barter books

 

as the name suggests, this fascinating second hand book store is one of the biggest in the country! it's in a disused train station and has fireplaces and comfy sofas to read in. there's even a cafe inside, and an electronic train running around the ceiling. more interestingly, it's the home of that poster. you know, the one that says "keep calm and carry on". rumour has it that the owner of this book shop discovered the poster in a box of old books someone had donated. while it had never been published as intended during WWII, he was quick to print it and the rest is, well, history.

also, everyone and their mother told us to come here! from the complete stranger in the post office who gave the manfriend a 10minute history lecture while i was furiously scribbling postcards, to the proprietress of the village tea room and even the bus driver! it's like the pride and joy of the town haha.

odds and ends

 

more finds in the coastal town! the village tea room, a haunted hotel, window displays and granny's underground tea room complete with starched aprons hanging to dry. literally ate our way through because we just had to have something at even cafe we saw. left laden with fresh specialty jams and clotted cream fudge.

parallel lives v2

while i was traipsing around in scrubs without a care in the world, the manfriend was in the midst of a mega international arbitration. how he manages to simultaneously and single-handedly:

1) plan three weddings

2) an easter getaway

3) rent out our apartment

4) get ready to relocate to london (next month!!!) 

AND STILL

5) pull more than his weight at the massive arbi is beyond me. funnily enough, it's the same file i was on before i left and let me tell you that it's a bloomin' nightmare of a case.

our lives are so very different and i'm so very proud of him :)

perfect portions

possibly rendered imperfect when you eat four of them at a pop.

succumbed to some very clever marketing and ordered four boxes for a fiver. the packaging is sleek and environmentally-conscious, adding to the subliminal message behind their snack selling. as i seem to need to eat non-stop here, the idea of grazing did appeal to me. what's not to like about snacking but healthily, oxymoronic as that may seem.

BUT let's just say having four boxes of four snacks delivered on the same day was not one of my best ideas yet. so until they start selling self-restraint by the box, i've decided that graze is evil and am switching back to quavers and greggs. thank god for the pricey cafe across the street that forces me to stop at one (ok, fine, two) slices of chocolate cake. this fascination with food and a fast growing sweet tooth all started when i relocated. who'd have thought that chocolate tastes SO GOOD here. the milk they use is divine, much unlike malaysian milk in singers :/

small town hopping

 

much as we love the city, the weather was just too good to pass on a chance to go on a day trip. this time, we went to a beach that was even further away. props to the manfriend for his supreme planning prowess, coordinating the train and bus times, getting us all the way there and back in time for a fancy italian dinner. 

that time of term again

where the end is in sight and i get prematurely excited about the upcoming holidays. can't believe almost 2/3 done with first year. this term's been a good one. started with exams the day after i got back from singers (eek...) and we'd two massive papers due this term, one last week and one next week. while i'm far from done with the second paper - my mind has already gone on easter break. uh oh. in fact, after the a half day clinic on tuesday, it felt like the term was over. as i burst forth into the evening sunshine, i was  psyched for the biggest medic social. 

this social was, in fact, reason enough to attract people to my course, as overheard in the library. ok, not the best of reasons but who's judging haha. broke out the scrubs and joined the scrum as it made its way around town. 12 hours, 12 pubs, 12 pints (or more!) and two clubs after midnight. was with the accelerators and, uh, we were sooo ahead of the curve. made a point to be about 15min ahead of schedule, early enough to get a drink, before leaving for the next pub when the one we were at started to burst at the seams. in true skint student style, loaded up on free food (oh wonderful belly-lining grease, what would i do without you) and eschewed the GBP7 (!!!) chippy that was literally daylight robbery, seeing how we started at noon. it was a sea of scrubs and such a good time out! but i do feel a little sorry for the unsuspecting public we were unleashed upon...

don't i have wonderfully charming friends - we stopped at another chippy before heading to the clubs.

not an everyday sight!

