Farquhar Atoll Adventure…Seychelles April 2018

What do a couple of Lincolnshire farmers, a retired Colonel, a retired banker, a tailor, a diamond dealer, a film critic, a retirement home owner and, finally, a tackle shop owner, have in common? The clue is in the last occupation – a love of fly fishing. And so, it was with great ease that my team settled down to …

Astove Atoll, Seychelles February 2018

How many fly-fishing spots do you know that have become mythical or legendary in the past decade? Rivers like the Ponoi in Russia have risen to greatness in the modern era but over the past 20+ years. Lake Thingvallavatn in Iceland has had a meteoric rise to fame for its extraordinary trout but there are not many… however Astove is …

The Joy of Aaroy – 18th to 22nd June 2017

‘Such armaments were often found wanting on the Aaroy steeplechase, like the parade of defeated anglers that had fished its Platforms of Despair. The outbuildings behind the fishing house concealed an elephant’s graveyard of smashed rods and broken tackle.’ Ernest Schwiebert – ‘Extract from Platforms of Despair’ in the book Death of a Riverkeeper. I had read these words and …

Reflecting on the infamous Spring of 2017 on Russia’s Kola Peninsula

My visit to Ryabaga Camp on the Ponoi – 3rd to 10th June 2017. Atlantic salmon fishing in Russia has been a phenomenon that all those that have been lucky enough to enjoy it are thankful for. Let us cast our minds back to the early 1990s.  Scotland was in dire straits with the north-east drift nets still active. Catch …

Providence Atoll, Seychelles, 4th to 11th April 2017

Let’s get some details straight before we start this adventure. We were a party of three, all paying our way. This was a business trip for me but there was no obligation to be complimentary and, to be honest, if somewhere I visit is poor, I simply do not write about it. Our first team member was Dom Quinlan, a …

Mountain Gorillas of the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, Uganda

I had seen the films, knew of Idi Amin, and recollect the atrocities, but that was about as much as I had focused on Uganda until the opportunity came to go and see the gorillas of the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest in the south-west of the country. Seeing and being in Uganda was a hugely pleasant surprise. Seeing the gorillas was …