Food in Provence (and elsewhere)

It turns out that last week’s sausage & bacon bap wasn’t the last after all. There’ll be a long drive on Sunday (11ish hours, plus breaks) so I booked priority disembarkation for the ferry. That means I need to check in by 2pm so what to do on Saturday morning? A visit to the Cobh Heritage Centre seems worthwhile and, as I need to pass through Midleton anyway, picking up a book to read during the crossing seems a good idea. So I might as well have a really last bap for breakfast, pick up a book when the shop opens at 9:30 and head to Cobh. That means missing the coffee & sticky buns farewell breakfast but if I stay for that I wouldn’t be leaving until 11 or so and wouldn’t have any time for Cobh.

Thus I say my goodbyes just after the farewell dinner dessert and head back to the cottage rather than joining the bus trip to and from the Blackbird pub in Ballycotton. The farewell dinner—prepared by Rory with, I’m pretty sure, his decorations on the menu—is good, though.

I make a last trip to the Bread Shed on Saturday morning to pick up my sourdough loaf (which has been baked by Juliet already as she needs to make and bake all the sticky buns—a job that required a 3am start) and my starter. Back at the cottage I transfer the starter to a bigger jar so it won’t (I hope!) be leaking out during the trip home, finish packing, load the car up (boot and back seat are both full; the passenger seat has the stuff I’ll need on the ferry) and have a last cup of tea.

There’s time for another farewell tour of the gardens farm (and to harvest a cucumber for my snack on the ferry) before I head off. After visiting the Heritage Museum and a quick walk along the Cobh sea front, it’s time to head for the ferry. One advantage of going to the Ringaskiddy ferry port via Cobh is that I can take the ferry across the River Lee rather than going by road and the tunnel.

After that bit of excitement, it’s mostly waiting around. But I’m the first car on to the boat so it bodes well for tomorrow. Unfortunately, whilst my car is at the front (port side), my cabin is at the back (starboard)… It is ready, though, so I can dump my things and sit at the stern watching the loading and then Ireland recede into the distance. Thence to a “high tea”, blog writing, book reading and bed. I guess I’ll be woken up early tomorrow by the PA system making sure everyone is ready to disembark. We arrive in Roscoff at 7am, but that’s CEST, so it’s 6am Irish time so probably a 5am Irish time alarm call… Earlier than my alarm in Ballymaloe!