As Sandy tells me is my way, we set ourselves a punishing trip for 10 days in mid July. Well,I think if you have to travel out of Devon, it is sensible to cram in as much as possible to save extra trips.
On the Friday night, we travelled up to Stourbridge to spend the night with Sandy's brother, Gerard. Then, early on the Saturday morning, it was over to Fotheringhay in Northants to attend the BB Society meeting where we were participating in a Book Fair for the members. (I was supposed to be flyfishing on Eyebrook, but the weather had been so bad all week that I chickened out) Sandy was meant to be on the stall, but as many of you will be aware who have met her, she spent all day off talking and left me to do the work. She says she was negotiating to purchase a library which we subsequently acquired, but I think she was making the most of the opportunity for a chin-wag.
We had to go back to Wolverhampton for a wedding reception that evening before going back to Kelmarsh Hall for Day 2 of the BB event. Kelmarsh was the home of Colonel Lancaster, who, along with the Duke of Northumberland, published 'The Shadow on the Moor' which BB illustrated and is his rarest title with only 200 being given to the Duke's family and freinds, never being sold to the public.(Only on the 4th edition and the BB centenary edition which we have published are illustrated by BB).
Two of the original scraperboards used in the book are on display in the hall.
In the afternoon, we were treated to a lecture by Keith MacDougall, who had childhood memories of BB. His father, Douglas, and BB were shooting friends, and BB even illustrated his book 'Goose Fever'. At the end of the day, we only had a short drive to stay with Keith Elliott, editor of Classic Angling. This, I believe, is the best angling magazine around for those interested in angling history. (Have a look on www.classictitles.com)
On the Monday, Sandy and I walked around St. Ives when we saw three kids catch a pike when spinning for chub. They looked at it in horror. I saw that the hooks and teeth were all snagged in the micromesh net and they would struggle to sort it out being relatively inexperienced which could well have resulted in a dead pike. I ran up and managed to sort it out and unhook the fish, helped with a photo, before returning it alive to the river. The only thing was, in all the commotion, I didn't realise at first that its teeth had caught my thumb and there was blood everywhere! I'm sure the kids are more scared of pike now, seeing the blood, that they were before.
On the Tuesday, we travelled to Edinburgh to see Lee. I manged to get permission to fish the Water of Leith (which is free provided you get an annual permit) , sorted out line, leaders etc for the travel rod that I had taken up, all to no avail. It rained every day and the water was running like soup. Still it was nice to spend time with Lee again.
On the Friday, we travelled back to Warwick to spend the weekend with Reg Talbot, a close friend and fellow Trustee of the Mahseer trust and Angling Heritage (UK). On the Saturday, Reg managed to get me out fishing the Warwickshire Avon at Hampton Lucy loaning me some of his spare tackle. I trotted the mill pool with single maggot and caught a range of fish including bleak, dace. roach, perch and gudgeon. It was real small boy fishing and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Reg is a better angler than I am and caught a few more before spinning, catching a zander (He knows that I have never caught one and wanted to rub it in!!!)
We all went to the Warwick Folk event in the evening, before travelling to the Game Fair at Belvoir Castle on the Sunday. Having never been before, it was good to see the set up and have a look around as we have thought about attending in the future, and we really needed to see what it was all about.
One the Monday we travelled back to Devon to catch up on the backlog of work which always builds up when you are away, and I'm still trying to catch up as I write this entry.