The Bellart

It did rain in the night and I arose at one point and stuck my head out the door - I could hear the gurgle of the nearest burn through the darkness. It sounded good.

But for some reason I was not up as early as I might have been - back in the old halcyon days when I'd be out searching in  the driving rain with a torch for worms.

The water in the river was definitely raised - it probably dropped a foot while I was making my way up and down the three mile beat. And I had it to myself.

The sun came out and it was a beautiful day. The going is rough to very rough (see here on Google earth - although the river doesn't show up on Google maps for some reason) with lots of overgrown ditches coming out of the surrounding forestry. The beat flows slowly at the seaward end and then speeds up towards the open valley.

Sea trout are incomparably beautiful fish and have a more subtle flavour than the salmon.  They are also known for their wariness and tend to move about the river only as darkness falls. Hence the need for a good spate and the water to be coloured up by peat.

It was a lovely day with a high sky and hardly any wind and again, most gratifyingly, no midges.  It would have been nice to share the experience but there is also something about being on your lonesome by a river with all that intention and focus that is like nothing else.