Day 17 has been a wonderful day on the river. As you are now well aware I haven’t seen this disease as an excuse not to do anything but instead an opportunity to get out there and do stuff I always thought I might like to while I still can.
So I have decided to learn to play golf. Excellent cognitive and motor skills coordination as part of my scheme to build a back up generator in the left side of the head. More on golf on another day because today was all about fishing thanks to the enormous generosity of David and Eira who gave me the chance to fly fish on their beat for the day on the banks of the River Teith, which flows through the village, and is one of Scotland’s charming Salmon Rivers.
What a delightful day. The sun shone, the river was running beautifully, Georgie was able to come out of retirement and come and spend the day with with me on the river lazing in the sunshine and dipping her toes in the water when a little hot. We had heard tales of Salmon caught in the last couple of days. The fish were running, we should be able to catch one!!
Eira joined me on the river once she had fixed my reel which I had managed to connect to the rod upside down! Eira also showed me the best places to cast and provided some excellent tips to brush up on my Spey Casting which is a technique designed to allow long casts on heavily wooded rivers therefore enabling the angler to fish the entire river. It does take some fine tuning and found it to be excellent for cognitive and motor skill coordination. But there was a real air of excitement. Another angler came by with a freshly caught Salmon from the Teith. We were going to catch a fish and I even saw a good sized fish do a double jump up towards and then over my fly!! We were able to see them making their way up the river towards us as they leapt out of the water. We cast with great style and enjoyed the glorious countryside and peace of the river while I seized every opportunity to introduce the challenge to anybody passing by, while anticipating that first bite of the fish. It was a great day with great company and the most delightful lunch overlooking Doune Castle and the river for which I couldn’t thank David and Eira enough and to top it off they presented me with the most generous donation for the challenge.
Thank you both so very very much. So the Challenge in numbers:
The challenge in numbers total since the start:
Days completed: 17
Total Miles Cycled: 84
Total Miles Walked: 51
Total Miles covered under own steam: 135
Total Height Gained under own steam: 4,361 feet
Mountains Climbed: 2
Days of Conservation Activity: 1 1/4
Organ tunes learnt and performed: 5
Salmon Caught: 0!
People Met and Hands Shaken: 59
Pots of tea shared: 3
Pills popped: 70
If you see me around do please give a cheery hello and shake my hand or toot your horn and give a cheery wave to show your support and encourage me on.
Thank you all for your incredible comments and support. Please continue to spread the word.
Thank you for having enough faith in me to sponsor me.
Yours aye
Archie