Part 6 Round the isle UK trip Shucking twice dive scallops (Revisting Travels)

Continuing with my stay at Isle of Skye, today we go to the other famous hiking spot, The Quiraing. It is located on the northern part of the Isle of Skye and the start of the walk, where the sea meets the sky, is absolutely breathtaking.

繼續我在天空島之旅，今天我們去另一個著名的遠足地點Quiraing。它位於天空島的北部，而我們步行的起點景色簡直是令人目不暇給，美得沒有天與海之分。

Like The Old Man of Storr, the landscape at The Quiraing is a result of a series of landslips over the years and this has created many impressive rock formation. Some even have their own names such as The Prison, The Needle and The Table. I think you need a bit of imagination to recognise them but we did see The Needle and stood on The Table, though I couldn't work out where The Prison was.

跟老人石一樣Quiraing是遠古時代地質移動而形成很多形狀特別的石頭。有些石頭甚至被賜於很別致的名稱例如監獄，針及桌子。我覺得你真是需要花一點想像力才可以找到那些特別的石頭，不過我們應該是到了針及站在桌子上。至於監獄我不太清楚在哪兒。

In my view, the entire area as gorgeous as it is, is also quite rocky and dangerous and could easily become a prison if you are not careful and get stranded in bad weather or the dark! We were quite glad when we got back down from the Quiraing, and looking back up to where we were just half an hour ago, it was a quite an impressive hike. Another pat on the back for myself!

但以我來看，整個地區雖然很美麗但地形也頗險要，若是遇上天氣突然變壞或黑夜裡不小心被困在山上，那整個地區就會變成一個大監獄! 當我從Quiraing下山後，並且回望剛才的景色，真是覺得它非常壯觀！

Apart from amazing landscapes, the Isle of Skye boasts three one star Michelin star restaurants and an abundance of fresh seafood.
除了迷人的大自然景色外，天空島也很多美食，包括三間米芝蓮一星的餐廳及很多新鮮美味海産。

Sconser Scallops are famous hand dived scallops farmed in the local lochs. They are also called twice dived scallops. The first dive is when they are moved from the deeper waters in the lochs and to shallow waters when they're about 2 to 3 years old. Apparently the plankton in the shallow waters are thicker which helps to enhance the scallop's flavour and meat. The second dive is of course when they are harvested, and we bought a dozen that were freshly dived that morning. So from loch to mouth in less than 12 hours. Buying fresh scallops live in the shell meant we had to shuck them ourselves but that wasn't too difficult.

我們找到一位在地著名的漁夫，他在湖裡養殖帶子多年，而他的出品被稱為雙潛帶子。帶子約兩，三年大時漁夫會第一次潛入湖裡把帶子從深水處搬放到淺水處。因為淺水處有較多浮游生物可助帶子生長，令到其肉質豐厚及味道更加鮮美。而第二次潛水時當然是打撈帶子品嚐噢！我們早上打電話去預訂十二顆帶子，漁夫就在當天潛水打撈。從打撈到我們晚上吃不足十二小時，簡直新鮮極了。

In fact, the scallops were so fresh that even after we had shucked and cleaned them, they still moved when I nudged them with a knife, not dissimiliar to an external heartbeat movement that I've seen in documentary programmes! We had our scallops three ways. Raw sashimi style, grilled and pan fried. I think the raw ones, straight, were definitely the best! You may have noticed that two shells in the photo above doesn't have a scallop, that's because we were so eager to taste them once they were shucked. That is how good they were.

買新鮮連殼帶子需要花點功夫自己清理，幸好那也不太困難。打開殼清理完畢後，我用刀子輕輕去碰帶子時牠還在微微跳動，有點像電視紀錄片看見體外心臟跳動一樣！吃了那麼多年新鮮帶子，也沒見過噢！帶子一味三吃。有日式剌身，烤焗及鍋煎。三吃之中，我覺得日式剌身最鮮美。你看照片中有兩隻沒有帶子的殼，是因為我們整理完畢後巳急不及待把它切成剌身試吃。

Before leaving the Isle of Skye we sat down for a proper lunch at one of the three Michelin star restaurants – Kinloch Lodge. We were the only diners there for lunch so we had the full attentive but non intrusive service from the staff.

離開天空島之前我們到島上其中一間米芝蓮餐廳午餐。當天只有我們一枱客人，但餐廳裏每一張餐檯也佈置得井井有條，絕不因為顧客稀少而馬虎。服務人員很親切但不會過份騷擾，很有貴賓的感覺。

The entire dining room was immaculately set up as you would expect from a fine dining establishment, and the food not only looked delicious but tasted even better. Having been on the road and living a bit on the rough for ten days already, this was a really nice change to experience something luxury and comforting.

我們吃的每一道菜，從頭盤到甜點都很別緻，正所謂色香味俱全。經過了十多天的半流浪式生活，在這華麗舒適的環境下享受豐富午餐算是對自己的慰勞吧！

Our luxury meal marked the end of our three night stay on the Isle of Skye, and time to head back to the mainland via the Skye Bridge. Next time, I will take you to the famous Loch Ness and the start of our Scottish whisky tour.

午飯後，我們要結束在天空島的短暫停留。我們駕車經天空橋返回蘇格蘭本島，繼續我們英倫環島遊。下一站我們將會到著名的尼斯湖，及參觀蘇格蘭威士忌酒廠。

This is part of my Revisiting Travels series, a repost of my post that I first posted two years ago
這帖子是重溫兩年前去旅遊和已分享過的文章