This place, this time.

At last the roof mounted solar panel has been earning it's keep, with a little more sunshine and of course the lengthening days of spring. We have been able to hand wash some clothing and dry it outdoors saving a significant amount of money on visits to the local launderette. The fishing has been sporadic and so have attempts with my leather work productivity. We have enjoyed many hours with friends, some old and some new, including one lady from the USA and another from Brisbane, Australia, with the later taking a bespoke leather cigarette box back to the land of "Skippy". Gus, a local terrier, is sporting a new collar bearing his name and my makers mark. We have been given rhubarb, fresh eggs and cake by the site owners, which of course have all been put to good use and the local crop of wild garlic is just about ready to start adding to our meals. If you haven't tried wild garlic, then you really should if you get the chance. When finely chopped, the leaves give a very pleasant but mild garlic flavour to any meal. All we need now are a few fresh fish, which I am of course working on. I have indeed caught many fish, far too many to keep a tally of, but as usual, they are quite small here so I have returned them all. Yesterday evening I went with my brother, Ian and Damon, a friend, to see if we could catch some mullet. After a couple of hours, our sum total was zero, but what a lovely evening, the sort you see in films about distant places. We saw some truly huge fish, cruising like silent submarines and creating huge bow waves that could be seen from 100 metres or more, in the shallow waters near the estuary. We saw trout, leaping into the air, two feet high or so and crashing back into the water shattering the silence of the warm, still surroundings. This place, this time, was paradise and I would defy anyone not to be taken by the tranquility and beauty. Even the gnats were friendly, as they nibbled quietly on my ear lobes and buzzed softly as they departed with full bellies. I wished I had brought my SLR camera, I could have taken countless photographs. All too quickly, we had to leave and begin the mile walk back to our base before it got too dark, where we were greeted by the ladies and the usual leg pulling of more empty fish bags. So, this is not a tale of "the one that got away" but a reminder of why we chose this life style and the experiences that we would not otherwise have the delight to encounter.

The Good Life

During the middle of last week, the call of the coast became too loud to ignore, so with a freshly washed and fettled truck we made our way to Wales for a spot of "The Good Life". The journey was fine, apart from the rain that is, the truck was filthy by the time we arrived on site. Once at our desired location I filled a couple of buckets from the river and quickly washed off the truck, I hate it looking dirty.

It didn't take me long to get the fishing gear set up either and soon I was hauling in the first wild brown trout of the season, remembering the difficulty I had catching this time last year, I was very pleased with myself and this fine fish (albeit small). The next couple of days were quite relaxing, fishing whenever the mood should take me, enjoying a reasonable amount of sunshine and when I wasn't fishing, tying a few flies. Sadly, the weather began to take a turn for the worse, winter made a stealthy attack, and left teeth marks in our rear, the river has been running fast and brown since. So the last couple of days, have seen us confined to the "not so great indoors" and the comfort of the gas central heating. I took to making a few more items from my leather stocks, the first is a belt that I carved, I really like the pattern, it is not too garish and I left the leather in it's natural colour, just polished it with some beeswax. I may put it in my internet shop. Then, I thought that I would treat myself to a new wallet, so for two days solid, I sat building the most ornate wallet that I have made to date using calf skin and some cow hide for trim. It's a bit fancy, but what the hell and it is probably worth more money than it will ever carry at any given time. Of course, I made a matching

belt loop and rein to go with it and I even remembered to put my makers mark on this one. Now the forecast is for a few days of warm sunshine, so with a little luck it will be back to spot of fishing and maybe a little saving on the gas.