North England and Scotland!

We've been rambling about for the last two weeks. We visited Snowdonia Nat'l Park in N. Wales (and importantly Paul Morgan's Coch Y Bonddu Bookstore in Macynlleth, Wales - the very best bookstore for angling ever, anywhere! - see link on this page!) then the Lake District Nat'l Park in Cumbria, then Hadrian's Wall in Northumbria (& Northumberland NP), Loch Lomond NP in Scotland, the Western Highlands (stunning mountains!), around Loch Ness and Inverness to the River Spey in the Speyside District of NE Scotland (Whew!).

Besides eating the scenery, and an excellent meal at the Battlestead Inn at Wark, England, we've had some excellent meals of our own all prepared on the MSR Whisperlite International (on high octane unleaded!). Local lamb and beef, seafood chowder, and even several rounds of wild chantrelle mushrooms and puffballs that we've found here and there. Think we'll begin working on a cookbook too!

Now in Aberdeen, on the River Dee, we have a chance to get back to work and blogging, etc. Will also post some pictures to the Picasa site. The image posted here is of a small lake in Snowdonia with association fishing that we found on our way to Eddie I's Caernaforn Castle (built to subdue the Welsh!).

We've seen some salmon fishing here in Scotland, and it turns out that the fishery on the River Tyne in Northumbria is recovering as well due to the decline of heavy manufacturing and shipbuilding in Newcastle Upon Tyne. Met some really nice folks around Hexham and Bellingham England who put us on the trail of fish squeezers in Edinburgh, our next destination in a week or so. Until then I'm going to visit with Geographer colleague Antonio Ioris at University of Aberdeen, and his colleagues, and try to arrange for some salmon fishing on the Dee! Might even bump into the Queen as the fishing has just turned on here in N. Scotland, and her summer palace is just up the road!

So, until later, here is a pic from the recent travels. Cheers!

Leaving Aberystwyth

We've spent the last two weeks in Aberystwyth and have done some research, sight seeing, and fishing (these are all inter-related of course!). Dave experienced wonderful hospitality on the part of Michael Woods (Professor and Head of Geography at Aberytstwyth University), Chris Bear (Lecturer at AU), Dai Ricketts (of the Llanilar Angling Association, Welsh Salmon and Sea Trout Assoc., and Captain of the Welsh National Angling Team), and Mark Sedgewick ( of the Aberystwyth Angling Association). Many, many thanks to Chris, Dai, and Mark for the loads of valuable information, and for the coffee, the field trip (including time on the river), and the pint of best bitter (all respectively!).

Sewin (sea trout) and salmon angling in Wales is stronger than ever and the levels of local organization and attempts to influence national policy are increasing, and much of this is in response to declining returns of fish and increased activity of other river users. These are problems that are similar to Ireland, and in the US. It seems that a broader study of the status of anadromous fishes would be in order (a meta-analysis), but will have to save that for later and perhaps with the help of others! The pic on the top is of the Boyz about to begin fishing for Sewin on the Ystwyth last night. We fished from Dusk to about 11 pm (in the dark!).

The pic on the bottom is of the Environment Agency, Wales, flood awareness campaign promotion. We visited with a couple of their staff on the street today and will later access the flood zone maps for Wales and England to compare with those produced by FEMA in the US.

We're off to North Wales, the Lakes District, and Scotland next in the Silver Bullet (our Peugot 5008)! Will update you as we can. Cheers!

Fishguard Wales

We arrived in Fishguard, Wales (Abergwuan is the adjacent older Welsh settlement across the River Gwuan - Aber is Welsh for river mouth) on August 2nd. We had a 4.5 hour bus ride, a milk run, from Cork to Rosslare Harbor where we caught a Stena Line express ferry (a catamaran fast craft) across the Irish Sea to Wales. With the kind help of Tony the taximan we were able to get cash (British sterling) and some groceries to tide us through the night and next morning, then he dropped us at Fishguard Bay Caravan Park where we had a tent pitch reserved. The site is stunning (as the photo tells) being situated on the edge of the cliffs that run the length of the Pembrokeshire National Park coastline. This morning we hiked 3 miles into Fishguard along the coast trail, had an ale (and Cokes) at the Royal Oak (now a pub) where the treaty marking the end of hostilities between Napoleonic naval forces and the British was signed in 1797 (this was the last actual invasion of Great Britain).

The hike showed that the planning system in the UK does far more to protect the rural landscape than is the case in Ireland - or so it seems. The Shive will be learning more about that shortly. After a day of trip planning tomorrow, we're likely off to Cardigan and then Aberystwyth some time down the road. We have some 50more days in the UK, so we're not in a hurry!

The Shive also has to make some contacts with angling clubs to learn about fisheries management and the like here. Two days before our departure from Ireland he learned much about the Irish situation for freshwater gamefish (espec. Atlantic salmon) management and conservation from Bob Seward, Secretary of both the Salmon and Sea Trout Recreational Anglers of Ireland and the Angler's Council of Ireland - more on this later.

Until then, cheers (as they say here) and thanks a million (as said in Ireland) for following our adventure!