oh right, and i got distracted! this was supposed to be about the term drawing to a close. on a self-declared holiday tomorrow to head to the yorkshire dales early to help set up. can't wait for the wilderness weekend. in true pre-trip fashion, have baked a box of tray bakes, loaded up on snacks (party ring! kitkat! crisps!), roadtrip playlist sorted and all my bags are packed. like i said awhile ago, i really need to get out more :/ 

and next weekend, new york city here i come! easter break couldn't come any sooner :D

free shot of culture

never tire of sunset by the quay, and it's even better from the viewing gallery. enjoy the occasional musuem visit, even more so when it's free, and we caught the setting sun from the top before slowly making our way down through the different storeys of exhibits. was stuck in the gift shop for longer than i'd care to admit. such clever gifts and nifty concepts. i wanted to buy everything but settled for some postcards and left deliberating the most minimalist of japanese bento boxes. maybe next week.

wild trials

much as that might sound like kangaroo court, chuffed to be on the crew for the inaugural national wild trials! 

i mean, it was only a matter of time before i slept in a tent. having slowly upped the ante with every wilderness trip , surely there was a tent on the horizon. never mind that the one time i slept in a tent, i accidentally flooded it with an ill-closed 3 litre bottle. it wasn't rain or a leaky tent, like i'd thought mid-slumber. never mind that i've actually never pitched a tent (why thank you, my ever-able manfriend). also, never mind that we'll be pitching tents IN THE DARK because we get to the dales at night. after all, that's what a head torch is for, isn't it! can you tell i'm secretly dreading sleeping in a tent? during a frosty spring? with only a sleeping bag for warmth? 

also, there might not be an electrical outlet at the campsite (!!!) that's one of the first things i asked C and he didn't miss a beat, asking whether this was for my hairdryer... -_- just how does one tell mr. wilderness himself, who makes artificial airways in sheep throats and drains pigs' lungs as "practice", that yes, i need my hairdryer.

negativity aside, am psyched for the weekend away! never mind that my big fat 6000 word fail-this-and-fail-the-year paper is due 2 days after we return. last minute paper-churning fueled by abject fear and desperation is sooo freshman year i.e. 2006.

the cafe series continues tomorrow! just thought i'd throw some early weekend eggcitement into the mix. and speaking of eggcitement, 12 hours, 12 pubs, 12 pints tomorrow! let's see how far i get haha. no prizes for guessing, "not very."

my heading doesn't lie

clearly unable to contain my glee at finally wearing scrubs ^^ 

they're sooooo comfy i could live in them. only "complaint" is that i'm swimming in XS and there's no XXS. talk about vanity sizing! have to tie the pants literally a hand's length above my belly button before they fit. but it's all good and yay i have scrubs! yay. gosh i need to get out more :/

a bite of the big apple

read many good things about this little perk, named after central perk, and was determined to find it on foot. was a good 30min walk from home but we worked up an even bigger appetite en route. rolled in and scored the last empty table. the paninis were divine, his pesto/mozza/sundried tomato more so than my breakfast panini with scrambled eggs and bacon. naturally, that meant we went halfsies :)

not entirely satisfied, we moved on very quickly to the next cafe that i'd actually been keeping for brunch the next day. but hey, we were hungry! at this other place, we'd to queue! not something we were expecting at noon on a saturday. rookie error, of course. one of my friends was wilderness was raving about butterfly and i didn't take much convincing. after all, this lovely english girl is going to kuching for her elective so she can eat kolo mee. a girl after my own heart! her recommendation was right on the money and if i'd to pick one cafe that i liked most during this flurry of cafe exploration, well, pikachu i choose you! we'd the USA breakfast i.e. sausages, bacon, hashbrowns, 4 GIANT pancakes) and added two poached eggs because it simply wasn't enough. my praline mocha was out of this world and he'd a girly raspberry/lime tea drink that was simply delightful. 

also, call me a sentimental softie but butterfly now has a special place in my heart because we sat down and didn't move till our wedding guest list was finalised :) it's little things like that, really, that make a holiday. we'd an idea of who'd we want there but it was so good to talk the list through. once again, i was reminded how blessed i am to be marrying someone who's a much bigger person than i am.

