Most gorgeous start to spring since we were first locked down in the pandemic?

I haven’t seen a single cloud in the sky for a few days now and it’s just incredible. I can’t pretend that I like this weather that much for my open coast fishing especially - flat calm seas, very clear water etc. - but how on earth can I complain when you get a weekend like we have just had down here in Cornwall? I am at my desk right now on Monday morning and the sun is streaming in so much I have had to pull the blind halfway down my office window to be able to see this computer screen. To be able to call this glorious part of the world our home when it’s like this outside is a privilege I will never, ever take for granted……………..

Have we had a more gorgeous start to spring since we were ordered to stay at home on the evening of March 23rd 2020? Whilst those mad times in some respects feel like an alternative universe now, I distinctly remember stepping out of our front door every single morning for a good few weeks and seeing uninterrupted blue skies. We were up on the north coast seeing my mum yesterday, and I got my wife to drop me off near Trevone so I could run the coast path to Padstow. Storm, my eldest daughter and I ran along the coastline with flat calm seas to our left and the sounds of the skylarks above us as the perfect intoxicant to keep us going in somewhat warmer weather than I have run for a while. I will never be an athlete, but damn that run felt good.

A cloud in the sky!

I take any weather forecast with a pinch of salt, but the (free) XCWeather app I use on my iPhone for the wind isn’t suggesting a change of direction until next Sunday when I am taking my youngest girl up to the Newport half-marathon. She is desperate to train for and run a full marathon now that she is 18, and whilst I know she could do it - she does a 20k run for “fun” most weekends plus loads more in the week - a running coach I know advised that she holds off until she is a bit older and has got through her A-Levels and so on. I really wanted to try and run my own half-marathon along the Camel Trail before Christmas, but tight hamstrings are an issue I am having to manage and I can’t really go beyond 10k at the moment. I still can’t quite believe any of this is actually possible!

And still one of my primary motivations when I am running and perhaps not feeling the love that particular day is my fishing. Obviously I could do without having another severe heart attack because I don’t know if I could possibly be so lucky the second time around, but when I am running I am usually thinking about fishing anyway. The fitter and stronger I am, the more ground I can effectively cover for my fishing. I am not out and about much at the moment while this weather is so incredible, but at I can crack on with my work and marvel at the sheer beauty of the world on my dog walks and runs. Many moons ago I made the decision to choose where I live over where I might work, and I will always count myself very fortunate that my work within fishing continues to contribute towards us living where we do. Because we love it…………..