Casting in the sun

Tags

1886, Beer, Festival, Fishing, Franklin & Sons, Gin, Hardy, River, Sea, St Ives, Tonic

With the start of the new coarse fishing season underway only the fool hardy ventured out under the grey skies and pouring rain – clearly as I get older I have turned into a fair weather fisherman. Gone are the days when I would head out whatever the weather in pursuit of a trout from a chalkstream or a trace full of mackerel and a prized sea bream from the sea.

Any sort of fishing recently has been put on hold. The course rods and reels were put away back in March, there has been little time to venture to the Sussex Coast for any sea fishing and the collection of trusted Hardy fly rods and reels have remained in situ since the end of last season.

Having had my Father pass away recently it brings home how precious time is, how missed opportunities with young Tales by the river watching his face light up as he catches even the smallest of fish or purely the sheer enjoyment of  just being spending time out together, so the rod will be dusted off and packed into the car as we head off to the West. 

Fortuitously work this weekend takes me to one of the furthest points West, glorious St Ives, where this I will be working at the Gin Festival UK promoting Gin and Franklin & Sons tonics and mixers, a range of soft drinks produced since 1886 on the edge of the metropolis along the Metropolitan Line in Rickmansworth. As a child I remember finding the old Franklin branded glass bottles on the spoil heap of the local farm and occasionally I see one in the bottom of the River Chess and more often in hedgerows along the footpaths leading to the river, probably discarded by school boys on their way home. Occasionally when on the banks of the River Thames you can find the old black vulcanite stoppers, recently I found a Franklin ‘F’ branded bottle stopper and at a local table sale an old glass branded green bottle.

Hopefully if we get a good day on Sunday and with a little sun young Tales and I can get a couple of hours in hurling a Dexters out to sea. In recent years in-shore mackerel have been far and few between but the odd pollock has often broken cover in the rocky coves to take the odd lure when presented.

I’m certainly looking forward to a catch up with some old friends, the odd pint in The Sloop Inn or cocktail in the Rum & Crab Shack and without question a Gin and Tonic if Col has anything to do with what we’ll be drinking.

    

New Year, new directions…

Tags

Abereiddy, Coast, Fishing, Flood, Pembrokeshire, Slate, St David's, Wales

Christmas is just a distant memory and the New Year was spent as far West as one could get tucked away in a friends cottage with the warmth of an AGA. The cottage was situated on the shoreline of Abereiddy, once a slate workings where the only indication of its industrial past was a row of derelict cottages and the main slate working now flooded to form a lagoon.

There was no mobile signal or internet access, no village shop or pub, we were miles away from it all. We had packed all the food and drink we needed, warm jumpers, Barbours, wellingtons and slippers.

The rain fell continuously and the wind blew, only occasionally would the patchwork grey sky give way to the odd ray of sunshine, the presense of a cobalt blue patch a welcome sight. To many this may seem a remote and glum place to be but there was a beauty about it. Certainly it was a key location for those willing to brave the element to surf and those that took to the coastal path for a bracing walk on what was a breathtaking coastline.

It wouldn’t be a normal Tales adventure without the use of a fishing rod. We had packed a beachcaster, rigs, weights and a fixed spool reel the only thing we didn’t have was any bait, however there were enough limpits on the rocks to use. The surf was high and powerful so the water was coloured like builders tea, not ideal conditions but it was more about being out there.

The torrential rain that most of the country has endured for weeks kept up over the three day vacation and what was a small stream from the hills became a broader river in flood cutting off access to the whole beach, you needed wellingtons to breach it, each day it flowed faster and deeper.

We took time to visit St David’s with its grand cathedral that seems to be built on an incline so if you stand at the back of it you look upwards towards the alter. To think how long ago it was built adds to the grandeur of the magnificent construction and to look back at it through the trees dappled in winter sun gave an air of romance about it. It inspired me to paint a quick picture of what I could see on an off-cut of wood with some acrylic paints I took with me.

I would like to spend some more time exploring the Pembrokeshire coastline with the family here in late spring so for sure we will make this a destination for our travels in 2016.

For all of you may I wish you a Happy, Healthy and Prosperous New Year. Whatever you do and wherever you go enjoy.

It is Christmas Day!

Tags

Christmas, Fishing, Greetings, New Year

To all of you brothers of the angle, shutter and paintbrush, I wish you all a very Merry Christmas, may you all find peace and love not only over the Christmas season but for evermore.

For those of you heading to the river or sea tomorrow may your lines be tight and smiles put upon your face.

I bless you all for a prosperous New Year.

The night before Christmas…

Tags

Christmas, Eve, Night, Presents, Year

Between the rain showers and the warm glow of winter sun we dashed around the village doing the lasts bits of shopping before retiring to the pub for a beer and a bite to eat in order to give us energy to wrap those Christmas gifts for young Tales, it may take some time.

The years seems to have passed all too quickly, possibly because we’ve done a lot but more than likely because we are getting older. During the year we went West Wales for young Tales birthday to allow him to fish for sea-trout, went to a wedding in St Ives, visited Mrs Tales birthplace on the island of Cyprus, retuned to Bexhill – a place I spent time at as a young teenager to fish, stalled out at The National Vintage Tackle Fair, worked on some new projects and now it’s Christmas.

