John the Geologist

I’m just back from a 9-day work trip to India and Bangladesh, spending time in both New Delhi and Dhaka.

This was my first trip to anywhere in South Asia. My immediate impressions were:

• Both cities have an amazing energy – people are actively looking for the next big opportunity. They also have the confidence of being involved in a global economy. Although the dogs in Delhi seem to have a quiet life.
  
  
• Wealth and poverty are very close – one swish apartment building had a set of tin shacks at its base – probably the people who keep the apartments clean.
  
• The pace of development is astonishing – people I visited commented on the way that things have changed even over the past 2 years.

Both places definitely left a big impression. I’m hoping to get back, if possible. It will be fascinating to see how they change over the next few years.

See more pictures of Delhi and Dhaka on Flickr.

We’ve had a cracking weekend at The Samling in Ambleside. The Samling is a luxuriously comfortable hotel high up on the banks of Windermere.

We stayed in the Tyan room, with it’s striking blue Lake District wallpaper.

This room has a gorgeous view over Windermere, which was particularly special while eating a full breakfast brought to our room.

The hotel has a fantastic restaurant, with a coherent and complex menu featuring the best ingredients. We ate from the same menu on both nights:

Canapes: bread sticks and dips
- parmesan & green pesto
- beetroot & sour cream
- cumin & curried aubergine

Amuses bouche:
- boiled egg, white bean creme, chorizo
- pesto, red pepper, parmesan foam

Chicken mosaic with leek, prune & lentils
Roast scallops, chicken oysters, celeriac puree
Slow cooked Gloucester old spot, langoustine, celeriac puree
Red mullet, minestrone, crushed ratte potatoes

Wild venison, dauphinoise of roast vegetables, cabbage
Braised Herdwick mutton, shoulder, shank, langoustine, artichoke puree, potato
Fillet of brill, curried parsnip, kipper tortellini

Cheese (for one night only!): 5 Northern English cheeses

Pre-dessert: Cinnamon tuile, sherry jelly, catalan creme, acacia honey sorbet

“Apples from the Samling garden” – apple pie, apple parfait, apple brulee, apple sorbet
Chocolate delice, fennel ice cream, mandarin jelly
Poached pear, olive oil ice cream, upside-down pudding

Coffee & petit fours
- lemon meringue
- lemon & thyme shortbread
- blackcurrant jelly
- chocolate & hazlenut cluster
- madeleine

Phew!

To walk off the effects of this meal, we had some spectacular, although slightly snowy, walks, particularly from Patterdale

and above Windermere

I was in Cannes this week at the Gartner Symposium/ITxpo, held in the conference centre next to the beach.

While the daytime was all work (honestly), I used the evenings to explore Cannes, walking along La Croisette promenade, climbing up through Le Suquet to the Tour Castres, eating wonderful fresh seafood – the best was Astoux & Brun near the Vieux Port.

Antibes is only a 15 minute train ride from Cannes, so I went for an explore there one evening. It was nice to sit outside a cafe drinking beer on a November evening. Can’t do that in Glasgow. And again, I was able to discover a good small restaurant which served really good fish.

A brilliant 2 night stay at The Samling. We stayed in the Tyan – a large room decorated in a traditional Lake District blue pattern – very like something produced by the Timorous Beasties. Usual sumptuous bathroom, great to relax in the bath after walking round the Fairfield Horseshoe.

The best thing about the Samling is that they serve breakfast in your room – we therefore had breakfast overlooking Lake Windermere both mornings – see the picture for the view. We ended up ordering most things on the menu, but the French toast, maple syrup and fresh fruit was the definite highlight.

The restaurant is quite good too – the particular highlight for us was the roast fig with goats cheese ice cream, which we each had both nights.

Friday
Cheek of Gloucester old spot, langoustines, celeriac puree.

Noisette of lamb
Sea bass, lasagne of Cornish crab.

Whole roast fig, fig turnover, goats cheese ice cream.

Saturday
Ballantine of ham, piccalilli, souffle of Mrs Kirkham’s cheddar.
Foie gras.

Venison (loin & shank), haggis ravioli, neeps & tatties.

Whole roast fig, fig turnover, goats cheese ice cream (again)

Service was excellent throughout the weekend. The staff were really friendly and approachable, and made the stay a real pleasure.

We’re just back from a brilliant weekend in the Lake District. The sun shone all day for three days in a row, and we managed a good balance of luxury (The Samling – more later) and exercise.

We managed three excellent walks (forgot camera, so had to make do with mobile phone):

A low level stroll along Derwent Water and up to Castlerigg Stone Circle near Keswick, just to get the legs stretched.

As Saturday was a promising clear day, with no mist on the fell tops, and as recommended by Roger a couple of years ago, we walked round the Fairfield Horseshoe from Ambleside – 10.5 miles/3250 ft climb (or for the metric-minded, approximately 14 km/1000 m climb). We certainly earned our dinner that evening!

And as a gentle follow-up, we went for a nice low-level walk through Borrowdale on Sunday. As it was the first weekend of the school hols, the place was mobbed!