My next venture

Three years ago I added my name to the waiting list for an allotment in Royston, close to where I live and closer to my eldest sons house, in November last year I got word through that there was a plot with my name on it waiting for me, great I thought something to keep me occupied.....oh yes, it certainly will do that.  The following pictures are a record of my work from November 2016 until now March 2017. I hope you like what I have done.

This is what I have taken over, 4 years of neglect.....where to start

First job was to start and remove the long cane like extensions of the weeds, I found a bathtub and a load of pallets, nice start

Once all the rubbish was cleared, at least I could see the floor, still loads to move but hey ho we are getting there.

 
First start on the digging, fist with the spade and then with the fork taking out the weeds as we go. Fortunately most of the weeds have a very shallow root growth and are therefore easy to remove. The dock leaves are a different story

Tried a touch of weed suppression but it didn't seem to work

                                                                                                
             

Took some time off from the digging to put up a fence and gate. must admit that it exceeded all expectations.

Shed down and top end cleared away

Raspberries Canes and Blueberry Bushes

Where we are now, half the plot has been double dug and weeded, the rotovator will be on next week so we will have an area reading for planting, left hand side needs weeding and digging over but  pretty pleased really in the space of 4 months, hope you like it.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   

The next step

So having sold the house in May, we decided to look at Spain with the idea of buying a villa, short and cheaper flights would mean that we could visit more often, we had an idea of what we wanted and unbelievably on our first visit managed to get our new home. It ticked all the boxes and was near to 3 golf courses and a pub just down the road.....heaven.

Don't get me wrong, we had to do some work to bring it to our liking, but we are nearly there now and many happy times hopefully lye ahead

Wrap up and go

So the Canada experience has come to an abrupt end, whilst out for my last and final visit in 2014, we decided that the travelling was too much and that we would put the house on the market. Well whilst out for my months' vacation in May 2014, I managed to sell the house, sell the car, sell the boat and arrange for all the house items we wanted to keep to be sent home. I can tell you that by the time I boarded the plane for the final time in Montreal, I was absolutely knackered.
It was indeed a very sad time, we made many friends where we lived, the fishing was fantastic but as said earlier 19 hours door to door was just too much and we did make the right decision of that I am sure.

So as they say, one door closes and another opens. I have decided to re-start the blog and bring it up to date, I hope you will find it interesting.

Thursday 22nd June

Back up at the island view swim (why would I want to go anywhere else), water temperature was up in the low 60s, not much surface activity and no big fish showing. I finished the day at 2.30pm as I had business to take care of (more of that later) 11 fish graced the net, again mainly mid doubles with four fish of 16lbs and one of 17-4. Can't help thinking it can only be a matter of time before the big girls move in. interestingly the two lads who were on the first bridge had gone as had the anglers on the pines, so obviously those swims had not been producing. Next session will be Saturday or Sunday I think. 

Monday 19th June

An early start saw me leaving the marina at around 6am, by the time I had reached the swim and set up it was around 7.15am, conditions were very good with a west wind blowing straight into me and no rain forecast, the only concern was that the water temp was only 52 so that needed to improve. It wasn't long before the first fish came over the net and at 23-6 was the first 20 of the trip. Strangely that was the only fish until lunchtime but as the water warmed up so did the fishing. By the end of the session with the thermometer reading 60 degrees, I had caught 16 fish including another at 22-2 but as is the norm in mid may, most of the fish were mid to upper doubles, I packed up at 4.30 and the fish were still feeding but hey there's always another day.

Friday 16th May

Took the boat out as planned and pre-baited, the forecast for the next couple of days is not great fhough regarding the wind so we will have to see

Wednesday 14th May

Arrived at the swim at around 8pm  and had my first fish within 30 seconds of casting in, conditions were good  with a Sw breeze but as is the norm early in the season, the fish were slow to respond and by the end of the session I had caught  eight fish with the best going 16-2, fed the remaining bait as I left, next session will be Saturday with a pre-bait Friday.