As it’s time to spend time with Mrs and young Tales on this Christmas Eve I want to take this opportunity to wish all of you who have taken time to read my blog a very merry Christmas.

On the twelfth night of Advent…

Tags

Carol, Charles Dickens, Christmas, Markey's, Scrooge, Spirits

This evening I saw the ghost of Christmas past and present.

On the forth day of Advent…

Tags

Advent, Camping, Christmas, Filler, Gifts, Knives, Opinel, Peesents, Rolex, Stocking

There are some items in life that become trusted friends, fountain pens, watches, tools, cars, rucksacks, catapults, rods, reels, priest, Barbour, fishing bag, camera and they never let you down and always do what they’re meant to do. Without question these are one of the best knives you can own, simple yet the quality will mean that like a Rolex timepiece they can be passed down to the next generation. One of these Opinel knives will cost you less than £10 unless you want one with a carbon blade. I use mine in the kitchen, when camping, fishing or just out in the garden or in the countryside. If you by one of these as a stocking filler it will be cherished by the user long after the snow has melted and the decorations are down.

On the third day of Advent

Tags

Advent, Brass, Camping, Charity Shops, Cooking, Filler, Outdoor, Secon-Hand, Spirit, Stocking, Stove, Thrift

I found a small brass spirit stove a while back in a charity shop for the price of £2. This would make an ideal stocking filler. These little stoves are small and robust, if looked after will last a lifetime. This most certainly won’t cook your turkey, rib of beef or goose, however I always carry a small spirit stove if I head out to the rivers, wood, hills and dales during the winter months. Capable of heating up a brew or even cooking a breakfast and if lucky enough to catch one a trout wrapped in foil on a tray or at this time of year to pan fry some pigeon or pheasant breasts.

I believe items like this make treasured gift at this time of year and goes to prove that will some stealth in looking around you can find items for less than the cost of a pint of ale.

Second day of Advent

Tags

Advent, Coronation, Letter, OXO, Post Box, Santa Claus

Found in a collection of old OXO tins tucked in a cupboard this 1937 Coronation Souvenir Money Box that once contained 6 OXO Cubes. Printed on the bottom of the tin the address OXO Ltd. Thames House, London, England.

Its post box styling a prompt that young Tales should think about posting his Christmas list to Santa Claus.

December is upon us…

Tags

Advent, Brandy, Car Boot, Cherry, Christmas, Cups, Hunting, Kings Ginger, Leather, Sloe Gin, Vintage

Somehow eleven months have passed by all too quickly and now December has arrived.

This year we have fished less but traveled further to do it. We have made more acquaintances, shared experiences and are better off for it in terms of knowledge.

It was commented on the other day that I have an ability to collect quirky things so this year my daily postings until the big day will be items I have purchased, found, stumbled upon in my travels or found tucked away in draws.

The first of these postings will be a set of hunting cups acquired at a car boot for £1, ideal for a warming winter dram of Cherry Brandy, Sloe Gin or The Kings Ginger Liqueur.

Not so slow Sloe Gin…

Tags

Christmas, City Distillery, Distilling, Gin, Home-made, London Dry Gin, River, Sloane's Gin, Sloe

October marks the time to make a batch of slow gin which will be ready to drink in Christmas Eve. I have been perfecting my recipe for three decades.

There are myths surrounding the best way to make this seasonal tipple from waiting until the first frost of Autumn to individually picking each sloe with a silver needle, the quantity of sugar and the addition of a crushed almond.

The most important part of the production of your own infused sloe gin is to use a good quality gin and certainly a classic London Dry style at that. With the growth in the gin market of the past decade some new age gins of which there are many using a vast array of botanicals can end up fighting with the taste and aroma of the sloe. I have in the past made sloe infused grappa, cognac and vodka, however the marriage of sloe and juniper work best in my opinion.

With a passion for all things vintage I usually source some old bottles and decanters for this annual ritual.

For years I had added the sugar at the time of infusing the gin with the ripe sloes, this years crop were gathered from the Thames Path not more than half a mile away from home. In past years I have harvested from the South Downs, The Chiltern Hills, Wiltshire and Somerset. This year the sloe berries are plump and have ripened early. This fact alone dispels the need to wait for the first frost. If you press and sloe between your fingers and it bursts then you know the time is right to harvest.

In past years I have sat in the kitchen preparing the sloes by first washing any bird deposits off and it gets rid of any remains of the pollinated flower, dust and leaf debris. I then have spent time pricking each sloe twice and then infusing about half a pound of sloe berries to a standard 70cl bottle of gin. I was always an advocate of Plymouth Gin but have tried other London Dry Gins in recent years.

The issue of using some of the new gin brands is that their botanical mix fight with the essence of the sloe, especially brands such as Hendricks with its distinctive cucumber note. There gins have other botanicals which are too dominant so I believe less is more in this case.

So this afternoon will be spent making more sloe gin and watching the rugby. As for tomorrow I will embark on making a new citrus gin liqueur…