ray sandra's fish and trips

2012-01-28T14:26:00.001Z

Hi.

New Blog 28^thJanuary.

Well we are still inMarkadia settling into a nice routine of chilling, fishing, andsleeping we are turning into right old lay a bout's !..

We have been here over3 weeks and it has flown, it is doing Sandra the world of good as sheis looking a lot better in her self after all the trauma of 2011 withher health, we shall carry on with this theme and hopefully when wemove on she will be back to her old self.

We will probably stayhere another 2 or three weeks depending on the dentist, I have lostone week when the tooth he put back temporary fell out breaking thepeg he had put in to hold it in place, so he had to re do it thistime with a false tooth which is more robust than the capped one thatbroke off. He says it will take another two sessions till he finallyputs in the new tooth. The Portuguese technician is going to let mejump his cue of patients as I am on holiday and my time in Portugalis limited..

We had a quick work outof the time we have left before we come back to the UK. We will setoff up to Coto Chris at the north of Portugal in about 2 weeks timemaking sure we get to his house on a Friday so we can have theweekend staying at his place, we will then spend a couple of daysgoing back to Mequinenza in Spain where we can spend another monthwild camping at the side of the Ebro having another go for the bigfish that escaped from the carp sack when we were there last time..(Some hope).. We will;then take about another 4 days or so meanderingback into France till we get to Hornfluer where we will spend acouple of nights in the “Aire”, it is here that there is a localvet who speaks very good English, She gives Evie all the relevantjabs and treatments so she can stamp up Evie's passport to get herback into the UK.

Well that's the planlets see what happens!..

A few more pictures..

2012-01-14T11:54:00.003Z

Just a note!... If you click any of the pictures they should pop up full size.. Ray.

2012-01-14T11:31:00.003Z

Hi
Pictures from Nellies New Year cruise..

2012-01-14T11:29:00.002Z

2012-01-14T11:16:00.000Z

New Blog.

Well it has got roundto Christmas and we are nice and warm tucked up in the van, we can atleast watch the telly as we get all the Sky programmes we have athome except BBC of all things!.. The Weather is very misty when thewind comes from the East, and the visibility into Fragga where wewent Christmas shopping was bad.

Had a nice tea and setthe rods, it would be just our luck for the alarm to go off when weare into a good program on the telly, but silence remained so wesettled down, put the bed out and we went to sleep. The alarm wasquite all night until 8.30am when the alarm went off, a nice way tobe woke up on Christmas day, a carp of 28.6oz..

We phoned home to speakto the family it was nice to talk to everybody especially the grandkids, opening our pressies was nice especially with wall to wall bluesky and it being quite warm, all the locals were walking past ontheir strolls, and it was just like home with the kids riding theirnew bikes..

Sandra has discovered a couple of pairs of Eagles that are perched on a ledge on themountain across the lake, she saw one flying about while taking Eviefor a walk, she has tried loads of times to take photos of them butnone have turned out successfully, oh well !..

It keeps alternatingbetween freezing when the mist comes and red hot and blue sky s whenthe mist burns off, we took advantage of the nice weather to make afilm of how we fish at Mequinenza, I tried to make it on this laptopbut something has gone wonky and it wont let me into the program Iuse, I will put together a movie on the computer at home when we getback.

New Years Eve. Lastfish of 2011 a carp of 36lb 12oz, not a bad end to the fishing season..We walked into town for the midnight celebrations, everything wasshut in Mequinenza except a couple of bars and the Kebab shop, so wehad a couple of pints in a bar then went to the Kebab Shop where westayed for a couple of hours and we really enjoyed it talking to theowners, well talking is an understatement as they can not speak muchEnglish and I cant speak much Spanish, but we all managed.

We rang home and somefriends for midnight in the UK which is an hour adrift from Spanishtime which is an hour ahead making it 1am when we rang, I wanted toring Aunt Jess but have lost her number when I put in the Spanish simcard..

New Years day we wentfor a cruise in Nellie her longest voyage yet, we sailed up to thedam wall, it was good fun and we took some good photos looking backfrom the lake. We did not bother fishing today and it was nice not tobe tied and be able to chill and watch the telly most of the day..

2^nd January2012.

1^st fish ofthe year at 2 am a 38lb 14oz carp a great start for the new season,will it last?.. we fished all through the day with no more bites andthen into the following night until 2am again when the alarm screamedinto action again, woke us up and got us tumbling out of bed onceagain, I picked up the rod and bent into the fish and it was solid,another Siluro?.