 

oh hey and remember i told you about the lady we bumped into twice? well she popped up in the queue right behind us. it was surreal to see her again, and this time, she very kindly gave me her number and offered her help as a 'responsible adult' if ever i needed one. awww :) seeing the same clued-in local twice in two days, at two hip cafes? gotta be onto something good!

birthday dinner

 

not a big fan of birthdays but hey, any excuse to have him fly around the world to me :)

the dining scene is admittedly fad-y and unabashed, i was suckered by this choice picking by the water. nothing like views of the quay, and imaginative cooking. funny story - i called up to ask if they did free cakes because it was "my date's birthday". the cheapos did not! but by then it was too late to back pedal and 'fess up that it wasn't really my date's birthday. oopsy! props to the manfriend for taking one for the team and not minding (too) much that somehow i got the waiter to serenade him and present him with a decorated plate on his (not) birthday. 

had mixed feelings about this birthday, precipitated by a mini-wobble the night before. you know, one of those existential angst moments. realised that i was x years old with nothing to show for it. thank goodness the manfriend was around to knock some sense into me. he reminded me to count my blessings and hmm that's my take home message for the year, which has, contrary to my puny perception, been nothing short of monumental. since my last birthday, i've gotten into medsch, been proposed to, called to the singapore bar and started medsch. so much to be thankful for! and between now and my next birthday, i'll be done with first year, have gotten married and have begun calling london home. which, really, is all in line with my grand plan to be a happilymarriedqualifieddoctorlawyermother by the time i hit the big 3-0, which, thankfully, is still a good few years away.

brunch for 1.5

 

here's another cafe i often passed but never went into. trouble is, i'd pass it on my way home from the train station (or chinatown) and by which time it was usually closed. it's the cutest name and i find the bicycle laden with flower boxes parked outside most inviting. had class that morning so i walked the manfriend there, sat down for ten minutes then went back to uni. went back after class to pick him up (hehe, the guest gets pick up rights!). didn't have time to eat but he enjoyed his leisurely breakfast while draining my iPhone battery. not too bummed though, because i was merely saving my stomach for the dimsum feast we transited to. yep, he went from breakfast to lunch in the blink of an eye. and boy, we forgot how big UK chinese food portions are and accidentally ordered enough for a family.

missing kungshamra

had the time of my life while on exchange in stockholm in 2009. in fact, that's when i started blogging! my time there began a long term love affair with all things swedish, and the wonderful wonderful people i met. these "erasmus friends" are still people i keep in touch with three years on - and on a more than superficial level. our parting shot was, "the world is small and we are young" and truly, we've actually met up more than once in different cities since. spent part of my grad trip in stockholm catching up with the crew, and am bummed beyond belief to be missing out on not one (the law bunch went back in november!) but two (my house has reunited for the weekend!) reunions. thank goodness for the wonders of skype. joined our "corridor dinner" soon after everyone assembled and hit by wave after wave of nostalgia. silly me, was just asking for it, wasn't i. 

we got along so well, it was a wonderful corridor and contrary to krishna's sad prediction, we haven't forgotten each other. with ayumi flying in from sendai before she starts work in tokyo, piotr arriving from gdansk for the weekend and kjell taking the pendaltag (swedish over land train!) 45min back to our old stomping ground, it was a party all right! they had grillbar pizza (gosh i used to have one a day, the perils of living next to a pizza shack...) and krishna's indian culinary delights. it's same same but different. they look the same but almost everyone is working, with krishna finishing his phD this year. there was talk about meeting up in london next but i was the first to point out that it's not a reunion if it's not at our beloved kungshamra.

 

cafe snippets of kai's visit resume tomorrow, if you'd like to see.

hidey hole

 

during one of my first few days here, i was having lunch alone in a cafe when i looked up and saw this charming sight across the street. there was some confusion, and i did initially think it was someone's beautifully done up home. but the rows and rows of bottles gave it away as an operational bar and after some snooping around, i eventually found the ever elusive entrance through the market. that did take two separate tries, and while i was with two different friends who were about to convince themselves that i was seeing things! 

swung by for a fashionably late dinner mid-week and they were having an event to raise money for the local schools. enjoyed the laid-back, bohemian vibe to it, almost kumbaya-esque, if you get what i mean. there were all these hippie musical types with their various instruments in a circle. we were seated in a separate section for lamb shanks and steak, no less, but enjoyed the music and good vibes. 

still on the topic of friendly locals, the lady at the next table started talking to us and before we knew it, it became a double date. amazed by the warmth we've been on the receiving end of. again, somehow this only manifests when i'm with kai! when i'm on my own, no one talks to me :( and funny story, after a lovely evening, we bump into the same lady and her partner at brunch on saturday! who said lightning doesn't strike in the same place twice. but that's another story for another day.

