A Small River In Scotland When I got my first car me and two mates decided to travel up to a small river in Scotland . The plan was to travel up on a Friday night , call in a pub have a couple of drinks and a small bite to eat , sleep in the car and fish at the break of day . I had never been on my own to the river ,previous visits had been with my dad and his mate .
All went well , we found a nice quiet pub and then in the dark managed somehow to find the little lane that led down to the farm , we parked in the lane just a few yards from the farm yard to catch a few hours sleep .
I did not know what cold was until that night, the sky was clear every star could be seen and we sat unable to sleep . The first rays of light came as a relief . So we slipped our waders on and what clothes we had in some attempt to keep the chill out , the waders were the old kind thick rubber chest waders not the lighter modern ones .
So off we set dropping the money through the farmers letterbox on our way to the river , it was about half a mile walk down the fields to the river it was a cold , cold morning. We reached the river and left my first friend at the first glide , I stopped at the second pool my other mate decided he would walk further, more in an attempt to stay warm rather than in the hope of finding more fishy haunts .
An hour passed and reaching the bottom of the pool I decided to have a walk.
I passed my mate who hardly spoke, in fact I'm sure the cold effected his brain in some way he has never been the same since and from being one of the keenest amongst us to fish he shortly after gave up completely
The next thing was at last a fish a small Grayling . My mates came down and said they would walk down to the other end of the stretch , I had had my first fish and thought a few more could be on the cards so I said I would join them later, so off they went .
After ten minutes I lost what felt a good fish , by this time I was stood mid river on an Island fishing the inside line under some trees which hung down from a steep bank . Then I noticed the trees shake I carried on with one eye now on the trees and it shook again I peered into the area but could not see anything, it shook again the noise was of something large , I picked up a stone from the island and lobbed it in the tree under arm thinking some large bird or some animal would run out instead the tree shook this time more I was a bit taken aback so I waded out towards it . I looked in but could still see nothing thinking back if it had happened now I may not have carried on but I was intrigued .
Using the end of my rod I poked in and tried to move back the branches the thing making the noise was a sheep it had fallen down the bank and it was stuck in the fork of two branches .
I was young and stuck in the middle of no where ,the only people I saw when we had fished the river before were the anglers with me . So back up the hill to the farm by this time the morning chill had started to wear off with the walk I knocked on the farm door told the farmer who looked at me and said ''can you not get it out'' It's half way up a tree I said , Ah well leave it he said
I was gob smacked and made my way back down the hill by this time I had decided to have a go at moving it, my mates were at the other end of the river so I was on my own .
Back at the tree I tried to climb down , the bloody thing tried to bite me I'm sure, so I slid down the bank climbed the tree and from below sort of piggy backed the sheep up and out of the tree by this time I was exhausted and sweating the walk and wrestling the sheep with the waders and extra clothes had taken it's toll . The sheep could not walk it had been hanging in the tree so long its back legs must have been numb I took my coat off pulled my waders off my shoulders and lay catching my breath .The sheep was sort of half walking away I swear it kept looking at me as if I had done something instead of saving it's life .
So the picture is the sheep's walking off dragging its back legs looking over it's shoulder bleating at me I'm laid with my waders half down out of breath sweating ............. then this bloke appears walking his dog , not one person on our previous visits middle of no where ''typical'' . He looks at me then looks at the sheep and without saying a word he's made his mind up what I've been up to and to be honest I would of thought the same .
I will never forget his face his look of disgust .
I tell this story totally fact I often wonder if he tells the tale of lad and the sheep too , by the side of a little river in Scotland ...... but very slightly different 
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All went well , we found a nice quiet pub and then in the dark managed somehow to find the little lane that led down to the farm , we parked in the lane just a few yards from the farm yard to catch a few hours sleep .
I did not know what cold was until that night, the sky was clear every star could be seen and we sat unable to sleep . The first rays of light came as a relief . So we slipped our waders on and what clothes we had in some attempt to keep the chill out , the waders were the old kind thick rubber chest waders not the lighter modern ones .
So off we set dropping the money through the farmers letterbox on our way to the river , it was about half a mile walk down the fields to the river it was a cold , cold morning. We reached the river and left my first friend at the first glide , I stopped at the second pool my other mate decided he would walk further, more in an attempt to stay warm rather than in the hope of finding more fishy haunts .
An hour passed and reaching the bottom of the pool I decided to have a walk.
I passed my mate who hardly spoke, in fact I'm sure the cold effected his brain in some way he has never been the same since and from being one of the keenest amongst us to fish he shortly after gave up completely
The next thing was at last a fish a small Grayling . My mates came down and said they would walk down to the other end of the stretch , I had had my first fish and thought a few more could be on the cards so I said I would join them later, so off they went .
After ten minutes I lost what felt a good fish , by this time I was stood mid river on an Island fishing the inside line under some trees which hung down from a steep bank . Then I noticed the trees shake I carried on with one eye now on the trees and it shook again I peered into the area but could not see anything, it shook again the noise was of something large , I picked up a stone from the island and lobbed it in the tree under arm thinking some large bird or some animal would run out instead the tree shook this time more I was a bit taken aback so I waded out towards it . I looked in but could still see nothing thinking back if it had happened now I may not have carried on but I was intrigued .
Using the end of my rod I poked in and tried to move back the branches the thing making the noise was a sheep it had fallen down the bank and it was stuck in the fork of two branches .
I was young and stuck in the middle of no where ,the only people I saw when we had fished the river before were the anglers with me . So back up the hill to the farm by this time the morning chill had started to wear off with the walk I knocked on the farm door told the farmer who looked at me and said ''can you not get it out'' It's half way up a tree I said , Ah well leave it he said
I was gob smacked and made my way back down the hill by this time I had decided to have a go at moving it, my mates were at the other end of the river so I was on my own .
Back at the tree I tried to climb down , the bloody thing tried to bite me I'm sure, so I slid down the bank climbed the tree and from below sort of piggy backed the sheep up and out of the tree by this time I was exhausted and sweating the walk and wrestling the sheep with the waders and extra clothes had taken it's toll . The sheep could not walk it had been hanging in the tree so long its back legs must have been numb I took my coat off pulled my waders off my shoulders and lay catching my breath .The sheep was sort of half walking away I swear it kept looking at me as if I had done something instead of saving it's life .
So the picture is the sheep's walking off dragging its back legs looking over it's shoulder bleating at me I'm laid with my waders half down out of breath sweating ............. then this bloke appears walking his dog , not one person on our previous visits middle of no where ''typical'' . He looks at me then looks at the sheep and without saying a word he's made his mind up what I've been up to and to be honest I would of thought the same .
I will never forget his face his look of disgust .
I tell this story totally fact I often wonder if he tells the tale of lad and the sheep too , by the side of a little river in Scotland ...... but very slightly different
2 comments:
Very very Funny, nice one Tony,I think I've heard it all now.:)
Totally true and it still brings a smile to my face when I think about it the blokes face was a picture
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