MiddleEastland

If you chucked a couple of hundred billion at tidal power you could have the nicest, most environmentally friendly barrage ever. I am well aware of the objections, was trying to make that clear. Just needs the political and social will to commit the research personnel and funds necessary. It was done for nuclear, which was all sexy and cutting edge 50-60 years. The Ameicans, UK, Germany, Japan, France, et alia, rushed into what they thought ws going to be the future and spent hundreds of billions collectively. Nuclear is a very, very expensive dead end. Only the French don't seem to have realised, mainly because they are in a very deep hole, and can't stop digging. The rest of the world gave up years ago. Alternatively let's research scrubbing the CO2, NO2, SO2 out of the smokestacks.

The potential for tidal power is phenomenal around the UK. Thames Estuary, Humber, Moray, Pentland, Menai straights, Bristol channel. Even a 10th of the billions spent on nuclear research would provide cheap energy, with all the environmental credentials, largely invisible. 3 Mile Island and Chernobyl were not accidents of nature! The current generation of EPR nuke like the French are building at Flammeville, is already 20 years late, probably 20 years from working, EUR10billion overbudget. That is why it's owners EdF pulled out of the contract to build new nuclear plants in the UK. They are effectively bankrupt!

The French make a type of sausage out of the hard end of a pig's gut (chitterlings?). Andouillette it is called. It is absolutely disgusting to smell. I have never ever eaten it deliberately, and I eat absolute anything! Bream and poisson chats go totally mental over it.

France and nuclear energy is a very, very vaguely spoken about subject. Like the costs of any French Govn projects! 850 LeClerc tanks, only 83 working on Bastille Day. Nuclear aircraft carriers that has that took 20 years to travel under it's own power. Entire airforce grounded for 3 months, because of software viruses. When it comes self promotion they are A1* class. However, I lived and worked in France for many years. My wife is French.........well Breton. My children are French. I am a Financial Analyst by profession, I love these sort of things. Attached is the Cour de Comptes report on the true cost of France's nuclear power, from 2012, they are the same as the UK Audit Office. They are the only part of the French Govn that I would trust! http://www.environmental-auditing.org/Portals/0/AuditFiles/France_f_eng_Costs-of-the-Nuclear-Sector.pdf Bizarrely it is in English! Total cost per MegaWatt generated is calculated at EUR77. The cost(including all construction, maintenance, rents, and subsidies...everything possible) for wind is EUR43.7. The CdeC also make the point that their figures do not dicommissioning, as that is unknown. However, the UK is paying GBP110billion for 8 plants. Multiply that out for the 58 French plants....EUR960billion(the same as the entire UK National Debt)...........making the cost per MegaWatt now EUR385...............still think wind is expensive!! They also calculate the cost of a Fukashima scale accident as EUR7.5trillion. That is twice the annual GDP of the EU, 5 times that of France. Still think nuclear is cheap?!

Ablettes. I always had problems with poisson chats, could never feed them off, or get through them with roach sized baits. Think of PCs as half to one pound bleak/minnows. On the bottom, up in the water, I reckon even if you suspended the bait 20cm above the water they'd still have it. You get to really hate them. Good luck!

Ermmmm. Surprised you found any!! I presume you're in France Profonde surrounded by 80year old in-breds. Anywhere else you'll be knee deep in brown, and green. Have a look behind the local bus station, or graveyard, you'll find tonnes of spliff ends, and needles. UK has it's coke problem. France is the cannabis and heroin capital. Try cous cous as well, flavours well, makes perfect micro pellets. Add Nutella for breme.

By bread, I mean the pain miel stuff sold in bags. Bit like UK bread, but has honey added. Forget the boulangarie stuff. That's OK as an offensive weapon after 12 hours, but useless on a hook for fishing.

Yep, was in Newbury, then Bordeaux, now Wantage, but working in Newbury. You can also throw Barcelona, Leverkusen, Brittany into the mix as previous homes. The missis' family are from Brittany. Every Depatment and Region has their own official peche website, with the regulations, permits, tips, boncoin(loosely means a good fishing spot), links, etc. http://www.federation-peche-vendee.fr/ Most communes will have a plan d'eau, get a ticket from the Mairie. Check opening times! Rivers are free where you can reach the water. Lakes are free, if a stream flows in and out of the lake. You can cross private land to reach the lake or river, and 1.5m from the water's edge is public land. (I sometimes wonder if the Brit carp lake owners realise this!). You can take the fish for the pot, as many as you want. There are exceptions but in the Vendee they won't worry you. The police de chasse are armed, have zero sense of humour and a massive sense of their own importance. Buy a permit, they are expensive, but do it! Bait. Astracots are maggots, available in hypermarket. Very expensive, seems like you get 10 maggots for 1EUR! Bread, sweetcorn, and any other supermarket bait will catch. I aways caught well on the big L'Isle and Dordodge rivers on bread, and sweetcorn. Poisson Chats, barbel, carp, chub. Big feeder, near any type of feature you can find. The French canalised all their lower rivers to death, so look for any type of feature whatsoever. Best fish was a 55lb carp from the Dordogne, on stale croissant groundbait, and bread on the hook. We also have a holiday home in Creuse. Where the fishing is wild river trout and predators in the lakes.