tea in the 'hood

 

first chanced upon this gem of a cafe during one of my weekend wanders. have so much time on my hands that i make a point to stroll around the neighbourhood, hoping to familiarise myself with my surroundings. this time, instead of pathetically peering longingly through the big glass windowpanes, i could actually go in! with the manfriend in tow! not that i couldn't check it out any earlier. hey, i'm all for the romanticised self-image of solo coffee sippin' with only a good book for company. but this, like the other cafes that will be making an appearance over the next few days, was an experience i was saving to share with kai when he visited. and we weren't disappointed. he'd some home roasted coffee and i'd an intriguing apple tea with maple. of course, we'd a brownie with ice cream (yum!) and there were even postcards on sale. chanced upon the cutest design and just might somehow incorporate it into our wedding invites :) what a find!

first things first

 

most times, i manage to resist the siren call of m&s. but when the manfriend visited, all resolve flew out of the window and we went a bit overboard in the cookie section. this is only half the stash. the other half couldn't fit the belt. and while weighed down with the spoils, we somehow managed to lumber over to poundland and pick up more kitkat (22 bars for a quid!) and after eights. 

be still, my palpitating heart.

a day by the beach

bought a day pass to get to the city from the airport and figured we may as well make a day trip to the beach while we had it. funny story - so near yet so far. always known it's there, even been to the 'hood a few times for to visit a patient but never got so far as to the water. props to my fantastic friends who gave me the low down on how to get there and what to do. would've been so lost without their tips! 

the first thing we did was to eschew the village chippy and re-fuel at the best pub. scampi, chips and peas for GBP1.99?! are you kidding meee??? what i love about this place is just how warm and welcoming the locals are. the three and a half men at the next table were quick to engage us in some intellectual banter, and sweet talked me into teaching their eight year old some chinese. smart kid could already write 1-10 and soon figured out how to go from 1-100. they were friendly without being intrusive, and the moment our food arrived, they left us to it. people aren't this nice to me when i'm on my own haha. it has to be the manfriend's countenance!

went exploring on full bellies and soon found ourselves at the coolest beach bar. we braved the winds and sat on the terrace with cupcakes and hot chocolate, watching the lone surfer try to stand up, and the dogs chasing balls in the sand.

now the dust has settled

it's back to work. was rushing to meet a deadline but thankfully didn't take as long as anticipated. i hate last nights. it's always so anti-climatic. like everything i'd been looking for was over, just like that. having spent a good 2+ years of our 4.5 together apart, you get used to the separation. it's feast/famine, really. i don't see him for weeks, and then suddenly i've him all to myself for a few days. if nothing else, it's taught me to be present, to be 100% there mentally when we're finally at the same place at the same time. and i appreciate every moment. there's no taking him for granted because time with him is paramount and everything else takes a back seat. it's not as if when we're apart life is all that unbearable. far from! was recruited for a random study a few weeks ago and one of the questions was "on a scale of 0-100, how happy are you?" my 95 surprised even myself, and i realised that he nudges that 95 to 100.

getting back into the swing of things after that untimely self-declared holiday. unsurprisingly, also in need of a good detox, having eaten waayyy too much for my own good and downing a bottle of wine with every meal. while i'm mega grateful to have been spared the usual squalor of student living, i'm starting to feel the effects of the binge. easily ate what i usually do in a day just for breakfast. and carbo-loaded at lunch and dinner. we had bottles of bubbly and red every night and my liver needs a break.

thank God i'll see him in exactly a month over easter break, and he relocates for good in april. can't wait to kiss long distance goodbye. 

in the spirit of eating, drinking and making merry, will post daily about how we spent his flying visit. do check back if you'd like to see :)

organised

 

(via weheartit)

in eager anticipation of the manfriend's visit, i've sent him a wishlist of every single cafe and restaurant i'd like to go to when he's here. and one of the manfriend's many strengths is his supreme organisational skills. should've known that he already had a list of his own and when our lists combined, wow wee, gastronomical highlights of this not-so-small city. excited to eat my way through with him. somehow cafes aren't half as fun with anyone else and if i'd a penny for every time i passed something and wished he was with me right then and there so we could stop for some tea and cake, i'd be shopping at waitrose instead of tesco's...

