Den Haag, August 2006
It has been a strange summer as far as the weather is concerned. We've had a longlasting heatwave and when that had eventually finished we've seen more wind and rain than I care to remember. That unfortunately coincided with my summer holidays. It kicked off with a visit from Kim, Liam and Lance. Kim had seen Holland before but for the kids it was a first. A shame we couldn't do too many things outdoors but still we had a blast. It was pretty eventfull with a missing passport, lost luggage and sorts. And I will also not easily forget the slippers that I got as a present. I may have some use for them in the next 'Lord of the Rings'- remake.... The dry spells came at the right times though. So we did get a good and succesfull day fishing from the beach resulting in seabass dinners. Also seeing the sights in Delft en Den Haag, visiting the Burgers Zoo and the local attraction park Duinrell were mainly dry. So no complaints there, we had a good time.
Devon and Wales, August 2006
I spent 10 days on the bike in Devon and Wales, with my travelling rods to try and catch some new species of fish. I didn't really succeed in that very well, just the horsemackerell was a new one. But I did manage to dodge most of the rain and storm. That is a great help on a trip like this. Actually I had pretty good weather most of the time. The forecasts were (for a change) spot on and I adjusted my route accordingly. The start was at Weymouth where I wanted to fish Chesil beach, a wellknown spot for beachcasting. Fishing wasn't very succesfull, mackerell and garfish were the main catch plus some of the prettier fish like on the pics.
It was a long haul in one day, driving to Calais, taking the Channel tunnel and then onwards to Devon, about 450 miles plus the crossing. This time of the year it wasn't such a good idea either, very busy with school holidays still not over so accommodation was difficult to find and pretty expensive. The roads were very busy as well. So after my 2 days at Chesil beach I went straight on to Wales.
The next couple of days I spent in Pembrokeshire, staying in a B&B and an Inn in Marloes and Bosherton, just south of Pembroke. This is a lovely area. Lots of winding roads without much traffic. Ideal for the bike, the Vstrom does very well on roads like this. The longer I've this bike got the more enthousiastic I get about it. The hollow roads with the steep banks do require your concentration though, very often you can only see untill the next bend and even pretty roads kan kill... The area is full of castles if that is your thing and here is a prime example in Pembroke. During one of my fishing sessions in Cardigan Bay, east of Fishguard there was a group of dolphins just a 100 yards from the shore. Nice to see but when they are there the fish aren't feeding.
After that I travelled acroos the mountain trail to Aberaeron, where I've stayed with Peter about 8 years ago. At that time we caught a lot of dogfish but this time these were absent. Actually all fish was on a holiday there, except for small eels that you coulkd catch in the harbour. Lots of those about. Aberaeron is a pretty town with a small harbour that van only be entered through the rivermouth at high tide. One of the pics shows an office right next to the river. Too close actually as the foundation washed away and the wall collapsed.
Avoiding the rainfront I moved back to Pembrokeshire where I stayed in the St Govan's Inn in Bosherton, that is a place that I would recommend. Just 4 or 5 rooms and about € 30,- a night B&B but great rooms and good food, pleasant staff and lively at night. A fishing friend of mine recommended the rockfishing at Marloes, bur that was a bit too adventurous for me. The few places that were accessible without too much risk were all taken as well. So I gave that a miss, but it is a spectacular coastal trail to walk. It is a great area for rockclimbing as well. The rockclimbers that visit the Inn are a bit comparable to surfers, a friendly subculture.
After that the weather promised to take a turn for the worst so I changed my plans and visted my UK friends Karen and Paul, who showed me the publife in Towcester. Next morning the headache wasn't too bad ;-0 and I got on the bike to Dover and back home. As always at the end of the summerholiday I start thinking about the next destination and at the moment Ireland doesn't sound to bad to me. We'll see.
