Now a little to the east of Ryde Pier there is a boating lake. Or rather a lake on which you can pedal large two or four seater, white plastic swans. We have pedaled such a swan ourselves on the occasion of an important anniversary. Behind the boating lake there is a thin plot of land, rather odd in shape, upon which there was once a thatched tea room. After that it was a Chinese restaurant, which is was what it was when we first knew Ryde. The Chinese restaurant then burned down and, after some years, was replaced by an Indian restaurant, same plot of land and more or less the same building, but without the thatch. Maybe that was the contribution of the Fire & Rescue Service. The Indian restaurant has now been replaced by a native restaurant serving contemporary beach food, a restaurant which is called 'The Duck', perhaps overlooking the fact that nearly all the birds on the boating pond are actually geese. Perhaps they don't teach you about that at cook school. See reference 1.
So, onto the train to remember about senior rail pass, left in a drawer in the holiday cottage. But it was alright as BH managed to persuade the ticket collector that I had one and that he could pretend that he had seen it. So I got my discount after all.
Out at the Esplanade to walk south towards Seaview.
Past Appley Tower, a place from which we once bought a stripey brown ball of decorative stone, still to be seen on the study window sill and sometimes used for the purpose of exercises. A place from which we failed to buy a lump of tin with which to celebrate a certain wedding anniversary and a place which has now been shut up for some years. Assuming that it is connected to the ordinary utilities, it would make rather a good, if small, holiday cottage for a young couple. Romantic views over watery sands and all that. Assuming that is that its exposed position on the Esplanade would not draw the attentions of passing youth in the evening. Would an estate agent give one honest advice on this last point?
Got nearly as far as the Boathouse, another public house which has moved into fine dining. Quite possibly contemporary beach food and a place where we have had a few satisfactory meals in the past. But we decided against, and settled for sitting on the beach for a bit to admire the passing shipping. Which included a large container ship from Cosco Shipping, a company headquartered in my native Felixstowe. As it happened, I think they were in the news on that very same day, something to do with being bought by the Chinese. At the time though, we were more interested in the small boat which seemed to be following the vessel into Southampton, not something that we had seen before. Was it a pilot cutter? From which I associated to stories from Tomlinson and Conrad about the difficulties of getting pilots on and off large steamers in heavy seas and about how some seamen had a knack with small rowing boats in same. Not a problem on this particular day. Consulting reference 2 later, we learned that a Cosco container ship had been having engine problems, reported to have been sorted out at Southampton a few days previous. Perhaps they had not.
From we hoofed it back the to the Duck for lunch. A lunch which was mainly in the form of a beef sandwich, described as a ciabatta, but which usually, as here, seems to be an excuse for serving bread which has been warmed up in the microwave, straight out of the freezer. But not so bad for all that. I remembered to tell them to supply horseradish on the side, but I did not think to tell them to supply butter on the side - with, as it turned out, there being far too much of the stuff in the sandwich for my taste. Also the beef was under cooked. I like my sandwich beef to be firm and brown rather than soggy and pink. But again, not so bad for all that, and it was very nicely served and presented. With a good coup de blanc, as Simenon would say.
Hard to see that the place was going to pay its wages on the lunch time custom that we saw, so hopefully they do better in the evening. A nice dining room in a nice spot, if a little on the edge of town, not a place you are going to notice when you fall out of the pub, unless you know about it beforehand.
We shall be back in September, if not before, so we shall see how they are doing then. Hopefully I will remember about butter on the side.
Train very full of a party of school children for the trip back to Brading.
Reference 1: http://www.theduckiow.co.uk/.
Reference 2: https://www.coscon.co.uk/.
Group search key: rdb.
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