Our first red letter day, and we are less than a week into our trip! During our first ever ventures out in Fay, every time we were near any sort of river, Richard would say how if only he had a fishing rod he would catch us something for tea. It was a considerable time ago that, by chance, I came upon a very reasonably priced telescopic fishing rod. Ideal gift, I thought, this will easily fit in Fay. Very pleased with my find, I gave it to Richard and awaited his first catch...... Trip after trip, river after river still no fishy breakfast; that is until today!
Yesterday evening he had tried his luck casting out into the river where we were camped but my cheap rod just wasn't up to it. He decided to try further upstream and drop the line from off of a very rusty old bridge, with several large holes in! No health and safety police here? At home you wouldn't get near the bridge, not only due to it's aged state but also because it leads straight onto the rail track! Last night I had declined to venture to the other side of the bridge but this morning, since he was trying so hard, I took him a cup tea to his fishing post in the middle of the bridge. Still the rod was barren. I headed back to the van to start preparing a different breakfast.
En route I gathered some suitable sticks for attaching to the keep net, should I just put a tin of sardines in the net or should I open the tin and put one little sardine in and see if I could fool Richard into believing that I had been more successful than he? As I rummaged for the small tin, he certainly wouldn't be fooled by one coved in tomato sauce, I heard him calling. There walking toward me was my very proud fisherman, rod in one hand and large fish in the other! This fish is far too big for breakfast, we will have him supper tonight with those German potatoes and toast him with a bottle of Mayflower MCC rose wine.
The rest of the day Richard spends sat upon the pedestal I have placed him on. We get through our chores at a leisurely pace, tyre pressures checked, laundry done and time to adorn Fay with some of her stickers. I check the package carefully before we begin; the caravans we've passed in every lay-by bedecked with pink hearts have not escaped my notice. I don't want any embarrassing misunderstandings, nor do I want Richard getting ideas about funding this trip via the pink heart route!!! (For anyone who hasn't been to this part of the world yet, ladies of a certain trade, operate from such vehicles.)
With the first part of Fay's make over complete, we set to and prepare Czechmate Charlie for the pan. He is so big, he won't fit. Off with his head and his tail.
After our delicious feast we go for an evening stroll. Whilst waiting for Czechmate Charlie to take the bait, Richard had noticed that beside the railway track was a path that needed exploring. The only problem was, it meant traversing the whole of the rickety bridge! Richard was not perturbed and after today, no I wasn't going to refuse. So with a quick look over my shoulder to make sure my guardian angel had a firm hold of my reins, we set off.
The path followed the river and eventually on into the next village. We admired the amount of wildlife; woodpeckers, fire crests, bats and many other forms of flora and fauna. The evening was drawing in and since the sun sets quickly, we retraced our steps not wanting attempt such a footpath in the dark.
No comments:
Post a Comment