The fight went on outin the darkness as the fish just swam about in the distance as it hadstripped off lots of line in it's initial run while we were gettingour gear on to go out in the cold night air. After about 20 min's ashape appeared on the surface illuminated by our head lamps, itwasn't a Siluro but an enormous carp, that only just went into thebig carp landing net when we could get it into the shoreline, itweighed a ton as I lifted it onto the unhooking mat in readiness toroll it into the carp sack where it would spend the night so we couldweigh it and take it's picture in the morning daylight.

Next morning we wentout to take it out of the sack but as I looked at the sack on the endof the tether line I could see it was flat without the fish shape wenormally see, a pull on the line confirmed this and an empty sackcame ashore and straight away we could see the zip open where thefish had shoved it's nose into the partially open zip and forced it'sway out.. Bugger!.

The only thing we couldgo on was the carp was a lot bigger than the one we caught 4 yearsago which weighed 52lb 2 oz, so it was the one that got away, eventhough we caught it.

So it was decided thatthis would be a good day we would break camp packed up Nellie and thevan, got the car on the trailer and set off to Portugal as we wouldnever better this fish..

It took us two days ata steady pace to get to Markadia in Portugal. The place on the campsite we normally park up was free so I wriggled into the space withthe van which is a tight manoeuvre because of overhanging branches,and I have to site the van with the gap in the trees so the Satellitedish has a clear view to Astra 28 satellite..

We are now settled inhave put up the wind curtain which hangs off the roll out canopy allof which makes a big room we never have had before, money well spent on that.

The site is very quitewith only four British folk on at the moment even though the weatheris brilliant, maybe most folk have gone down the Algarve or are beingput off by the problems with the Peages (toll booths) with all the shenanigans thathave been rife on the motor home forums, I must admit we have not hadany problems with the tolls so far!.

The fishing here inMarkadia is the best we have ever had, the first days fishing startedwith me catching 3 Carp and a Barbel, with Sandra catching 3 Carp onmy rod when she had a wonder down to see if I had caught anything.

The next day we bothwent down to the Barregem fishing, Sandra rowed Nellie out anddropped a marker buoy in, something we can fish to, I went out andbaited the area in preparation putting in ground bait, chopped Spam,pellets and sweetcorn. This worked spectacularly as I caught over 50 Carp, 2 Barbel and Sandra about 10 carp well over 150lb of fish..The carp are all between 1.5lbs and 4 lbs averaging 3lbs..

Next day down to thelake at dinnertime, I set up both rods and Sandra went back to make apot of tea for us and a bacon sandwich for me. Big mistake I took abite from the sandwich and my front tooth broke off!. We spent therest of the day finding a dentist to fix it, we finally found one inBega the next big city, he stuck it back and I an now having dentaltreatment which will mean a new tooth being made which will bescrewed in..Oh I nearly forgot we got a parking ticket for ourtroubles as well, not one of our better days!..

Next day I fished alonewhile Sandra washed with here new twin tub washing machine we boughtat the “Lincoln Motor Home Show” it appears it is one of ourbetter buys as it works great. I fished on and caught 24 Carp and 2Barbel in the afternoon, but this time the bigger fish have moved inwith average going up to 4lbs.

Friday the 13^th..Fishedtoday with Sandra , I caught 27 Carp and one Barbel, Sandra caught 3Carp and was in all kinds of trouble with her fishing, catchingeverything but fish, even managing to fall off here fishing chairwhen she leaned over to get something, a bit like Dell Boy in “OnlyFools and Horses” when he falls through the bar flap.. It made usboth laugh as she was scrambling about in the mud trying to get up,luckily she didn't fall into the lake.

2012-01-14T10:58:00.001Z

2011-12-26T16:24:00.002Z

2011-12-26T15:41:00.002Z

Settled into a routinein Mequinenza, water is easy to get at the village down the roadwhere we can also empty the toilet cassette down a handy drain, gasis no problem either we can get it from Fragga the next big townabout 7 miles away.

The fishing this yearis the best we have known since we first came to Mequinenza with alot of big carp, the smallest being about 25lb's and the largestabout 40lb's, my first Siluro (Wells Catfish) as they call them overhere a baby one a couple of pounds then last night 26th December oneabout 2 meters long at 3.30am that weighed over a hundred pounds,much too heavy and slippery to pick up and weigh, which on 25lb lineis not bad going.

