Popped out yesterday to get some Sloes for Sloe gin, and hopefully some chutney once the gin is done. 800g in the end, walked 8.5 miles and left a good number behind for the birds and animals.
A quick trip down Bakers Pit last Friday to look at some bits and bobs.
Photos in order:
1: various junk pulled out of the old cave entrance, that was used as a tip in Victorian times.
2: “the ghost” a calcite formation that looks like a cartoon ghost
3: lovely sparkly formations that have been preserved
4: cave writing dating from visitors in around 1913, the cave was explored a lot by locals back in the day.
5: bit of a squeeze, shuffling backwards vertically to see if a hole we spotted was the climb we were after, it was not.
6: the other end of the previously mentioned hole, went nowhere, but was interestingly filled with lots of washed in gravel
Popped out for a couple hours on the Exe this afternoon, water temperature was a surprising 16c, so cracked on, but the flow is just so low it’s pitiful, river is an easy 2ft below normal levels, Nothing rising, nothing even taking a nymph.
Would’ve been an all timer for all caps Friday
I currently live in Exeter, and after many years of walking and living around the Exe, I’ve decided fly fishing looks like something I would enjoy.
I understand EDAA own lots of the lower river, and I’d also require an EA rod licence, but where do I go from there? There’s so much kit and conflicting advice online, it’s really hard to understand where to start. I don’t drive either, so getting further afield to get any tutoring could be difficult (but doable!) so ideally, I’d like some advice around kit selection, and where to start on the river after I’ve had a good practice at home. My budget for kit, excluding licences and tickets, would be around £300. Thank you in advance! (And appreciate you might not have all the local knowledge!)
My understanding is that flow on the Exe is very low this year, and it is very warm (23c+) in places, but this isnt helped by the fact that the sewage plant upstream from here seems to be pumping out absolutely grim stuff, its terrible that such a famous river for Salmon has ended up this way.
Missed the release in may this year, but really quite fancy one to compliment my Weber go anywhere, am I stuffed until next year? Or is there a 2nd wave coming?
Glad my tax is paying for them to piss water everywhere
My guess is a Buzzard, it’s about 26cm long, so rules out a Kestrel?
Not sure if it’s “smoked”. Or just cooked low and slow, but I’ve made this today, total cook time was around 2.5 hours unwrapped, with 30 minutes wrapped with a splash of proper apple juice, rub was just brown sugar, salt and pepper. Turned out very well