the fly fishing hunger

there was many ways i could have got up to pike adventure land but as i was on a budget i decided to go via new york city and catch the train from there up to pike adventures land , the reason for this is that i have been to new york many times and the flights are cheap and i know my way around so i opted for this route so i started my journey from Edinburgh catching the early train to London from there its a short hop to London heathrow via the tube and then onto the plane

total miles so far

Edinburgh to London heathrow

408 miles

London heathrow to Newark liberty airport

3.453 miles

touchdown

after an uneventful flight and some surprisingly good food from continental and a few great movies (the book of eli awesome film ) i touched down and cleared customs then went and caught the bus into Manhattan i had to take a quick picture of a yellow cab for my son he insisted

a flea pit awaits
i apologise in advance if your from new york but every time i go back it gets worse i mean not only did i have to fork out stoopid dollars for a roach infested hotel room with no windows the Continental breakfast i was offered involved me walking down the street to bloody subway where i was presented with a bit of toast but at least the coffee was good , i returned to bug central and picked up my bags and left , i was no sooner out the hotel door when i had some big African coming up to me offering me skunk at 7.30 in the morning , it has to be said that i left the chap a little confused when i said "although i really appreciated the offer i would have to turn him down as UK border laws prohibit me from importing live animals to the UK , i walked off leaving him scratching his head

Amtrak rocks

without doubt if you are traveling great distances via train then comfort is something you really need and Amtrak provided just that plenty of legroom big seats that recline bloody hell after traveling on the east coast mainline in the UK i felt like i was traveling business class this leg of the journey was quite long taking nearly 10 hours so i really did appreciate the creature comforts and the food was pretty good as well

so long new york

the Manhattan skyline departed into the distance and made a great view although by this time i was thinking stripers in the Hudson river and to be quite honest i was glad to see the back of it , while i was thinking of getting the train i realised although it was a long journey i was going to be traveling through the states of new york , Massachusetts , Connecticut and Vermont and let me tell you that on a train journey of 10 hours that's a hell of a lot of water to rumble past and what could be better for an angler than tons of water to droll at

born in the USA

an all American cheese burger and coffee "large"

and all this and a Hershey bar for around 5 dollars you cant go wrong and it tasted fantastic not like the rubbish you get on UK trains

right I'm telling you now i was feckin scared going through Massachusetts i kid you not the whole state looked like the Blair witch project look at the picture below its a skull by the track yes a feckin skull get me outta here

however I'm sure its a lovely state with plenty of good fishing but i was very creep ed out

mighty American rivers

the Connecticut river is massive i travelled along it for at least an hour before i lost sight of it if you look closer you can see a boat in the middle, along its length i saw numerous anglers chucking lumps of plastic no fly anglers though but what a sight this river is simply stunning

so 10 hours later i exit the train at st albans in Vermont and i felt most relaxed it really didn't feel like i had travelled that far and i arrived refreshed and ready to go

i was picked up by Mr pike adventure himself ken capsey in his massive truck and was given a big can of energy drink and some beef jerky to fire me up i was really so ready to get a rod in the hand and get casting some fluff this would have to wait till the morning though as it was time for a drink and a catch up at pike adventure towers

total miles travelled

4.726

fun to be had with ken

off the scale

see ya tomorrow for day one

mcfluffchucker

(a cave in Scotland)