It was nice to be wokenup at 8.30 am on Boxing day by the rod alarm set off by a fat 28.06ozcarp, the radio bite alarm which the rod sits in and sends a signalwhen the fish pulls the line out on the bait runner to a receiver wehave in the van, a bit like a baby alarm for toddlers, a great bit ofkit as we can now fish all through the night and rely on the alarm towake us up when a fish is on.

We both have it off toa fine art, I go out and set the hook and play the fish while Sandragets here warm gear and Wellington's on then goes down the bank toland the fish in the landing net where she lets the fish sit in thewater, I then put on my boots to go down and lift the fish out of thewater as they are too heavy for Sandra, we weigh it then take it'spicture before sending it on it's way.

One big problem we havekept getting is being bitten off as I pick up the rod so a solutionwas needed. I had a look on the floor for old fishing braid thatother anglers had cut off which looked strong about 50lb breakingstrain and I have made some hook lengths up out of this so thecatfish can't cut me off with their rough pads inside there mouth. Ihave lost a lot of big fish which will have been catfish. Once one ofthese gets it into it's head that it doesn't like being caught theytake some stopping and the 15lb high tech line hook lengths I amusing for the carp is just like cotton to them

The one thing I amdisappointed with here in Mequinenza is getting a wifi signal, Ithought I had cracked it when the fishing tackle guy said I could usehis, and even though he gave me his password and router log indetails I have not been able to log on with his signal and the onethat I can get down at a big public building down in the town is sohit and miss and is hard work.

The weather here inSpain is knuckling down into winter mode, all the leaves that hadturned into autumn colours when we arrived have now all blown offwith the recent high winds, and during the night when we go out inthe early hours to land any fish, the cold air makes our breath steamso much we have difficulty seeing with our head lamps and Nellie theboat pulled up on the shore is transformed into sparkling white withthe layer of frost on here.

We do not hang aboutnow as we have bought a “Carp Sack” to put any fish in, they sithappily in this in deeper water while the morning and the air warmsup, which it soon does the moment the sun peeps over the mountainswhich surround us, making it quite pleasant a bit like an earlysummer day in the UK.

We are being quiteflexible about when we are going down to Portugal and we are in knowbig rush

but probably will setoff in the new year, whether we spend New Year in Mequinenza we donot know, we are both quite content here at the moment but hey hodecisions, decisions, decisions!..

2011-12-14T14:57:00.002Z

.

I have found a decent wifi signal which is free next a public building so should be ok for further postings and maybe Skype calls..

If you are reading this Norm can you send me a text to my mobile so I can get in touch.. Hope Brenda's knee is ok , give her our love and we hope she is running about when we get back..

Aunt Jess if you are reading this try posting a comment..

2011-12-14T14:51:00.001Z

Hi.

27^thNovember 2011..

Well it was a shakystart before we set off with the problems with the trailer, buthopefully they may have been resolved.

It all started when Itook the trailer to Armitages Trailers to have it serviced before weset off, it was there they found out one of the tyres had worn on oneside and was now illegal and the other three were on their way out..What! They had only been to Portugal and back once a total of lessthan three thousand miles..

28^thNovember.

So it was a rushed jobpacking up the van at my sons and we set off a day early to take thetrailer back to Brian James at Daventry, well to cut a short storyeven shorter they couldn't figure out what had caused it as far asthe trailer is concerned all they could find was the tyres were underdeflated at a 28 psi, where they said they should be 65psi..Wellseeing as we bought the trailer off them and set off to Portugalwithin two weeks and we had not touched the tyres since new they hadsold the trailer to me with under deflated tyres..

The up shot was theyagreed to change all the tyres except they know longer use the wheelsize that was on the trailer so they had to change all the wheels andthe spare to the new size they are using, all at know cost to me, nowthat's refreshing a company with morals, I said I would call back totheir works when we finally arrive back in the UK.. We will see ifthis resolves the problem..

29th November 2011.

So we arrived a dayearly at Dover for the ferry to be met with waves crashing over theharbour wall and the ferry being shoved about by a tug as it wrestledwith the wind and waves.. Should be an interesting sail over toDunkirk at the 6am sailing..

30^thNovember.

