Allemansrätten, or the Right of Public Access, is one of the unique joys of Sweden. It allows anyone to roam freely in the countryside, swim and travel by boat in someone else’s waters and pick mushrooms and berries in the forest.

Thursday 8 July 2010

Messin' about in a canoe.



Took the canoe out onto Orsjon from our local beach. This was Sarah's first time in my canoe, the "Nice Beaver" & after some trepidation started to really enjoy herself. We didn't go far as we'd left Sarah's mum & Rolo back on the beach but now I know Sarah's OK in "Nice Beaver" we can plan a few overnight camping trips for later in the year.

Sunday 4 July 2010

Gone fishin'!

Well here's my craft of choice for fishing anyway being superbly modelled by my wife, Sarah. A float tube proved to be a really effective way to get on to the water & target the perfect wild brown trout of Simmesjon.
Normally it takes three or four trips to new water before I can get a handle on it & catch anything. Well, first trip & five fin perfect brown trout all caught (& returned) on a small white & yellow fly I couldn't believe my luck, I've never had a first day on a new water ever go this well!
The pressure was on for my next trip. It was the day before my wife's birthday & she wanted smoked trout for her tea. Well wha' d' ya know, fished hard but could only manage one (plus a couple of perch). At least not a complete disaster & the trout tasted fantastic!

Saturday 3 July 2010

June 2010




First proper trip, packed up the car with fishing tackle family (Mrs Labrador, her mum & Rolo) & headed to Harwich to catch the overnight ferry to the Hoek van Holland. Two day's driving later we arrived at our better place for a whole four weeks of peace, quiet, fishing, canoeing & generally playing in the forest! Unfortunately there were still some jobs to do but hopefully there aren't too many more. After settling in for a couple of days to get over the drive I decided it was time to go for a walk in the woods to check out a few places to fish. First lake I visited was Simsjon. I parked close to a small hunting Stuga which had it's own smallbore rifle range! I Walked into the woods past an Algjakt blind, crossing winter snowmobile trails & over the bridge where the lake flows into the Simean. Over the bridge & on through more dense woodland with plenty of Alg sign to a small peninsula where I found an unoccupied fishing Stuga. Later that afternoon I drove on to Simmesjon which is known for it's quality as a trout fishery & where later on I'd be paddling around in a float tube..................(TBC)