hee). Some took us a while to work out and answer, it was such fun.

The wines were lovely; white Litorale Vermentino, the first red was Maremma Toscana, followed by Chianti Reserva and finally Primocolle Chianti Classico. One thing I love about a tasting is trying a wine, trying another and seeing the differences. Our glass per wine meany we could go back to taste each one again, they were all delicious. 

To our absolute amazement when the final score was revealed we won .... we were so surprised. Our prize is a case of these lovely wines so we'll be able to taste them again and learn even more. 

There is nothing better than people together enjoying good wine, hopefully it will not be long before this can again be in person.

Thank you so much Brad, Hannah, Ben, Ellen and especially Famiglia Cecchi for a super time learning about Tuscany wines - saluti !