Up at four am lookedout expecting the worse, but no the sea had calmed right offovernight. The Port was operating as normal with no problems from thebig strike that was supposed to bring England to its knees, the onlything was the ferry's were running half an hour late with the daybefore bad weather, the sail over was calm and the ferry hardlyrocked and Evie who had to stay in the van didn't seem a bit fazed byany of it.. I must admit once we got off the ferry the road out ofDunkirk was a lot easier than the route out of Calais, I willdefiantly do this crossing again, and once we got on the motorwaystrundling along with the lorries we just ate up the miles, it wasamazing how much we saved in fuel by keeping under sixty.. It took ustwo overnight stops in various “Aires” before we got toMequinenza..

2^nd December2011.

When we pulled up inMequinenza in our usual parking place for our planned month stopover, we were shocked instead of the big beds of rushes and thesmall gap in them where we stop, they had all been chopped down andthe area upgraded and landscaped to quite a high standard, with aseating area which the locals frequent for a chat as they wander upand down the riverside.

5^th December2011..

So we have been intoFraga to collect my Spanish “La Licencia de pesaca” which was€10.89 for a year, and the fishing permit to fish in the Ebro atMequinenza is €20 per week.. Alas all to no avail as yet, I havefished two days without a single bite hmm.

I fished a month lasttime we came to Mequinenza a couple of years back with out a singlefish, but I am fishing for 40lb+ fish, I could go for the little onesbut I can catch that size any time at home. So its a monster ornothing, at least the weather is kind as it is very warm at themoment a bit like our average English summer, and they have put upthe street decorations in the town, and we have already had aChristmas present, the Pesca tackle shop gave us a bottle of wine.

6th December 2011.

Launched “Nellie”our inflatable boat for the first time today, it is like riding theGiant Chivers jelly. Put on the outboard and after a few pulls on thestarter it fired into life for the first time and it was off for atrial sail to see how everything performs, its not quite the diveboat we sold, more like a bathtub but saying that we are afloatagain, we have not been without a boat of some description for thelast 40 years, and it is good fun “put putting” about ..

7^thDecember.

We found a new sourceof water instead of having to rely on the local fishing tackle shopwhich is only open occasionally at the moment, one thing the fishingtackle shop guy said when I asked him about getting internet accessin Mequinenza which is always a problem, he said I could log on tohis shop wifi, I haven't seen him since as there is another publicholiday here and most shops are closed. But I have to go get somemore line as I stupidly lost all of it off my reel when I went to thewrong buoy taking the bait out in the boat, I must have gone half amile and Sandra who was holding the rod just had to watch the linedisappear off the reel as I was too far off to see or hear her..Bugger!. Egg on face time..

The upside of the daywas we had enough water for both of us to have a shower, we were bothgetting a bit whiff'y, Sandra went in the shower first while I castout the rods, come to my turn and the heater had been turned off sono hot water, put the generator on and the electric water heater soonhad the water hot.

Got undressed and inthe shower was nicely lathered up with shampoo when I heard the bitealarm screaming out, then the door open and close as Sandra went outto the rod, I was waiting for her to shout out “Ray” but she justgot on with it and sorted it, the kettle was now whistling it's headoff so I wrapped a towel round me and turned it off I could seeSandra winding away with the rod bent right over so I got dressed andwent out to help her land the fish, she was complaining it washurting her arm as it was pulling that hard, so I took over andSandra went down the bank to land it, our fist fish in daytime for along time as we normally catch during the hours of darkness with“Carp o'clock” best time from 10pm onwards..

It weighed a good 30lbsas near as we could judge as the scales we had would not workproperly, not a problem now as I have bought some new digital scales.

We had another two runsafter dark, one breaking me off and on checking the hook length itwas very rough to the feel, so it must have been a Siluro as theSpanish call Catfish, the other run I had the fish on at quite adistance out, but the hook straightened out and the fish was lost.

A very good excitingday with the weather, wall to wall blue sky and glorious sunshine.

9^th December2011.

Woke up this morning tosee everything shrouded in fog and the temperature has droppedsubstantially compared to the rest of the week, we have the fire onfor the first time during the day, also the wind direction haschanged to an Easterly which is blowing all the floating dead weed onto our side of the river and is a nuisance when trying to fish.

2011-10-26T13:01:00.003+01:00

Some pics from our Scotland trip..

Off again.

