Spice of Life

Peterhead - Tuesday 15th August

We spent a happy 3 hours talking to another ex-trawlerman called Alex of Scotia Charters who is convering a 24m boat into a conference ship to go on the Caledonian Canal. He has done a huge amount of work to it and we think that when it is finished he'll have a gold-mine. He is proposing to do golf tours for business outings and I think with the tartan tourism thing going so well he'll be fending them off the gunwales with a marlin spke.



At about 8 pm we thanked Alex and headed off into Peterhead to track down some supper and the first place we spotted was "The Spice of Life". We were starving, and desperate for a curry after a month away from one. The problem was that we were straight off the boat so still in filthy overalls, boots and woolley hats, and the restaurant looked rather smart. Ravenous and determined, Skipper fronted it and asked them if they would feed us anyway, they said "yes" and what a courteous, kind and professional bunch they are. The food was excellent - not oily and subtly spiced, excellent quality rice and good meat and vegetables. I recommend them to you, and they can be found in Rose Street, off Harbour Street in Peterhead. Thank you again, Spicers.

In North West Scotland there is an abiding fashion for decorating the outside of steel wheel-houses with wood-effect paintwork. There was a fair example of it on "Ocean Maid" who we started the Caledonian Canal with.

Most of the boats in Eyemouth had this treatment, and in the original pictures of Heroine, the whole deck-house and wheel-house is "wooded". I am not sure that we are going to go for this look, it feels a bit old-fashioned, but who are we to decide what is authentic?

In fact the art, at its best, is really impressively realistic, and all done by hand, and sometimes it overflows onto the buildings around the harbour, as in this example. Rather odd to see wood decoration on a wooden door and wooden panelling, but there you are.