To be quite honest, being an ageing office worker with the upper body strength of a 10 year old means I don’t always relish the chance to play tug of war with a skate almost as big as myself. I’m neither particularly keen or successful as a skate fisherman, but a great forecast, small tide and late… Continue reading A Couple of Days Fishing for Skate at Oban
Category: Camping and Outdoors
New Year Spurrie Boot Camp
Spurrie boot camp! The concept was simple – an early start to the New Year and a comfortable camp overnight chasing spurdogs in nice, calm conditions. Trevor was up for it so late morning on New Year’s day saw us meeting up before heading west. Now spending an afternoon hauling rods and a hefty backpack through miles of… Continue reading New Year Spurrie Boot Camp
Westward Ho! – Revisiting Lochs Leven and Sunart
I hadn’t really planned on a trip to the sea lochs, but the forecast was mixed to poor and Trevor was still recovering from the damage inflicted the last time he came fishing with me, so we took the Mr. Sensible route and headed westward – besides which, I haven’t fished Sunart for a couple… Continue reading Westward Ho! – Revisiting Lochs Leven and Sunart
A bit of Surf and Turf in Lochaber
Yesterday saw me launching the SIB at Ballachulish before six in the morning, after a few hours kip in the car the night before. I made haste, to try and avoid the midges which are well and truly out of hibernation now! I don’t normally bother with Leven at this time of year as the fishing… Continue reading A bit of Surf and Turf in Lochaber
Into The Wilderness of Ardmeanach
Ardmeanach lies on the exposed, lonely but very beautiful west coast of Mull. Only twelve miles in the round, it is almost inaccessible in places due to trackless terrain and boulder strewn hills that drop 1500 feet into the sea. The emptiest and most remote part is called simply “The Wilderness”. I’d no idea how much, if… Continue reading Into The Wilderness of Ardmeanach
Assault on Glen Etive
The plan was to use the narrow, winding and un-gritted road into Glen Etive to access the headwaters of Loch Etive and drop the inflatable in where the river reaches the sea – then head off for an overnight camp, fish and stargaze. Things went just fine to start with, until I stepped ashore and… Continue reading Assault on Glen Etive
Re-visiting Etive
It’s been weeks since I was last out, and it’s been frustrating watching a shedload of wet and windy weather blasting through on any available free time. However a calm sunny day was forecast for the Etive area so I decided to combine that with an over-nighter boat camping well up the loch. Launching in… Continue reading Re-visiting Etive
The High Sierra Trail
“Awesome” is a wildly over-used word in the US, but the High Sierra Trail in the Sierra Nevada mountains of California really is just that. If you’re into hiking, camping or fishing and you want to trade in a cool, wet, midge-ridden summer for something hot, dry, bug-free and spectacular then you should seriously check… Continue reading The High Sierra Trail
Camping in Death Valley
We paused as we heard the distinctive rattle of yet another Death Valley local warning us to stay away. It had been quiet in the cool of the early morning as we climbed, but the sun was now hot in the sky and the reptilian inhabitants were waking up all around the trail as we… Continue reading Camping in Death Valley
A Pilgrimage to Sandwood Bay
Very remote, often stormy, and always stunning, Sandwood is a broad sandy bay guarded on either end by sandstone cliffs hundreds of feet high which sits in the extreme and rather inaccessible NW corner of the Scottish mainland. Over the years it has acquired an almost mystical reputation as a place to visit, complete with the ghosts of drowned… Continue reading A Pilgrimage to Sandwood Bay