Fishing
Sea and freshwater. Mackerel off the Pembrokeshire rocks, a line off Portland Bill, and wild trout on Highland burns.
- Favourite marks: Porthgain, Abereiddy, Portland
- Trout for tea is the goal of every fishery weekend
Croeso · Welcome
A bit about me
I live in South Wales, which means the mountains are up the road, the coast is down it, and the weather has an opinion about both. I'm happiest outside, whether that's on a beach in Pembrokeshire, beside a quiet lake with a rod in the water, or on a single-track road in the Highlands with nowhere particular to be.
By day I work in IT, and have done for a long time. Evenings and weekends go on the things on this page: the camper van, the bike, fishing, bushcraft and foraging, and a shack full of radio gear. On the roof there's a weather station whose readings go to the Met Office and other weather organisations.
This site is where I keep it all together. There are links to the things I enjoy, my videos, live weather from the back garden, and now the full log of eight years of travels in our old van, Bluebell.
40+years on motorbikes, since the mid-1980s
2,000+miles ridden across Southern India in 2004
7Scottish road trips in Bluebell, 2015 to 2023
~46,800miles on Bluebell's clock while we kept the log
On the road
Two vans, one habit
For me, a holiday means a van, a full tank and a rough idea of a direction. Our vans have taken us all over Britain, and lately across the Channel too.
Bluebell, the Sunseeker
A 1997 VW T4 Caravelle that started life in Kilkenny and came to us through a dealer in Bridgend. From 2015 to 2023 she took us from Land's End to John o' Groats, out to Harris and Lewis, round Anglesey and up the Norfolk coast.
HT
The high-top Transit
Bluebell's successor is a converted high-top Ford Transit. It has more room to stand up, more space for the fishing kit, and the same idea behind it: go somewhere nice and put the kettle on.
FR
Over to France
The newest chapter: ferries across the Channel and French roads. Tales from those trips will go up here soon.
The Bluebell Log, 2015 to 2023
Every trip in our old T4, written up on the road by my wife: midges, ferries, castles, trout for tea and a few too many dodgy curries. It's eight years of adventures on one page, filterable by year and region.
Two wheels
Motorbikes since the mid-80s
I've been riding motorbikes since the mid-1980s. Along the way I've been an active member of motorcycle clubs, gone to more rallies than I can count, and helped raise money for charity, often from a field in West Wales with a pint in hand.
These days the bike and the van go together. One of us takes the Royal Enfield Himalayan over the hills (the Long Mynd in Shropshire was a highlight) and the other follows in the van with the kettle.
The ride I'll never forget was in 2004: more than 2,000 miles across Southern India. The heat, the traffic and the colour were unlike anything on a Welsh B-road.
The big one · 2004
Southern India by motorbike
- Distance
- 2,000+ mi
- Year
- 2004
- Wheels
- Two
Outdoors
Sea, river and woodland
Most trips are planned around somewhere to fish, somewhere to walk, and somewhere to sit by a fire afterwards.
Bushcraft
Fire-lighting, shelters, spoon carving and cooking outdoors. A tarp in the pines with friends and a brew on the fire is about as good as a weekend gets.
- Tarp, hammock and poncho shelters
- Carving spoons by the fire
Foraging
Hedgerows, shorelines and woodland edges. Free food is out there if you know what you're looking at, and I only pick what I'm sure of.
- Shoreline and hedgerow finds
- Sea glass doesn't count, but we collect that too
On the air
MW6FPL calling
I'm a licensed amateur radio (ham) operator. The van usually has an aerial or two on it, and that has started more campsite conversations than anything else. One morning at Freshwater West, a passer-by stopped because he'd spotted the aerials, and it turned out he was a licensed amateur too.
Portable operating from the van, local club meetings and the odd contact with somewhere far away. It still feels slightly magical.
Weather station
Live from the back garden
My weather station logs temperature, wind, rain, pressure and humidity around the clock. It runs on CumulusMX, and its data goes to the Met Office and other weather organisations. If you want to know whether it's raining in this bit of South Wales, the answer is probably yes. Check the live page to be sure.
Watch
On YouTube
Van trips, odds and ends, and the outdoor channel I watch most.