Clachan was to be our next stop in Kintyre. We’d seen various posters about for a smallholders gathering to be held in their village hall. It was quite a way from our campsite, so I called the organiser to see if they knew of any good spots nearby where we could pitch a tent. In what now seems to be the theme of the trip despite them having absolutely no idea who we were we were told we’d be welcome to stay in their garden, or a friend’s garden up the road. So when we arrived we pitched the tent in their garden, which promptly got invaded by some very inquisitive playful kittens. Very cute, however seeing them leeping around the tent, clawing at the ropes and running backwards and forwards in the gap between the inner and outer tent made us a little nervous that by the end of the night our reasonably expensive lightweight storm tent would be ripped to shreds. Our hosts kindly offered that we could sleep in their office, so yet again we found ourselves in a house for the night, rather than out in the tent. It’s a hard life.

This was the first year they’d held the gathering and it seems to have been a great success. During the day the hall was full of little stalls selling their various wares- jams, vegtetables, herbs, candles, handmade cushions and pinnys. There was also face painting, traditional wood turning and an information stall about bee keeping. We bought a huge curly cucumber, a few apples and some rose petal jam (which we forgot and left at the people’s house we were staying at without even tasting it, grrr!). The hall was then cleared to prepare for the evening’s festivities. There was a barbeque, with some pretty tasty veggie burgers, a bar and music and dancing through the night, provided mostly from people of the local area. No particular musical theme, there was classical guitar, a folk band, who had just formed that evening, a couple of guitar playing singers and one man, I think he may have been the local doctor, who sang a few traditional songs without music, a couple in gaelic. All in all it was very enjoyable. But it wasn’t to stop there, as we were staying in one of the organiser’s houses we were than involoved in the all back to ours after party which went on until around 6am! More music including one guy with an incredibly loud voice singing Frank Sinatra to the beat of a bodhran drum. A few sore heads in the morning.

The next day Lori and Gareth invited us to stay another night so we continued our other new tradition of cooking for our hosts to say thanks. I made chilli nachos, good stodgy hangover food, probably not the healthiest thing ever being based on crisp type things, covered in cheese with helping of sour cream for added fat content. Their son Leo asked why we were having crisps for tea, which according to him were a treat for when you’ve been good, I began to feel slightly guilty for feeding their children rubbish, but it was what the hangovers demanded.

I really enjoy cooking for people, it’s great to share a meal, gives you a good chance to sit down with no real distractions and have a good chat. Quite often with friends and maybe a glass or two of wine this can turn into a whole night of merriment. I’ve been thinking this would be a great thing to do on our travels. We could move from place to place around the country trading an evening meal for a bed for the night. It would be brilliant. Imagine the people you would meet, all the different stories. It’s always been best when we’ve ended up meeting someone form the local area to tell you how things really are and what’s good to do. Guide books are fine, but you’ll learn so much more just chatting to someone for an hour or so and are so much more likely to be able to find out about something you are specifically interested in when you can ask a few questions. People seem to enjoy us coming round too, I don’t think the lady in Arran really wanted us to leave!

It seems I’m not the only one with this idea. Just read in the paper about a girl who’s been travelling around the country swapping chocolate pudding for an evening meal and somewhere to sleep, she has a blog detailing her adventures and it seems like she’s having a brilliant time.  I’m definitely up for it, anyone who fancies two friendly visitors armed with everything needed to make a lovely dinner get in touch. We’re in the Western Isles for a few more weeks, then heading back down south and are prepared to take any interesting detours!

Chilli Nachos

For the chilli:

• Olive oil
• 2 onions, finely chopped
• 3 garlic cloves
• chillis to taste, finely chopped (I used 2 dried ones)
• 3 tins different beans (I used 1 kidney, 1 cannellini, 1 haricot)
• 2 tins of chopped tomatoes1 bag of quorn pieces
• 1 tbsp gravy powder
• 2/3 tbsp sweet chilli sauce
• 3 carrots chopped
• 1 red pepper deseeded and sliced

To serve:

• Big bag of nachos
• Cheddar cheese, grated
• Soured cream

1. Gently fry the onion and garlic in olive oil until soft and turning brown, then add the chillis and fry for a minute or so.
2. Add all the other chilli ingredients to the pan, stir in and leave to cook through for at least 45 minutes stirring everyso often and making sure it deosn’t stick. If possible cooking for longer is better, it seems to taste nicer the slower and longer you can cook it. Also often tastes better the next day.
3. Arrange the nachos to cover the whole plate, pile some chilli on then top with grated cheese. Put this under the grill or in the oven for a few minutes until the cheese has melted and starts to go brown.
4. Serve with a good dollop of soured cream.

Sorry for the lack of photos on this post, if I make this again soon I’ll add one.