Strabanephotos
The Marisco Tavern, Lundy Island, Bristol Channel
From: www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/pubs/10248273/Pint-to-pi...
Unsullied by the accoutrements of modern life, The Marisco Tavern is the sort of pub I fantasise about. Quiet, with a traditional but unique interior; no fruit machines, no music and no mobiles, tablets, laptops or gadgets of any kind, thanks to a ban that even someone as attached to their smartphone as I am will revel in.
Drinkers have spent some two hours crossing the Bristol Channel to get to Lundy, and another good half-hour climbing the steep road to the pub. By then they will have dropped back a gear or two to join the pace of island life. They do not want, nor need, to be bothered by the demands of email, texts, social media or other trivialities that detract from life’s simpler pleasures – a pint of beer, chatting with your spouse, sharing time with friends or gazing at stunning views out to sea.
Remarkably for a remote island pub, there are three cask ales from which to choose. I order two pints of St Austell Black Prince (4%), a delicious creamy, chocolatey dark mild that is a rarity on the mainland. It is cool and perfectly kept. The Old Light ale (4.2%) is in similarly tip-top condition. Much later in the day, I’m tempted by a rum menu which boasts such gems as Pusser’s Aged 15 years and Mount Gay, of which the bartender unflinchingly inquires, “Do you want it straight?”
The nautical decor includes an alarming collection of lifebelts bearing the name of ships wrecked on Lundy’s shores, and the date they met their fate. The floor is made of slabs of granite from the island’s quarries. Like all the best pubs there is a variety of seating: a long table for large groups or convivial eating, traditional tables and chairs and cosy benched booths with sea views. It even has a mezzanine. Not that it is so pretentious as to call it that.
Whether you’ve walked directly from the landing place or been for a yomp around the island you’re bound to have worked up an appetite. The Tavern’s menu ranges from cheesy chips, (the perfect lunch when arriving during winter – the helicopter drops you off almost at the pub door) via baguettes and jacket potatoes through to seasonally changing dishes prepared from an impressive range of meat reared on the island (prices vary but mains start at £8.20). Lundy lamb is among the leanest you’ll come across; Soay sheep are also resident, their meat is darker, gamier and full flavoured thanks to a diet of turf and aromatic plants; venison is from the Sika deer population and Lundy pork sausages are available thanks to pigs imported as part of a sustainable waste-management programme.
My friend Mike, who owned the boat 'Merlin' which we did an overnight trip a few weeks ago, has bought a new boat - Santa Clara.
We planned a 5 day trip, leaving Swansea on Monday 5th August 2013 and getting back on Friday 9th August. We only had a rought plan, as sailing depends on the wind and weather, but we ended up sailing from Swansea to Ilfracombe (spent the night in Ilfracombe) then Lundy Island (spent the night offLundy), followed by two nights off Worms Head with a day trip to Caldey Island in between.
The weather was kind to us - except for light winds for a couple of days and then too much wind for one night!
An excellent trip.
From Wikipedia:
The name Lundy is believed to come from the old Norse word for "puffin island" (Lundey), lundi being the Norse word for a puffin and ey, an island, although an alternative explanation has been suggested with Lund referring to a copse, or wooded area. According to genealogist Edward MacLysaght the surname Lundy is from Norman de la Lounde, a name recorded in medieval documents in counties Tipperary and Kilkenny in Ireland.
Lundy has evidence of visitation or occupation from the Neolithic period onward, with Mesolithic flintwork, Bronze Age burial mounds, four inscribed gravestones from the early medieval period,] and an early medieval monastery (possibly dedicated to St Elen or St Helen).
Lundy lies off the coast of North Devon, where the Atlantic ocean meets the Bristol Channel with nothing between it and America, a granite outcrop, three and a half miles long and half a mile wide. In the hubbub of the modern world it is a place apart, peaceful and unspoilt.
The Marisco Tavern, Lundy Island, Bristol Channel
From: www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/pubs/10248273/Pint-to-pi...
Unsullied by the accoutrements of modern life, The Marisco Tavern is the sort of pub I fantasise about. Quiet, with a traditional but unique interior; no fruit machines, no music and no mobiles, tablets, laptops or gadgets of any kind, thanks to a ban that even someone as attached to their smartphone as I am will revel in.
Drinkers have spent some two hours crossing the Bristol Channel to get to Lundy, and another good half-hour climbing the steep road to the pub. By then they will have dropped back a gear or two to join the pace of island life. They do not want, nor need, to be bothered by the demands of email, texts, social media or other trivialities that detract from life’s simpler pleasures – a pint of beer, chatting with your spouse, sharing time with friends or gazing at stunning views out to sea.
Remarkably for a remote island pub, there are three cask ales from which to choose. I order two pints of St Austell Black Prince (4%), a delicious creamy, chocolatey dark mild that is a rarity on the mainland. It is cool and perfectly kept. The Old Light ale (4.2%) is in similarly tip-top condition. Much later in the day, I’m tempted by a rum menu which boasts such gems as Pusser’s Aged 15 years and Mount Gay, of which the bartender unflinchingly inquires, “Do you want it straight?”
The nautical decor includes an alarming collection of lifebelts bearing the name of ships wrecked on Lundy’s shores, and the date they met their fate. The floor is made of slabs of granite from the island’s quarries. Like all the best pubs there is a variety of seating: a long table for large groups or convivial eating, traditional tables and chairs and cosy benched booths with sea views. It even has a mezzanine. Not that it is so pretentious as to call it that.
Whether you’ve walked directly from the landing place or been for a yomp around the island you’re bound to have worked up an appetite. The Tavern’s menu ranges from cheesy chips, (the perfect lunch when arriving during winter – the helicopter drops you off almost at the pub door) via baguettes and jacket potatoes through to seasonally changing dishes prepared from an impressive range of meat reared on the island (prices vary but mains start at £8.20). Lundy lamb is among the leanest you’ll come across; Soay sheep are also resident, their meat is darker, gamier and full flavoured thanks to a diet of turf and aromatic plants; venison is from the Sika deer population and Lundy pork sausages are available thanks to pigs imported as part of a sustainable waste-management programme.
My friend Mike, who owned the boat 'Merlin' which we did an overnight trip a few weeks ago, has bought a new boat - Santa Clara.
We planned a 5 day trip, leaving Swansea on Monday 5th August 2013 and getting back on Friday 9th August. We only had a rought plan, as sailing depends on the wind and weather, but we ended up sailing from Swansea to Ilfracombe (spent the night in Ilfracombe) then Lundy Island (spent the night offLundy), followed by two nights off Worms Head with a day trip to Caldey Island in between.
The weather was kind to us - except for light winds for a couple of days and then too much wind for one night!
An excellent trip.
From Wikipedia:
The name Lundy is believed to come from the old Norse word for "puffin island" (Lundey), lundi being the Norse word for a puffin and ey, an island, although an alternative explanation has been suggested with Lund referring to a copse, or wooded area. According to genealogist Edward MacLysaght the surname Lundy is from Norman de la Lounde, a name recorded in medieval documents in counties Tipperary and Kilkenny in Ireland.
Lundy has evidence of visitation or occupation from the Neolithic period onward, with Mesolithic flintwork, Bronze Age burial mounds, four inscribed gravestones from the early medieval period,] and an early medieval monastery (possibly dedicated to St Elen or St Helen).
Lundy lies off the coast of North Devon, where the Atlantic ocean meets the Bristol Channel with nothing between it and America, a granite outcrop, three and a half miles long and half a mile wide. In the hubbub of the modern world it is a place apart, peaceful and unspoilt.