Hello from Aldbrough

Hi.
Well it is a good 3 months since we arrived back in the UK and we are back to the old routine at the caravan in Aldbrough.
We are not using the motor home as much with only a couple of trips off.
One to Beamish with the grand kids with a stop over at the Farnes Northumberland, and then we are going to the motor home show at Pickering at the back end of July, there are a couple of vans we are interested in looking at, and the show on Saturday night has Freddie Star on, it should be a right laugh.

At the end of July the motor home goes in for a face lift as we are having completely new foam seating and then re-upholstered including new drivers and passengers front seats. .

We have just bought a reversing camera from Maplins, and I am just going into Hull to purchase some electrical bits and bobs to hard wire it into the van so it is on when we are driving we can then monitor the trailer at the back, as I can't see it properly when driving. If there is a flat tyre the only time you would know is when it is on fire or somebody flags you down!.

The fishing at Aldbrough has been hit and miss at the moment with a couple of exceptions, I have been lucky enough to catch some noticeable fish, a couple of 18lb common carp, one mirror carp of 21lb and what appears to be the lake record a mirror carp of 24lb.10oz.
But as far as the matches goes nothing only bothering to weigh in once in 4 matches, still there is always this Saturday on Lambwath lake.

Wayne Slob?





Hi.
Well we are both back safe and well, tired but hey ho! its a long way and a long time in a foreign environment, seeing everything like road signs, advertisements, all in a language that is hard to understand actually wears you down.
Then when you get back into the UK it is hard to drop back into driving on the "right" side of the road, and you have to concentrate hard for the first few miles, unlike driving on the continent which I just drop into without any problems, Strange!.

Mequenenza and fishing in Spain in general really stuffed me this year, bugger all.

Never mind the weather more than made up for it it was brilliant and Sandra and myself both have sun tans, it was lovely sitting outside the van in our new carp chairs, talking to the various folk who seemed to want to talk at length about "nothing" in various languages, it is amazing how you can summon enough words, and gesticulating to hold a meaning full conversation with them.

34 degrees
















Our journey down or is it up to Honfluer was very relaxing taking 2 overnight stops to complete the 600 odd miles from Spain, the first stop in Andora a land locked country between Spain and France. The scenery is stunning as it is a skiing country with big mountains and lots of snow, we stayed at an Aire de service well into the snow line at 1500 meters, it was bloody cold during the night.
The second stop was in an Aire de service in France, this time at near sea level, it was a very nice place and we would stay there again.

When we arrived at Hornfluer it was quite miserable weather, blowing a gale with frequent rain showers, but it eventually bucked up and we had a lovely walk round the medieval town.
We finally made our way to Calais for an overnight stop in preparation for taking the Channel tunnel, which we went through in the early hours of Tues morning. Then the final trip back to exchange one tin box for another!.

We can not Wait for the trip next year!.

But not until we have annoyed some of the fish on the caravan pond.




Ready for the off next day.

A misty day in Mequeneza

Hi.

The crappy wifi signal in Mequenenza is getting even more iffy that is unless somebody has sussed out I am nicking their signal and spit their dummy out, somebody keeps turning the signal off.

I have been fishing most days now from about 12am to 12 pm and have bugger all to show for it apart from a sun tan, even fatter and being totally chilled out.
To be quite honest I couldn't care less if I catch anything or not, OK! one 40lb er plus would be nice, I think I blew that with the 2 that cracked me off when we first arrived still we have another 6 days to go and I am still whipping them up into a frenzy!.



Not a cloud in the sky but the moon is peeping out!.

(Double click any image to see full size.)











There are hardly any carp coming out of the lake, the ones I know about are from a lad who called in for a chat while passing a couple of days ago, he was on his way to catch the ferry from Barcelona to Ibiza to sell ice cream for the season, he said he always stops to break his journey with a spot of fishing here , he caught two, one at at 18lb and one at 15lb.
There was Eric the optician and his wife Leslie from Royston near Barnsley, he said he had caught one 28lb and that is all the fish I know about. Eric and co were a right laugh and we spent a good afternoon talking to them and they were the first to see the new DVD (Comedy) I made of the time when we were fishing the Barragem at Markadia Portugal.
Oh! I was told by one of the fishing guides who pop's in to see us there have been 2 Siluro (catfish) caught in the town length, one of 175lbs and one 130lbs. He was moaning that the punters were giving him grief because the carp were not crawling up the line, I suppose you can see their point they have come from the UK and are only here for a few days, and expect results. I wonder if Mequeneza is now a spent force with its glory days well over, if it is, it is a shame as so many folk over here rely on fishermen as it is the only tourist industry of any size, especially as it is over 100 miles away from the Costa holiday beaches.

I think when we come next year we will have a “Tourist Information” sign hung on the van as we seem to have a constant stream of folk stopping to ask about stuff and where they can camp without the Garda moving them on, even asking if they can stop for the night near us. “Get on with it mate its nothing to do with us”.

Well we should be in Honfluer at the mouth of the river Seine on Friday the 27th of march to have our Evie checked by the vet and then have her passport stamped up, we will probably stay for a few days as it is a beautiful medieval place and only about a 4 hour drive to the chunnel, which we have to arrive at on the 31st in the early hours of the morning. We set off through at about 5.30am and arrive in the UK at 4.45am, it must be the Tardis!.

Hi from Mequenenza.

