By Yon Bonnie Banks of Loch Lomond 12 -14th June 2015

Had a couple of days on Lomondside camping and kayaking at the weekend with some good friends and where I met some new one's.

Responsible camping in the National Park by responsible people where no trace was left behind.

The way it should be ....

All of the wood used for the camp fire was deadfall with not a single piece of wood cut from a living tree and all trace of the camp fire was removed before leaving. Would've liked to have posted an as it was before we arrived picture before leaving but the charge on the camera ran out. Unfortunately, there are just some things you can't plan for ;-)

            

MAY THE FIRE BE ALWAYS LIT !

The Big Apple

Off to the Big Apple in the morning for a few days. Got the Shakespeare expedition XT packed just in case 

Photo courtesy NY Times

I think any catches will definitely be released though !
Facts unclear re. Hudson River catches.

Glasgow Angling Centre - February Open Weekend

I took a wee run into the Angling Centre today with the kids and was treated to a wee tying demo By Allan Liddle from the Partridge of Redditch Pro team. Where he showed me how it's done when tying floss tails on Loch Ordie Muddlers using Glo - Brite.





Hope to make another visit over the weekend and do a full write up in the next few days.

Glasgow Angling Centre February Open Weekend

Angling Centre Open Weekend and Free Mono Offer

Open Weekend Freebie! Confirm your attendance online and we will send you a voucher for two 100m spools of top quality Sunline Siglon V Mono that can be redeemed instore on any day of our Spring Open Weekend 2014! Visit the fishinscotlland.co.uk facebook page for the registration link here - Glasgow Angling Centre Mono Line Offer

No purchase necessary, one voucher per customer please!

James Stewart of The Glen

Myself and Marc headed up to Glen Duror at the weekend to meet up with John Cree and spend a night in this remote cottage. Birthplace of James Stewart of the Glen.

John was already there having spent the previous night and had the fire lit but it was a nightmare to keep going and get any heat out of with the wet wood at our disposal. After dinner and a few drams we bedded down and the wind and rain fairly ripped through the Glen during the night. So much so, we thought the roof might come off on more than one occasion.

                                    

Forestry Track

The cottage. Birthplace of James Stewart of The Glen. Who was allegedly wrongly hanged for the murderous shooting of Colin " The red Fox " Campbell. A King's man, in May 1752.  

Campbell was supposedly on his way to evict Stewart and his Clansmen from the Duror tenancies and replace them with his own kinsmen. The shooting became widely known in Scotland and beyond to this day as The Appin Murder.

James Stewart of  the Glen Makes a brief appearance in Robert Louis Stevenson's book kidnapped and an editorial review of the book was written as follows.

"In May 1752 in the Scottish Highlands, a rider is shot dead by a hidden gunman. The murdered man is Colin Campbell, a government agent heading for nearby Duror where he plans to evict Duror's farming tenants and replace them with his relatives. Colin Campbell's killer escapes. But Britain's rulers insist that this challenge to their authority must be paid for with a hanging. The sacrificial victim is James Stewart who, from his Duror home, has been organizing resistance to the murdered man's evictions. Stewart is a veteran of the Highland uprising which culminated in the Battle of Culloden in April 1746. Back in Duror he saw home after home torched by troops sent to bring the Highlanders to heel. But Stewart, refusing to knuckle under, takes on the officials —among them Colin Campbell— who are trying to impose British rule on the Highlands. Colin Campbell's killing rocked 18th-century Britain and became the inspiration for Robert Louis Stevenson's classic novel, Kidnapped." 

And ever since the fatal shot was fired, people have argued about who actually pulled the trigger.

Commemorative Plaque

It was The Stewart's of Appin that the surviving MacDonald's of Glen Coe fled to after the murderous rampage of the Campbell's in 1692 that infamously became known as the Massacre of Glencoe  which preceeded the 1715 and 1745 Jacobite uprisings.

A cold wet and windy night in Glen Duror where I'm sure I saw and heard the ghosts of Appin on more than one occasion throughout the night.

May the fire be always lit !

Wanted - Keith the Seal !

It seems the angling trust are about to put a price on the head of Keith the Seal and some folk are a bit unhappy about it.

(mirror.co.uk)

I don't know why they can't just catch the bloody thing and put it back in the sea if they're so upset about it which is what the Angling Trust wanted to do in the first place. Some folk have just got to have something to protest about ?


Fans fight to save Keith the seal after anglers seek firearms licence

I was watching Rick Stein yesterday and he showed pictures of salmon running a weir on the Severn and was saying how it was an annual local spectacle but it won't be happening this year if Keith hangs around.

Keith is a rubbish name for a seal anyway. Everyone knows they're called Sammy

Rick Stein's Food Heroes

Watching Rick Stein's food hero's and he's having fish and chips in Oban.

He's just said the cod is flown in from Iceland " In fact, without Iceland's sensible fish conservation policy we wouldn't have cod for our fish and chip shop's at all. They could see it all coming years ago ! "

I suppose that will be why Iceland is and have been plundering the UK Mackeral stocks then

Iceland plunders UK makeral stocks 

In fairness to Mr. Stein, of whom I'm a great fan, the programme was probably recorded before the current plundering began when Iceland's approach to mackeral fishing was a bit more sensible and eco friendly !