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Fergus In Gloucester
On
the occasion of a Munster v Gloucester
Rugby match!
Well Gloucester is not Provence nor is Bristol, where we stayed.
Nonetheless when in Bristol we ate at the Bordeaux Quay, Bristol on Friday
night. Worth a visit, as is the totally refurbished docks area (where sculpture
adorns the streets and is never vandalised) … a great place for the young at
heart!
My dining companions were typical rugby travellers …steak, steak, a
little fish and that’s it. I however did my thing and had as my main course
-Monkfish baked in goose fat with Savoy Cabbage prepared in the same way. Heaven,
just Heaven, it was magic! I didn’t give a morsel to those on beef and
lamb…which I must admit looked good too. We drank the Vin Maison and ended with
that great Shannon RFC song THERE IS AN ISLE. (You might hear it at Boyle Arts
Festival this year!). That was Friday night. On Saturday there was serious
business in Gloucester and so the culinary juices had to settle for Cornish
Pasties, jellied eels and loads of local Bitter. All Excellent too!
Bristol
is a wonderful place. I worked there as a young trainee chartered accountant for
several months, even had to take the Official Secrets Act!! I still marvel at
the old Brunel Suspension Bridge. What a tribute to the English Engineers who
really led the world with innovation during the Industrial Revolution and
beyond. These are the same men who came from the English Public Schools and then
Oxbridge and spread the game of Rugby wherever they went.
Indeed our bridges
in Boyle still deliver to us a wonderful service although built centuries
before the automobile or the forty foot trucks were ever dreamt of. Then of
course there is the Severn Bridge. Just magic to look at and wonder at another
triumph of man!
I recommend Bristol and the lovely land of Gloucestershire
for anyone thinking of a weekend in England. Try Moreton-in-Marsh and
surrounding towns with quaint names. They all have wonderful ales and
Inns.
MUNSTER marched on and next stop is Coventry..not that poses some
culinary challenges!
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