Mussels and clams and winkles, alive alive-o

Ah. Five days on the West Coast of Scotland. No mobile phone reception. No internet. Not a single light to be seen from the windows at night. And a hundred yards below us on the beach, mussels and winkels in abundance to be picked, and clams to be ferreted out, and even one glorious, huge oyster.

We shopped in Fort William after getting off the sleeper and bought an enormous leg of lamb, some steaks, oxtail and a ritual haggis alongside plenty of veg and booze. We were amazed to find that, at the end of the trip totting up our spending, over five days we had only spent £50 each on food and enough alcohol to make us all into shrieking banshees by 1am every night. So a pretty cheap trip, and we ate very well - even if I do say so myself, having ensconced myself firmly in the kitchen and beating away intruders with a wooden spoon. And we had virtually nothing left to throw away at the end. Its amazing how economically you can eat if you actually cook every day and so use up all your leftovers.

Day 1: Pasta with proper tomato sauce for lunch, with salad
Roast lamb with roast potatoes, spring greens and salad for supper

Day 2: Bacon, eggs, tomato and beans on toast for breakfast
Winkles, then cold roast lamb for lunch with salad, braised leeks with tomato, cheese and a baked potato
Steaks with saute potatoes, stir-fried carrots and savoy cabbage, and salad for supper

Day 3: Mushrooms on toast with cheese for breakfast
Spaghetti vongole followed by a veritable vat of moules marinieres for lunch
Shepherd's pie, spring greens and salad for supper

Day 4: Toast and peanut butter and various bits and pieces for breakfast
Smoked salmon sandwiches, hot cross buns and oranges for lunch (half-way up a mini mountain)
Fried haggis followed by slow-cooked oxtail casserole (containing carrots and potatoes) with stir-fried savoy cabbage and leeks

Day 5: Smoked salmon, scrambled eggs, bacon and tomato for breakfast
Spaghetti with mussels in tomato sauce and salad with cheese for lunch
....and back home on the sleeper....

Don't you wish you were with us! Precious fat juicy clams picked off the beach, shining glossy winkles and so many mussels we cooked enough for about ten people. Oh so good. We even tried to fish for brown trout and I'm sure would have had success if we'd stuck at it longer, and there are nets to be cast over the mouth of little burns, crabs, lobsters, all sorts of hidden joys. I want to move there and live off foraged food forever.