Sandra and myself are fine and getting nicely sun burnt as the weather here at the moment is sweltering after the first few days when it was foggy and then blowing a full gale, (for 4 solid days).
That didn't sit well as we could not have the satellite dish up for Coronation St and Emerdale for Sandra!.
Today is Wed the 11th of March and time is storming on and we will be making our way back home in a few weeks, the time has flown and I can speak for us both that we have never been bored once, even when the weather was a bit challenging.
Talk about challenging the fishing here certainly is, so far no fish!, even though I am fishing into the we small hours and sometimes through the night.
We fish and sunbathe during the day, have our tea about 5/6 pm then Sandra settles down to a couple of hours telly now we are back into Astra 2 satellite which has all our home channels on. I sit in the front passenger seat to watch the rods just in case something picks up the bait, which is 2 no 25mm pellets.
I have had 2 runs at about 11 pm on separate nights, the first broke me off after a few Min's the second as I picked up the rod both fish were enormous and felt like steam trains, maybe they were Saluru (Catfish). I have had a few alarm bites but they might have been line bites.
I have just been speaking to one of the local guides who told me where to get a wifi signal, and bugger me it works albeit at only 11 meg, and it keep dropping in and out, but hey ho beggars can't be choosers.
We have become word famous over here as every body keeps dropping in for a chat and discuss the fishing or lack of it, it seems nobody is catching anything at the moment, well this hot weather should warm the water up, we still have 13 more days fishing here.
We can get water at the local Pesca Articles shop (Tackle shop), as long as we buy stuff off him he seems fine.
Talking about tackle Sandra took our Evie down the far bank for a walk yesterday and there was two guys fishing with poles, being nosey she went over to have a look and promptly stood on one of his whip poles and cracked it, she paid him 50 euros to get a replacement. what can I say!, I thought she was deaf not blind.

Any way I will sign off now and let you know what is happening later.

Poorly pussy, what a gob! the fish not me

Hi.

Tuesday the 24 th of feb, this is the last time I will be able to log on in Ferraira as we are moving on to Spain on Thursday morning. The area around the village of Mequenenza at the side of the river Ebro is very rural and I do not think that television has arrived never mind the tinternet!, the hobby the inhabitants have is walking about looking lost and throwing bricks at one another.

It is 637 miles according to the navigator from Markadia, so we should just about manage it in a days driving, if we get fed up we will be able to pull into one of the petrol station overnight stops along with the lorry drivers. One thing about the trip back North is it will be very sunny and hot as the temperature as I write this is about 27 degrees in Ferraira.

It is there bank holiday this week until Thursday, with lots of Maddi Grass going on especially down on the Algarve about 80 miles from here, won't be going down this year as the weather is just as good where we are.

he fishing is now crap the hot weather has killed it, there is nothing moving on the lake, Sandra spanked me again yesterday she caught one and I blanked, just one massive take that cracked me off before I even picked up the rod.

Poorly pussy has appeared again I think I have caught it 4 times now and Sandra once, its a tenacious bugger and it always gives a good fight. I have taken a photo of it and I will put it on the blog.

A test bit of video I do not know if you will get it?

I will sign off now and will try to nick a wifi signal in Mequenenza or Fragga when we get to Spain.

From a very sunny hot Ferraria Portugal.

The biggest so far just over 15lbs

Hi.Thursday 19th Feb and the weather is absolutely glorious and has been for the last week, we have just been into Beja to the hypermarket and to McDonald's for an e:number sandwich, it was very nice !.

The fishing is not as good at the moment as the sun is beating down on the barragem and the fish have moved up above the thermocline into the warmer water but they are not even feeding on the surface. Never mind it is excellent for us, I sit in my shorts with no shirt on to take in the sun.

We have a picnic lunch with a few cold beers and wine at the side of the lake and watch the wildlife, the amount of wild rabbits running around has to be seen and the racket they make calling to each other has to be believed.

There are all kinds of exotic birds flying about, I will have to ask Adie what they are when I next see him, (the miserable old git).

Poorly pussy is showing quite regular!, I have caught it 3 times and Sandra once, there is now daughter of poorly pussy I caught her yesterday, the same mouth deformation but half the size.

I have taken a video of "Poorly Pussy" and I will try and load it down here, I do not know if it will work?.(

Nope it failed)

Sandra has adopted our next door neighbour Marjorie as her friend, they seem to get on quite well, her and husband ray have just had their dog put down at a local vet in Beja the same one we took Evie too when she had her ear problem, apparently it was not long after we arrived, so they have both semi-adopted our Evie and Marjorie is always bringing round snap for our Evie much to her delight.

I think we will be moving off the campsite and on to Mequeneza Spain on the 27th of this month, if the weather is half as nice as it is here it will be brilliant,!!!!!!!

Hi.

The weather has now bucked up in a big way it is glorious!.

Sandra and myself are never away from the lake fishing at every opportunity.

The biggest I have had is about 15lbs with a couple of 10 and 8 lb fish, most are about 4/5 lbs but all make very good fishing.

We have decide we can not be arsed moving now we are on the cheapest rate at Markadia, so we will be here for the next 2 weeks and then we will go straight to Mequeneza in Spain for about 2 weeks, we will then make our way to Hornfluer in France so Evie can see the vet and have her passport stamped up to get back into the UK.

We have just had a ride out to Pego De alter to see Arthur to collect a walking stick he has carved for Sandra, it is a work of art too good to use as a stick, well outside anyway. it will be good to beat the dog with so long as she doesn't bleed on it.