Isle of Bute, Scotland

I spent the last few months traveling from London to Beijing. Here is a taste of one place we spent time. Follow the links to read about others.

September 17th- 20th, 2005

We recently stayed in Rothesay on the Isle of Bute after spending time in London. It was absolutely gorgeous and we had a fantastic host. After visiting a few pubs one night he took us to the only bakery on the island, The Electric Bakery. It was about 2 am, though after a few discreet knocks on the bakery window the baker came to the door to sell us hot rolls with butter and savory pies. There really was nothing that could have been better to fill our stomachs after a night of Scottish pubs.

The next morning I visited their store front and bought some scones (cheese, fruit, and cherry), a soda biscuit, and a crumpet (though this last item was from the shop next door, as The Electric Bakery had sold out).

Our host lived across the street from the 11th century castle that you see in the background of this photo.

The scones were very good, however they were quite different from the heavy and flaky variety that I am used to. These were very light and airy as if they had a fair amount of egg in them. The cheese were our favorite by far.

The crumpet was also very nice yet different from those I am used to. This was a very flat and thin crumpet, almost like a pancake yet still with the characteristic hole pattern. It took butter excellently.

We returned to the bakery the next night and had a chance to go inside and speak with the baker, Colin. We ate sandwichs of warm cheese and onion pies inside warm morning rolls with butter.

Colin was nice enough to let us look around the bakery and watch him work for a few minutes. The breads smelled amazing and the heat from the ovens took off the evening chill from outside.

After leaving the bakery we went to an old abandoned building which once held another bakery long ago. It provided gorgeous views of the Rothesay bay at night.

Next stop, Yorkshire.