2011-10-25T20:47:00.001+01:00

Hi.

we have booked the ferry Dover to Dunkirk for the back of November so we are back on our travels to Spain and Portugal. this time for four months..

We haven't yet decided where we will be for Christmas, so we will have to see where we end up.

We have had quite a few trips off over the last couple of years since our last European trips, We have had a fortnight touring Scotland including a week sailing the length of the Caledonian Canal from Inverness to Fort William and back.
We have had two weeks in Ireland, South and North plus lots of weeks here and there..

No European trip last winter!..

2010-07-18T13:35:00.000+01:00

Hi.
Just a catch up with our blog.

We decided not to go on our annual trip to Spain and Portugal in 2010 as our site has gone to the full 12 months, you do have to have one month off site sometime in the year though, but that isn't a problem as we will be off in the motor home more than a month sometime in the year.

Which brings me onto the reason for posting.

We are going up to Scotland with Sandra, Sam, and Harvey for 2 weeks next Thursday 22nd of July. The lads have never been to Scotland before and are really excited.
We are going to get up to Inverness for Sat morning as it is the start of their Highland Games, should be fun non of us have ever been to one before.
We will then just travel round wild camping where ever we end up. If we do have time we will hop on the cheap ferry across to the Orkney's.

The reason why we are up in Scotland is because we have hired a Caley Cruisers Iona class boat for the week. We will sail it along the Caledonian Canal through Loch Ness to Fort Augusta's then through the various lochs to Fort William where we turn around and make our way back to Inverness, then home so the Grand children can go on their next holiday abroad. They have some life.

I will post about the trip later and hopefully post some pictures, the lads cant wait to drive the boat, I will have to make some kind of rota or they will be falling out in lumps on who's turn it is to drive it.

Should be fun!.

2009-09-01T10:18:00.000+01:00

Hi
We have had the van re upholstered at Regal at Ilkston Derbyshire.
Apart from a few bits and bobs like the stitching running off on the drivers seat and the new curtain's not being the right size we are very pleased with them.

They completed the whole task in one day including all the various trims and all the seating.
Here are a few photos.

Nice break away with the grand kids.

2009-08-27T10:40:00.000+01:00

Hi.
We had a lovely 5 day break in the motor home with the grand kids, our first trip since we had it refurbished by Regal.

Well back to the trip!.
We went straight up to Holy Island Northumberland hoping to stay on there, but there were no camping signs every where, so we went to Warren Mills camp site at Budle bay. Expensive but OK. We were very honest because when we got there the office was shut and nobody was about, so we found an empty pitch with hook up and set up camp, then Sandra went round to pay the next morning.

Next day we went back to Holy Island and had a great day out, the grand kids loved it.
There are know amusements and the such but they threw themselves into the scenery and history of the place without the need to spend money, a great day out.
We then went back to Beadnell camp site to try and get on but it was full again, even though it wasn't. Seeing as we were booked on for the next two nights anyway I can not for the life of me see why they couldn't accommodate us for one more.
Instead we went down into Beadnell village near the harbour and set up camp for the night in the car park and then had a day out on the beach till we could go on the camp site.

The grand kids had two good days on the beach rock pooling for crabs, and I learned them to play crash, a card game which they soon picked up and became too good!.

We then called on the way back home in Beamish Museum and a good few hours there, the weather brightening up while we were there.
Then back home to Aldbrough.

Once again I will put some pic's on when I have uploaded them from my camera

Motor home show Pickering.

2009-07-20T12:29:00.000+01:00

Hi.
Sandra and I went to the motor home show at Pickering, we had previously booked and intended to stay on Saturday taking in the show and entertainment.
We went instead on the Friday as the weather looked decidedly iffy and I thought the field might be a mud bath if we went later, churned up by the other vans, as it was when we got there it was ok.
Unfortunately Sandra who had been working Friday until 2pm decided she would have a snooze while we were travelling, OK until we hit a bit of road with lots of bends, she was thrown off the seating onto the table where she hit her chin cut it open and this enormous bruise started, I felt like putting a sign round her neck saying I didn't do it, a bit of a downer to start the weekend.

We went round the show on Saturday ignoring the motor homes and concentrating on the side stalls to get various bits and bobs which we needed.
We had our tea and got ready for the entertainment which was suppose to be Freddie Starr but turned out to be the Grumbleweeds.
P J Proby was also on and he was crap, drawling on in this accent which nobody could understand a word he was saying, and that was better than his singing.

