(Continuing SWMBO’s dedicated shop ’til you drop trip to Britain..)
Beresford Dale is forever associated with Izaak Walton and Charles Cotton and that 17th century classic, The Compleat Angler or the “Contemplative Man’s Recreation Being a Discourse of Fish and Fishing”.
As indicated in the images, during our visit the tourists strolling up the valley had destroyed any chance for the anglers, yet this was outside of the tourist season. So heaven knows how they cope during the high summer season. From polaroid spotting along the banks the biggest brown trout sighted might even have been as large as 1 pound.
But what impressed us, almost justified the trip, was the sight of tourists having fun using ancient stepping stones to cross the river. These are common in many shallow rivers throughout the UK and have been used for centuries. (Why have they never been used in NZ?)
The celebrated fishing temple, a secular shrine for all anglers, still stands by the river. Cotton built it in 1674, a single roomed stone building with his monogram entwined with Walton’s over the door. The fishing temple is a memorial to a noble friendship.
The literary memorial is, of course, The Compleat Angler. It was first published by Walton alone in 1653 to the fifth edition in 1676.
A copy is available for your perusal at TRM.
Izaak Walton & Charles Cotton established the Dove’s reputation as the favourite haunt of anglers, particularly for trout fishing, and that continues to this day with most of the well-known hotels providing angling facilities for guests, and some of the fishing rights owned by the nearby Izaak Walton Hotel.
Many of the weirs across the river were built to increase the feeding area for trout and grayling, and so improve the fishing, and the river also once powered several mills.
Beresford Dale is a beautiful part of the Dove valley. As one approaches it from the Hartington end, a scene of natural rural beauty enfolds as one is led beside the glistering waters which break over little weirs. It is well wooded and wildflowers grow in profusion down to the waters edge.
Now anglers have to give way to tourists, as it is now more popular as a rural walking track, as indicated in the images.
Meanwhile back to the mighty Tongariro:
First a nice brace of fresh Tongariro trout landed in the Braids this morning by Mike Hughes and returned to TRM before SWMBO had even woken up – She claims She is still getting over jet lag. The solid brown hen weighed in at over 3 kg (about six and a half in English).
Now a private [Security classification: restricted] message to Stuart, Eric, Graham, Mark, John, and other TRT schemers – you know who you are…
Take special note of these stepping stones below.
This is what we should do on the TRT [go to Tongarirorivertrail.co.nz] Tongariro side streams and tributaries.
How simple.
More trout friendly.
More tourist friendly.
More environmentally appropriate.
Easier than bridging.
Quicker to install. Much much cheaper.
No maintenance.
No resource consents [?].
What fun…