he'll book one or two restaurants, but freestyle the rest. much as i enjoy the delicious anticipation of a good meal, don't want to swing the extreme and be hampered by reservations. we've a nice little routine worked out. he catches up on his zz while i'm in class but we'll spend every meal time together. it tickles me how despite the 8h time difference, we still go to bed at the same time. go figure. and despite knowing when his last day at the firm is, this is one sheep they're not putting in the pasture just yet. growl. have also made a list of things to see around the city together and to his delight, many of them involve being outside. side effect of that persistent wilderness bug i can't seem to shake. looking forward to walking the bridges, ambling around a moor or two and making the most of the many many parks. 

most excitedly, we'll be revising our guest list and sending out the beyoootifulll save the date his sister (lawyer-turned-graphic designer teehee) created for us. many posts ago, i said that he's doing everything for the wedding. and truly he has, going so far as to pick my shoes, leaving me with just the dress. ooh! pressure! cannot possibly mess up the one thing he's entrusted me now, can i. he does involve me and update me (i'm cc-ed on all the emails and boy were there a flurry!) but i'm so glad to be able to relinquish control of the wedding to the classiest person i know, with the most impeccable taste. possibly the only person on earth i trust more than i trust myself :) without going into too much detail, his new job meant that we'd to shift some dates around and find a new venue for our young people 'do. with just 3 months to go, this might've caused lesser mortal to shake in their shoes. but oh no, not the manfriend. undaunted, he did some research, found the perfect venue (EGGCITES!!!) and deftly bumped off a pre-existing booking. don't worry, no one was harmed in the process but it just made me go whoaaa at his negotiation skills, and a little weak at the knees. mad props to mr. makes-it-happen! and, he scored even more points for artfully evading a dongdongqiang kuching wedding. because, really, with three weddings in the pipeline, we didn't need a fourth.

ok! enough wedding fever and myboyfriendisbetterthanyours-talk. am refusing to think about how i'm going to spend the rest of my life paying for this. can just about picture it now.

"honey, i'm not (insert household chore). i planned the wedding, remember..."

this would also be an appropriate juncture to go on a week's hiatus. in lock down mode and won't be blogging till he goes home :(

really stupid things i occasionally do

i'm a self-confessed junk food addict. and i thought it was bad in singapore where i'd guzzle roller coaster rings, cheezels and cheese twisties with reckless abandon. don't get me started on super rings (oh those radioactively orange loops of yore) or keropok. when i went back to uni, i thought, "great. clean slate. no junk. my body is a temple...". this worked for all of three days, before i discovered the beauty of hula hoops (roller coaster rings incarnate) and quavers. did not help that i've a vending machine 50m from my front door. in stockholm it was a pizza shack. now, it's a cafe (with the most decadent chocolate cake...) and a vending machine. sigh. the fates conspire against me :(

to exacerbate matters, i realised that pound*land sells quavers for a quid. 7 bags of crunchy goodness for a quid?! my inner auntie was thrilled. little did i know that once i bought that first family pack, there was no turning back. what was initially intended for a week (hah! as if i'd self-restraint sufficient for a pack a day) disappeared before my very eyes in the matter of minutes. there you go folks, a whopping 7x88kcal in one sitting. incidentally, 800% my recommended daily salt intake and let's not venture into how much fat is in that. this, i confess with great shame, happened on more than one occasion. 

one fine day (actually, yesterday) i learnt that [Na+] (salt concentration, for the un-sciencey among you) controls the volume of water in our body. true enough, after my quaver binge (also as recent as yesterday :/) i drank so much water that i weighed 2kg heavier this morning, complete with quaver baby and popeye arms. am horrified by this revelation and have decided to cut additional salt out of my diet. thank goodness even with white coat hypertension, my bp just about hits 95/65mmHg. which also draws me to conclude that dietary salt intake has little bearing on blood pressure. in fact, over here, no one really knows the correlation between salt and blood pressure, or so it seems. have long been resigned to the fact that i might not have the fastest metabolic rate but i'm incredibly grateful for perfect eyesight (parents say i don't study enough), naturally straight teeth (score! no metal mouth) and low blood pressure + heart rate (50bpm ^^). win big, lose small? great if i were ever in a famine, not so great when there's a wedding dress to fit in a mere three months. butbutbut positive thinking, yo. even as i struggle into my skinnies.

that's specific

one of the funnier searches i've seen!

if you missed it, the post in question is over here.

