Well the weather men didn’t get it all wrong, it did rain heavily over the following week, but temperatures didn’t drop too much.

We decided that the Carping can be put off for a week and that we would have a look round at a couple of Barbel swims off the beaten track. We headed off on a 3 night excursion armed with a Nissan Patrol, Land Rover, shovel and a strong towrope just in case.

As we set off the rain had eased a little, but the thought at back of my mind was what was ´laying in wait´. I was thinking of the rain that had already fallen that will be working its way down the valleys to the lakes. Our first port of call was a section of the lake at the bottom of a steep hill through a farm; hopefully conditions were going to be ok to fish there, and not too much colour in the water.

As we passed through the farm, the builders renovating it suggested we did not go down the track due to the conditions. They were bewildered at my answer ´puede con un Nissan´ poor blokes didn’t have a clue what it meant. They soon got the gist, my cheesy grin said it all as I jumped in the car and headed down hill …………. What I did say was ´ You can with a Nissan´

The descent was very interesting; Lee managing a couple of sideward slides that Torvill and Dean would have been proud of, the scary thing was still to come! When we reached the lake, we decided we didn’t like the conditions and we were to head off to another location.

Turning round was our next task, we were on a narrow track cut out of the hillside with wet grass each side, the only thing below was a wire fence and a long drop to the lake. I was first to go, thinking that my new tyres would have a little more grip to help Lee out if needed. Nah, they didn’t even help me. As I tried to reverse backwards up the hill the backend wouldn’t go up, slipping all the time. After a couple of failed attempts, that was it, I had boot it to go for it. It was going to be either get that back end round and uphill or slide on the mud into the drink.

I was away, the 6 cylinders growling away, tyres spinning on the sloppy ground and the 1.5 ton vehicle going sideward towards a tree, not good, but it got there, the back end had managed to work up the bank. All that was needed now was to get the front end round without slipping over the edge. The task turned out to be fairly simple, the adrenaline rush was over as the vehicle was now facing the way back out.

It was now Lee´s turn, his face said it all as he clambered into the Land Rover , I´m sure he was wishing it was his car sat waiting for someone else’s to do the maneuver . Off he went, same approach as I had just done, the expression on his face changed, aggressive, it will go. Eventually, after a lot of sliding, the arse end went round and up and he hit the brakes, then the locked wheels started sliding, but how far would they slide? A couple of rocks were at hand ready to be thrown into the wheels path if needed as a last resort, but weren’t called for. That was it, he was turned around.

After a well deserved fag break we were off again, all we had now was to contend with a steep climb over gullies, streams of water and soaked grassy areas. We soon reached the farm, to be welcomed with a couple of smiling faces, the builders had heard us skating about across the fields and were impressed that we had made it.

We headed for another area to check out, dodging dozens of deer on the way. After negotiating our way through bulging streams and mud on our next ´camino´ (track) we came unstuck, the pressure of a streams debris had dragged a wire fence across the track and we had to turn back.

On arrival at the next lake, things didn’t seem too bad, the water was well up so the plan was have a couple of drinks, food, an early night and start fishing the next morning. Well that was the plan. After dragging out the Nissan from a soggy patch of ground, the vehicles were eventually parked up for the night. Sorted.

I placed some beers and a bottle of wine in the margin to cool whilst we had a chat and a laugh about the day’s events over a beer. After a while I went to the car get something only to be surprised by the water being up to the rear of the vehicle. The vehicles were quickly moved to higher ground, our plans to where we were going Bivvy up soon changed. Suddenly Lee remembered my beers in the margin, well what was the margin. My only stock of beer was now well under water, about 1 meter under to be exact. Out came the wellies and a long bank stick to no avail, they were lost.

Plans changed again, we were to travel to another lake in the morning, with the water rising so much in such a short time, it was sure to be coloured.

The morning soon came after the well deserved rest, it had been a long hard day driving. As I woke my first thoughts were whether we get any fishing in, no hassle Carp fishing on Sierra Brava also ran through my mind.

To our surprise the water had receded again, my small stash of wine and beer sat just above the water’s edge, were things were starting to look up for us?

We arrived at the next lake we were to try, access was not so bad and the water was not too coloured. We soon found out the Barbel weren’t feeding and we struggled. Lee managed one small Barbel of around 7lb.

The rain had stopped by the time we packed up; however the ground was very soggy. These soggy bits soon turned into deep mud pools with the weight of the vehicles on it, but the serious problem was again the risk of sliding down the bank with no chance of getting back up.

Our problem was a bend in the track that was like ice, as soon as we hit the patch the vehicles would slide onto the grass at the side and every time we hit it the mud got deeper.

I eventually got the Nissan up after using the limited 10 yard of fairly solid ground to get some speed up. Lee on the other hand had slid sideways onto the grass area and no matter what we didn’t work. Even using the rope to tow him up over the grass failed, the Nissan that was on flat ground couldn’t get any traction.

The last resort was to drive flat out over the scattered rocks protruding through the soil, the little grip from them might be enough to get up the 30 yds to the solid track. We hoped that the tyres would cope and that he wouldn’t suffer a blowout in the process. I was cringing as the engine roared, tyres spun and the vehicle bucked over the rough ground. The heavy vehicle was tossed about as it hit another rock, then another, but that’s what it needed, traction. It worked without suffering any injury, we made it, the only thoughts now were of a nice hot shower, a drink and the weekend at home….

Sierra Brava

This last week, after the adventure the week before, we decided that we would go to Sierra Brava for a bit of Carping, give the Barbel venues a sometime to settle down and dry out.

The lake had changed so much, the water level so high, we hadn’t seen it this high for around 3 years so we took a little time to look around for fishable swims.

We set up camp for our visit on the mouth of a bay, not too many trees in the area as I remember. We worked hard at first for the runs, the fish were in the area but wouldn’t get their heads down. One type of boilie, one of Lees preferred winter flavours, seemed to be working and we started to get runs.

It was an enjoyable session, much needed after the events of the week before. In total between us we had over 25 runs with fish into the 30´s, not to bad for a 72 hour session with the water rising at a rate.