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CBTR book review – The Pull of the River by Matt Gaw

11 Wednesday Apr 2018

Posted by The tuesday swim in General

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book, by, caught, gaw, matt, pull, review, river, the

The Pull of the River begins with the completion of Matt Gaw’s canoe by his travelling companion, James. It is named ‘Pipe’, a nod to Roger Deakin and his recording Cigarette on the Waveney, a journey by canoe. It is the Waveney where Matt and James begin their year-long adventure. The narrative is rich as they meander through each chapter, using historical references, folklore and first-hand observations to form a bountiful account of each river.

The canoe is like no other means of transport: it is silent, unobtrusive, and it offers the passenger time and space to observe and contemplate. Matt Gaw understands this. His canoe drifts silently into a scene, it passes through, the song of the paddle is slight, and the contemplative world is easily reached.

Roger Deakin’s voice echoes throughout the book, especially during the eastern adventures; his words drift in at opportune moments, offering snippets of poetry and advice. Gaw writes on Cigarette on the Waveney:

I listened again and again, soaking up his words, as well as the moments where he lets the river talk. Some of the most evocative parts of the recording are simply the sound of water under the canoe, chuckling drip of dipped paddles as Deakin eased himself into a hidden, more contemplative world.

The Pull of the River is a journey into the soul. The power of the water is a constant flex on the spirit – be it a storm brewing off the shore of Loch Ness or a riffle on the River Lark, there is fear and there is calm. On the final leg of the Stour, marooned on a salt marsh due to a strong tide, the pair are fearful. The only escape route will take them across mudflats, their other option being to return to the turbulent water of the estuary. They regain their composure and take the later option, and not only survive, but start to flourish in this watery world.

In the chapter ‘Alone on the Water’ Matt Gaw observes the re-wilding of the river Otter. This time he paddles solo, and the experience is wholly different. He seeks  out the newly introduced beaver, and one evening is rewarded with a sighting.

Little by little, the author is synchronised with the river and the world around it. The river and the canoeist through osmosis are kindred.

Before the final chapter, where Gaw tackles the wilds of Scotland and Loch Ness, he takes a contemplative trip to his childhood river the Colne. It’s a telling tale – a river his father knew well – but The Pull of the River does not dwell on looking back. At heart, it is a book which encourages its readers to live in the present: to contemplate, to explore, to be lost, to lose control and to regain it again.

*

The Pull of the River is out now and available here, priced £14.99.

Nick Fallowfield-Cooper is a photographer, picture editor for Fallon’s Angler, and keen canoeist.

 

George Orwell – Coming Up For Air.

24 Tuesday Sep 2013

Posted by The tuesday swim in Reading

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Tags

air, angling, book, carp, coming, fishing, for, george, literature, orwell, up

As last winter continued on into spring this years reading time was prolonged as the urge to get out was limited to some pretty miserable weather. On the one occasion that I did fight through the driving wind, rain and leaden skies was to make it down to Spitalfields Antique Market on a thursday in late April to see my friend John Andrews and his excellent stall of fishing tackle for the soul. Over a cup of tea the conversation drifted into books and my urge to read some Orwell. John mentioned that I should read Coming up for Air, a slightly more obscure book but had the added bonus of some very well written passages on his childhood obsession with fishing. So after a quick hunt around the market and then back home to the internet I finally found myself a secondhand copy for a few quid. Straight away I got stuck into the book and then something happened…we had a summer and the book got placed out of harms way high on a bookshelf.

Coming up for Air

Only now in late September has the summer truly ended, the evenings have moved back indoors. So while I was looking for something to read I came across Coming Up For Air once again and immediately got stuck into this absorbing book. Orwell has an un-laboured way of writing which is very easy to read, he is able to conjure up vivid detailed scenes full of mood and atmosphere.

George Bowling, the main character in this book looks back at his childhood and recounts his memories of fishing at the turn of the twentieth century, then as adulthood beckons for George so does the great war. After surviving the war, George moves from job to job and finds himself  middle age, over weight and astray. He realises he has lost something that he can’t get back, a sense of freedom, something he only had when he was a boy, doing boys things like robbing birds nests, playing conker’s, larking about and fishing. So George decides to….