industry

buckled down this weekend to get some work out of the way in anticipation of the manfriend's visit. not going to bore you with the inane details but it just occurred to me that i spent a good 15 (wo)man hours on a piddly 1250 word research essay. yeah. not my most efficient of moments. medical research is so much harder than legal research :( thankfully, the papers are a lot shorter, averaging 7 pages apiece? teehee. and oh joy! there's a 5000 word whopper of report to write on our year long study. mumble grumble. the good news? i'm almost done with both (they're only due in a month anyway), which heralds the end of the first year written assignments, leaving just the OSCE and finals in late may. time is passing so quickly it scares me. done with first year of medsch? already? didn't i just get here?! 

had a quiet weekend in but with some bright spots! can't go wrong with a big (personal) bowl of chiggen wings and soggy fries at the local. plus a surprise visitor landed on my doorstep this afternoon like a breath of fresh air, just as i was about to start speaking to my laptop in menacing tones... drinking hot chocolate like water because i'm constantly reminded that the brain is an obligate glucose user. or so i justify my binge anyway.

one last push tonight to finish the assignments and it's home free into a switched off week. 

routine

one of the funny things about cooking for myself is that i'm quite happy to eat the same thing day in and day out for about a fortnight. and then i go off it. appreciate structure and routine, and little daily rituals to look forward to. like breakfast! i go to bed dreaming about my breakfast. is that so wrong? most times, it involves lots of peanut butter and chocolate. not the healthiest start to the day, but hey, sugar rush in the morning coaxes me out of the duvet. just re-discovered rice. have been off rice (jiak kantang to the highest order) but we just acquired a tiny rice cooker that i feel compelled to use. so it's been rice for lunch and dinner and lunch for the next week :) also feel compelled to use the blender that kind family friends gifted me with when i first got to london, so i've been blitzing all manner of vegetables to make pureed soups, much to my flatmates chagrin. sounds like a pneumatic drill in the kitchen but hey, i do it in the early afternoon, keep the blitzing to the minimum and am relatively considerate. if we were to split hairs, i'd argue that there is only ever about 2 x 5s blitzes. which is more than i can say about their parties...

hate to attribute it to age but i've been sleeping earlier and rising earlier. enjoy a slow start where i can take my time. so different from autumn term when i'd roll out of bed at half 8 and into the lecture theatre by 9. now i've got a nice little morning routine down pat, with a good 10minutes on my fit roller to roll out those aching shoulders from my inflatable mattress of dubious origin. i also have time to drink a windowsill cooled cup of tea, compared to when i'd make tea with half a cup of hot water followed by a blast of icy cold water so i could down it while rushing to uni.

i have the same sandwich from the deli every day (tuna melt, if you'd to know) and chase it with filter coffee. coffee is also a recently acquired taste, and it's largely because i'm peer pressured into drinking. usually, there's chocolate at the end of lunch but lately i find it gives me a horrible sugar crash just before my 3pm lecture. dinner is an omelette with a generous amount of cheddar cheese. gosh, i live on cheese here, going so far as to dump it into my soups. would be completely insatiated if i'd to subsist of vegetables alone. so much for being voluntarily vegan. have flatmates who aren't capable of keeping the fridge closed so i dare not have meat in the flat. it's a pain to prepare and clean up after, anyway, so i make do with eating as much meat as i can when i eat out.

spend wayyy too much time on google reader, and watching telly. embarrassingly addicted to coach trip and take me out, interspersed with big bang theory and how i met your mother reruns. i do study now and then but this is starting very strangely to feel like exchange all over again, when it really should not. having worked before, class 9am-5pm is practically a half day in comparison and i find i've oodles and oodles of time on my hands after school. there's so much time, and so little that really needs to be done. actively involved in three co-curricular activities and already spend a weekend or two away each month with wilderness*medicine. the other two do take up time but somehow there's still time left over. yay to what feels very much like a second childhood :)

cairngorms winter trip part 4

had an early start on sunday with some teaching then a scenario challenge! were dropped in the middle of a parking lot and had to navigate our way to our casualties. and boy, were they in big trouble with massive injuries after falling from trees.

S' happy dance after we fixed our casualties. oh if only it were that formulaic in real life :)

had to drive home all too soon but i'm already looking forward to the next weekend away :)

cairngorms winter trip part 3

had time to kill so we made a pitstop at the hilton pub because that's how wilderness*medics roll ;) after a quick drink, we visited the cairngorms mountain rescue centre where we learnt, among other things, that they were sponsored by the local brewery. and the local beer had the funniest name...