On the way back on Sunday we stopped at a fish shop for our dinner, and I can say they were the worst fish and chips I have en counted anywhere ever, totally disgusting and nearly £ 9.00 for both of us. We will never go there again for sure.

It was worth going for the bits and bobs we bought especially the toilet blue which we will need for our 3 months in Spain and Portugal in 2010.
Anyway I will sign off for now

Hello from Aldbrough

2009-06-18T09:03:00.000+01:00

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.

2009-03-31T21:42:00.000+01:00

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.

2009-03-20T15:16:00.000Z

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!.

2009-03-11T14:29:00.000Z

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.

2009-02-24T13:25:00.000Z

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.

2009-02-19T15:18:00.000Z

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,!!!!!!!

2009-02-15T19:28:00.001Z

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.

2009-02-03T12:46:00.000Z

Just a few more photos looking out of the motor home window, the small dots on the far bank are Sandra and Evie.

Hi.

Sounds like you are getting it bad in the UK with the snow and ice, here in Portugal it is overcast at the moment but very warm and sticky.

It is a very relaxing place where we are at the moment, as I look out of the car window opposite the Tourist Information building there are loads of locals all hanging about chewing the fat, in fact that's all everybody seems to do for excitement round here, and drive around in there beat up pickups at 20 mph, about as fast as you can go as the roads are atrocious, any faster and your fillings would fall out.

The wifi signal the other day was rubbish and so slow I lost the will to live as I waited for the down load, so I just gave up. I will try to load down some more photos today so if you see them OK if not I have given up again.

The fishing has slowed down a touch, well it has for me as Sandra has spanked me twice the last time she caught 4 carp, me "water licked", hmmmm. The water level in the barragem has risen about 6ft over the last 2/3 days making the place where we sat fishing well underwater.

I have finally sussed out what was breaking me so much on the initial take, it is barbel. I caught one yesterday and it nearly pulled the rod out of the rest a very violent take, I also struck into one fish which went straight out and snapped 15lb line like cotton taking the bolt rig and everything with it, I suspect that was a barbel as well.

We are fishing at distance about the same as life belt to life belt on the caravan pond, and we are line clipping off to land in the same spot and build a pile of ground bait up with sweet corn in, this seems to work quite well as we are catching far more than anybody else.

I have found a fishing tackle shop not far from where I am typing this, he has just completed 60hours of English lessons and is more than happy to talk to me in English as I am his first English speaking customer, he is teaching me Portuguese words for different bits of fishing tackle, its a right laugh you just can not pronounce the words and he laughs his head off at my attempts, Foreign git.

2009-01-30T13:42:00.000Z

Hi.

We have decided to stay at Camp Markadia for a full 30 days because after 15 days you get 50% off your bill making the last 2 weeks in the month for free!, including electricity. You can take the man out of Yorkshire but you cant take Yorkshire out of the man!!!!....
The fishing is not too shabby just like a good summers day fishing on the caravan pond. I am still getting smashed off on the take even though I have changed back to nylon main line instead of braid, the bloody fish must be on steroid's. The biggest I have had so far are two at 8lbs, one of the fish I have caught twice as it has a mouth like a poorly pussy, or if you like Mick Jagger, "all puffed up".
The weather is so changeable and just does not no what to do with itself, today it is sunny but very windy, we have had to put down the sky dish as it is not safe to have it elevated as it it is getting the full blast where we are.
We have just moved real estate on the site to a very attractive location higher up on the hill, so we overlook the full lake, and the added advantage is we gain another 2 channels on the receiver as we can get all the news channels, but now we can get 2 movie channels as well.
We have never had as much news information (all bad), we have come away to get away from all the crap in the UK. Never mind when we get back up to Mequenenza in Spain we get all the normal Chanel's back.

Norm if you are reading this and you still can not get the pictures, they are in JPEG format, make sure your computer is set up to read this format.

We had to take our Evie to the vets on Wednesday in Beja as she picked up a bad ear infection, the vet gave her a good mot even clipped her nails and it only came to 38 euros including any pills and ear drops, anyway she seems fine now. Sandra has to put drops in every morning for the next 10 days, and clean her ear out. Evie does not seem to mind at all now I even think she is enjoying the attention.

2009-01-23T13:18:00.000Z

Hi.