Well if you want to know what happens I suggest you read the book, suffice to say that there is enough about fishing in this book to be placed on the bookshelf alongside angling classics such as BB et al. Here is a little extract from the book…

‘One afternoon the fish weren’t biting and I began to explore at the end of the pool furthest from Binfield House. There was a bit of an overflow of water and the ground was boggy, and you had to fight your way through a sort of jungle of blackberry bushes and rotten boughs that had fallen off the trees. I struggled through it for about fifty yards, and then suddenly there was a clearing and I came to another pool which I had never know exsisted. It was a small pool not more than twenty yards wide, and rather dark because of the boughs that overhung it. But it was very clear water and immensely deep. I could see ten or fifteen feet down into it. I hung about a bit , enjoying the dampness and the rotten boggy smell, the way a boy does. And then I saw something that almost made me jump out of my skin.’

‘It was an enormous fish. I don’t exaggerate when I say it was enormous. It was almost the length of my arm. It glided across the pool, deep under water, and then became a shadow and disappeared into the darker water on the other side. I felt as if a sword had gone through me. It was far the biggest fish I had ever seen dead or alive. I stood there without breathing, and in a moment another huge thick shape glided through the water, and then another and then two more close together. The pool was full of them. They were carp I suppose’

My second hand copy has the inscription on the inside cover ‘Jonty, Happy unemployment, Love Liz & Annette. June 1982’ and slotted in the middle of the book is an old train ticket from 1996. Perhaps Jonty was also in search of something, maybe a lost carp pool hidden in deepest Surrey somewhere along the Bookham to Horsley line? It just took him fourteen years to get around to looking for it.

Fishing & Flying.

14 Wednesday Nov 2012

Posted by The tuesday swim in Reading

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Tags

and, angling, author, book, F, fishing, flying, horsley, pilot, T, terence, Tunnicliffe, war two, word

Currently there appears to be a trend for publishers to fill the market with angling liturature written by anglers who like to tread in the hallowed steps of anglers/writers like Yates, Walker, Venables etc etc. These books on first inspection can be beautifully produced, normally with some very fine photography and illustrations but when one starts to read these books I get bored very quickly.  These fishy tales seems to come from a very familiar yarn of searching for lost ponds and time spent pouring tea and eating cake while slagging off the ‘bivvy brigade’ (an easy target if there was ever one to have a go at!) and talk of a bygone era that has never been experienced first hand, these books never seem to have a direction they just meander just like the rivers they fish. Also these authors tend to run out of steam quite quickly so the final few chapters have the presence of the publishers cracking the whip to get the book finished in time for the ‘launch’ so a moribund account of angling tales conclude these titles. Then you have the launch, men queueing up to a get as many limited editions copies signed ready to load up onto the Bay of E!

There are some great current angling writers out there at present, Chris Yates’s almost child-like and enthusiastic view of the world and angling to crafted literature like Luke Jenning’s ‘Bloodknots’ and John Andrew’s ‘For Those Left behind’. Luke’s book is a real page turner due to the intreguing plot and characters while John’s book has a far more personal touch but both of these books have been written with care, time has been spent, each sentence  has been considered very carefully, these are not rushed books. I think this is why we are still waiting for another book from both of these authors! Another good ‘page turner’ that springs to mind is Jon Berry’s ‘Benneath the Black Water’ which takes the reader along a journey of obsession with catching ferox trout at the expense of his personal relationships and the financial demands. Jon has written some other books and I have heard good things but I have not yet got around to reading them. Dexter Petley is another fantastic author who has penned many books but has only really touched on angling with articles for Waterlog magazine (when Waterlog was a credible publication). I wish Dexter would write some more on angling, his pieces on fishing the Walthamstow reservoirs in the 1980’s are as dark and brooding and the reservoirs themselves…superb.

There is an antidote to the ‘fruit cake’ authors as I like to call them by tracking down angling liturature from the era that most of my old fishing tackle comes from, the pre and post second world war era. One such book is Fishing and Flying by Terence Horsley with illustrations by T F Tunnicliffe.

