Back on the trail, just not the fishing trail

Ive sat for many an hour over the last few months contemplating my love for fishing & it runs deep within me, from my early days of grayling fishing on the Clyde with the guys I went to school with over 45 years ago, to my days in Germany spent on the fly lakes then onto the years of the match fishing circuit, to barbel bashing back in England & finally full circle to back to my love of grayling fishing.

I came to the conclusion that my love for fishing will never leave me but with the turmoil we have in the world at the moment the chasing of brown trout which has always come 2nd to my passion for grayling still doesn't interest me right at this moment but I am already thinking ahead to the crisp fresh morning's which I love so much about grayling fishing.

The 29th January was the last time I touched a fishing rod & since then they have sat propped in the rod rack I have in my tying room looking rather lost with all the amount of camera gear that has now hidden them, & more so now with the amount of camping gear that has accumulated in front of them also.

I was asked in another post if I would contemplate another blog for my photography adventures whilst absent from the flee & float and at first it sounded like a good idea but honestly I dont think I could start afresh blog for photography so after a few weeks of thinking about things have decided that the flee & float will spread its wings a little bit further & incorporate my photography as well.

Im not by any means a professional photographer, and dont claim to come anywhere close to that but I have always have had a love for photography from the fishing side of things & as I get older the hiking I do mainly to keep my fitness at a relative good state since leaving the forces back in 2007.

With the hiking my love of water isn't far from my plans & I scour over maps both in paper & electronic format to find waterfalls that are marked on the map but are well off the beaten track & once on scene looking at there beauty my eyes are always on the look out for the movement of fish in the pool below them, so the fisherman in me may lie dormant right now but it never leaves me.

Anyway my recent trek was a circular trek around parts of swaledale starting & finishing in Keld with a 17 mile hike & an overnight wild camp thrown in for good measure but with views like these, you can see why I love walking in magnificent countryside most days not seeing a single soul.

Crackpot Hall looking down Swaledale

The entry into Swinner Gill

Looking down Swinner Gill

A couple of the waterfalls not many ever get to see & I feel privileged to be one who does.

Some small trout in a couple of the pools which bodes well.