Just a few pic's to see if I can upload onto the blog.

Some of Ginestar looking over the peach trees to the mountains, one down at the river, and the rest in the mountains Sierra Nevada range highest we got to was 1800 meters above sea level.

The motor home did OK towing the trailer and car on the back, no problems so far! (cross fingers).

If it works out when I hit the publish button I will post some more pictures of where we are and any kippers we catch of note.

We seem to be happy were we are now at camp Markadia pulling out the carp, nothing big but it is never boring as the bites keep on coming.

Thanks for my birthday cards and presents, I opened them this morning. Very nice and it make us both think of you all back home.

2009-01-20T11:07:00.000Z

Hi everyone.
Managed to log on on in Ferreira a town about 15 miles away from where we are staying at a place called Camp Markadia, at the side of a Barragem (Portuguese for dam or lake).
The camp site is brilliant and is the third time we have been here, the lake is formed by damming a river and is absolutely enormous, Evie loves it here as there are lots of rabbits and she spends loads of energy chasing them, they must be laughing at her she has no chance of catching one as they must be twice as quick as her!.
The water in the lake is crystal clear and is used by the Portuguese as a seaside resort in the summer with lots of swimming and boating. The fishing is OK a bit like down at our lakes and I would expect to catch something, the only fish I have ever caught are wild common carp and a 5lb fish is quite big for here, with the average being about 3lb but with them being wild they fight like stink three times stronger than the fish down in the caravan pond!.
The tally so far is the first days fishing I caught 8, got smashed off 7 times with out even picking the rod up! and on the nearly 9lb bottom hook length as well lost 2 off on the way in. Second day went fishing with Sandra she had 6 carp I had 5 with same thing being smashed off on the take, hmm she gave me a good spanking that day. the 3rd day I managed to get 4 fish and the same thing smashed off on the take very violent takes all on pop up sweetcorn which have now all gone.

The weather is very hit and miss at the moment and Sandra speaking to some of the long time campers was told it has rained and been crap since November. When it is nice you can sit out in a tee shirt it is that warm, and we have the window open on the van at night as it gets too hot to sleep.

We are about 150 miles away from the Algarve at the bottom of Portugal, but we are undecided when to travel down as the weather there can not be much different than where we are now at the moment, but I suppose we will wonder down sometime there is no rush as we still have tons of time left to follow the sun.

I will sign off now as I am going to the Tourist information place across the road from where I am logged on (I think it is their wifi signal I am using) to ask were there is a Pesca shop to get some more fake corn and groundbait, Catch up with you later when I can blag another wifi signal.

2009-01-12T11:20:00.000Z

Hi everyone.
Managed to log on in Mora and can not believe it is a week since we left the UK, the weather down was interesting to say the least!. it snowed most of the way until we came out of the mountains then it was glorious sunshine for about 2 hours driving, then it snowed again.
Up in the mountains on our first nights car parking the temperature fell away to daft degrees and everything froze up, including Sandra's and my noses the only thing poking out of the sleeping bag. The front of the motor home looked like a big giant ice lolly and stayed that way until we hit sea level.
On our way on the last leg to Ginestar after our second nights car parking we stayed over night in a lovely stopover in Spain, I bet it is crawling with motor homes in the summer, as it was there was only us there, another night with snow falling but luckily it didn't settle.
We finally arrived in Ginestar on the 7th Wednesday and the weather was absolutely glorious with clear blue Sky's but there was still a nip in the air, this lasted 2 days and you can guess what it snowed again really big flakes.
We managed to get some gas from Fraga about 20 miles away so we are at least warm.
After we had set up camp I had a walk down to the river with Evie she was that excited just running like greyhound, she went down the river bank and straight in the water, I have since discovered why, the banks are muddy with the floods and are like ice I have fallen flat on my back and so has Sandra except hers was more spectacular she ended up in the river!, she always said she wanted to be seen in something long and flowing.
I have been fishing down at the river but it has been in flood and its just going down so the water temperature is bloody cold and the fish do not want to know, I am hoping it will warm up to get them to feed, so nothing to report on any catches yet.

I will sign off now until we can find another wifi hot spot.

2009-01-03T18:52:00.000Z

Hi.
Saturday 3 rd of January rushing about loading the van in anticipation of tomorrow's early start for the tunnel, a lot of effort for Sandra as usual!.