Fishing and Flying starts off with a whirlwind tour of Britain in the air from the cockpit of his Spitfire, yes Terence is a World War II pilot and a keen fisher especially for sea trout at night. Every page is rich with descriptions of his experiences in the air, by the river or simply his encounters with people like the poacher in the local pub over a pint. At this time of year a good pile of books is required for fireside reading, there are plenty of books out there at present that can be used to feed the fire, I hope to list some books here over the next few months that are good to read!

Fishing the Hackney Marshes in 1877…

24 Saturday Sep 2011

Posted by The tuesday swim in Reading

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1877, angle, angling, blakey, book, fishing, groom, hackney, horse, how, lea, london, marsh, marshes, river, robert, victorian, White

Here is an extract from ‘Angling’ or ‘How to angle and where to go’ by Robert Blakey from 1877.

‘The White Horse, Hackney Marsh, is a locality much frequented. The liberty of fishing here is let out either by the year, or by the day. The subscription for the season is ten shillings and sixpence; this includes the right of trolling  for trout or jack. One shilling is the charge for a day’s sport, including fly fishing  and bottom fishing, but not trolling. There are great numbers of fish here; and some capital sport is occasionally obtained.’

‘The Horse & Groom, at Lea Bridge, is a very old angling station, having been used as such for upwards of a century. The angler has here the liberty of two miles of water on each side of the house; and the terms are precisely the same as at the White Horse. The fish are commonly more numerous here than on any other portion of the river, chiefly on account of the locks being here, and the fish can ascend no further unless a passage be opened out for them. Sometimes the fish may be seen in immense shoals about the vicinity of the locks, and may readily be taken by even lowering naked hooks amongst them. Trout of twelve, pike of twenty-five ,barbel of nine, and chub of four pounds, have been taken out of the Lea in this locality.’

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I find it difficult writing about the process of catching a fish, but this story had another layer worth sharing. Fallons Angler issue 26 out now - in the company of Britains finest angling writers #fallonsangler #tench #tenchfishing #sevenpoundtench
Pond Life
Back to the hammock
Oh joy! Seeing an old friend is great but after Adam just discovered he won Best Show Garden at RHS Chelsea 2022 was priceless. Adam looked down at the artificial stream in the Rewilding British Landscape Garden and said ‘so good, you could cast a fly into it.’ It was. Adam I hope we cast a fly soon, lovely to see an old Sussex boy.
Can never pass Ditchling Beacon without taking a stroll. #ditchlingbeacon
Another film done - Gritstone and Galena link in bio
Fallons’s Angler have promised to do a film up north, delayed over the last two years we finally met up with Graham Vasey on the Tees and soaked up the atmosphere while Graham trotted for the grayling. @will_memotone dropped the perfect notes over the top. The film will be out tomorrow at 4.00pm (25th march) on the Fallons’s Angler YouTube channel
Another Fallon’s Angler trip done, the epic Tees, a unique pub with the atmosphere of a forgotten front room and good fishing. Our new northern adventure coming soon… #kirkhead #teesgrayling #fishingfilm #fallonsangler #teesdale #canonc100 #trottingthefloat #traditionalangling #wadingtheriver #durhamfishing
Finally made it to the Tees, filming starts in an hour #fallonsangler #fishingfilms #grayling
Packing the camera kit for the Pennines - A Fallon’s Angler film coming next month. Waterproofs, waders and binoculars at the ready. #anglingfilms #fallonsangler #graylingfishing #rivertees #pennines #fishingfilms
It’s hard clearing the last few items from my parents house, some items I’m familiar with like the tobacco tin full of drills, others are not so, like the stamped coat hangers found in my father’s wardrobe, coat hangers ‘pinched’ over a lifetime, London, Bristol, Scotland - stories now lost.
Goodbye 2021, it has been one to remember #neighbourhood
The sun did return in spectacular fashion #wintersolstice
Snuck out Friday for a pre lockdown chub, the healing qualities of a fish is fathomless #chubfishing #mentalhealth

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