Swallow Café, Dunoon

Yesterday we went the the first day of the Cowal Gathering in Dunoon and travelled there in the Waverley Paddle Steamer.

Walking up to the  Gathering, we passed through the main high street (Argyll Street) and spotted the Swallow Café which was advertising home-made Italian ice cream.  This was a welcome sight because they were not on my list and we were looking for a coffee shop and what better way to introduce ourselves to Dunoon fayre than with an ice cream and a coffee.

We ordered a small scoop of vanilla and a latte each and were served quite a large portion of ice cream. The ice cream was delicious: very sweet and creamy.  It had a very similar taste to the ice cream we had tasted in Greenock just a couple of days before.   A good coffee always goes well with an ice cream especially when the weather is not quite as warm or sunny as you would hope.

When I was growing up in the 1960s and 1970s cappuccinos and lattes were unheard of in the Italian cafés in the West of Scotland but most good establishments had an Italian coffee machine with the ability to brew fresh coffee and steam milk and would serve "frothy coffee" which I think most closely resembles a modern-day latte.  So whenever the weather demands it, the combination of latte and ice cream is perfect providing a ying and yang experience: the hot and the cold, the bitter and the sweet. Together they are a marriage made in heaven.

The Swallow was quite busy and seemed to have quite a few local customers as well as tourists visiting the Gathering like us and it was lovely to see a traditional café which had been well maintained over the years.  This was probably due to the American Naval Base near Dunoon between 1961 and 1992 provided a prosperity to the town which insulated it from several recessions and the downturn of daytripping which affected other seaside communities in the West of Scotland.

When we left the Swallow we went across the road to the Dunoon Burgh Hall where they were showing an exhibition on the American Presence.  There was a film maker there recording memories and stories from members of the public about their recollections and I was able to tell of my holiday with the Campaigners when we had a trip onboard an American ship.

We then carried on up to the Gathering where we watched some of the Highland Dancing competition.  All in all this was a mega day out and the Swallow provided some well-needed refreshments.