The Gambia

 

This will probably end up as a series of posts and certainly I'm quite prepared to answer any questions.

Celia and I decided to go to The Gambia, as we needed a break, wanted some sun and it is about the shortest flight where you can get reasonably warm at the New Year.

To quote the Lonely Planet guide "For vegetarians, this region can be a challenge." I hoped it wouldn't be the same for coeliacs. But then I'm not supersensitive, it was only a week and there was a lot of interesting things to see like the birds, the forests and the other wildlife.

We had a very good time.

We did stay in a very good hotel called NGala Lodge which is owned by its Belgian chef and he had been warned. For instance on the first night, I ordered a starter based on grilled fish. Normally, he breadcrumbed them, but for me he did them plain. And they were very good.

We ate in a couple of restaurants and I had no trouble at all. Generally, the waiters speak very good English, as it is promoted as the National language. One thing though the holiday rep from Gambia Experience told me, is that no-one minds if you seek out the chef and ask his advice.

But the good thing is that most of the food seems to be naturally gluten-free. We had one of the local dishes which was effectively beef in a spicy peanut sauce. There is also a lot of good fruit and plenty of things like eggs and bacon at breakfast, even if I had problems convincing them that I didn't want toast.

So if you want a nice winter holiday, I'd recommend The Gambia. But I would plan more than I did, as we would have had a better holiday if we had. That is nothing to do with food, but I'd take a bird book, stay perhaps in two places and learn more about the people.