The missis is French, and a french teacher when she was in France. We lived there for more than a few years. This stuff is a bit like semi-literate textspeak! Not a fan of the French education system and it's failings, this set her off on a rant. After 5 minutes of Daily Mail reader type moaning about the standard of education, etc, we got down to business. Duilles. He can't spell, it should be douilles. He doesn't say what sort of fish, but they're "handsized". Bec. I got this one wrong! Missis spoke to her dad. It's a SMALL pike! Blacks. Yep, black bass. Bars. Generic for bass (plurel) Any one who moans about the British education system, sorry, the French system is a million times worse. Hence why we moved back to the UK. I guess you've looked at the Peche 85 site. I used this site a lot in the past. http://www.jcpoiret.com/ A tout alors

duilles are snap connecting tools, for example in a socket set. Maybe a bit of fishing kit? Gros becs. At the bottom of a letter means hugs and kisses! I've also heard it used for big brochet. Bar. Is bass, presume bars is the plurel. If you post the website, I'll double check what the context is. Gros becs (!) A bientot

Which Department/Region (bit like a county/area)? Makes a lot of difference. I'll dig out the frog site, and translate.

Sorry. Carpeaux are just baby carp. Normally there is a lot of confusion regarding fishing terms in our house. She knows the French, from her dad. I know the English. this time we 100% agree. Personally, I'd take a rod and reel. Simple stuff on the hook, they ain't clever (french fish) bit like the missus. But, they do fight like mad (bit like the missus). A bientot

March crossing Portsmouth-Le Havre, Return Car+4 passengers....GBP122.00 Via Michelin says 2hrs 45mins to Mayenne. EUR15 tolls + EUR20 fuel Gite, sleeps 10....EUR360.00(total cost)............about GBP325.00 10 acres of land. Even has some lakes for fishing! Says ideal for anglers. Not sure about the piano http://www.clevacances.com/FR/location-vac...05353MS005.html Works out GBP68.00 for the week for 10 people. (Plus food, fags, beer, bait, licence) I assume there is a McDo in Mayanne otherwise pizza emporter and kebabs. You'll have to believe me when I say France is the fast food capital of the world these days! (Apparently McDonalds biggest market after the US.) The missus is happy to do all the local lingo stuff...........she is French, and most of her (huge) family live in that area. Anyone want a lift from anywhere from Oxford, down the A34, we can take 2 LHD drive cars between, probably departing Wantage.

Definitely count me in, though we'll be resident in the UK by then, but I don't like sitting in a tent waiting, and waiting, and waiting. I'll just do the river bit. Probably only an hours drive from the belle-mere. Best travel deal will be LD Lines. Portsmouth-Le havre. Probably about 50squid each way, car+2. We do that route 4-5 times a year.

The missus is from Rennes, so I do know the area further west better where all her family live. I have been to Ambrieres-les-Vallees I have a job where my employer moves me to different countries every 2/3/4 years. Currently working in Bordeaux, living in Libourne 33500, so I fish the L'Isle (2 min walk) and Dordogne (2 min drive) mainly. Standard tactics are, fill the biggest feeder you can find, with as much groundbait as you can, and launch it as far as you can, usually around bridges or weirs. Sweetcorn on the hook. Carp, breme, barbel, PCs, and ablettes (I think that's roach). I use a Drennan S7 Carp Feeder rod, with 10lb line, landed cxarpe to 38lb, but been snapped off loads of time. My mate Ronan, who fishes anglais style, but doesn't speak a word of english, reckons there are cats in the rivers over 125Kg. Ugly, horrid things. Glad they take the hooklength, not interested in landing one. I'm being moved to the Uk at the end of the summer . Hopefully will cheer the missus up. She hates France, and everything French, with the exception of her family. I find it bizarre listening to someone talking like a character from Allo Allo, moaning about her own country non-stop

I'd bet the Varenne is a Cat1 river, most of the Loire bassin rivers are Cat1, because of the Saumon. Loose feed maggot is illegal, plus you'll get the poissonchats, fun, but soon gets tedious. I'd stick to sweetcorn, try pain miel, on the hook, and mashed french c*ap as feed. I'd also try worms. I'd look for shade. Lilies, trees, etc. Worth checking on GoogleEarth for any weirs! Float would be nice. Not very practical round here on the heavily canalised 200-300m wide rivers. How's the water level. We've had virtually no rain for months and months!! If I'm going anywhere strange I use the JC Poiret forum, also check with the local AAPPMA. A bientot

The missus' family are about 1/2 hour west of Le Mans. I'll bring my gear when we visit in August!! From having to spent every Revellion there for 20years, I'll vouch it's bl**dy cold in winter! PS Budgie, SeaFrance is insolvent, under le revue judiciale, they won't see out the year.

Many thanks for all the replies. Obviously not as bad as I feared! As a married man, I don't really get a vote on where we live, which house we buy, etc. Any opinion requested, merely requires agreement with her opinion . She hates Newbury........we have lived there before. Too many of her fellow countrymen/women. One thing we do agree on..............resally looking forward to getting back to the UK. Hasta lluego

Hi I am being transferred back to Newbury from Bordeaux. My dearly bewildered has been looking at houses..................... She's from a small rural town in Brittany, and likes the look of Wantage. Now, it's on chalk, so no water, and therefore no fishing that I can find. I'm looking for rivers mainly. Hopefully smaller than the Dordogne, or Isle, but not that fussy. What is there around Wantage? (We lived in Barcelona for 3 years, where there is NO freshwater, apart from the Llobregat, that was absolute torture, pleaqse tell me Wantage is better ) A bientot

Always worth checking these sort of stories with these guys. Can be most enlightening, particularly if you're married to a foreigner, like me.................... http://tabloid-watch.blogspot.com/2010/03/...swans-cont.html

They are there, certainly not worth targeting specifically though! In the summer I had one about 5lb where the tree trunk was until recently, and again last weekend. The same fish? Had a bigger one out the weirpool in Autumn, and also nearer to the LS&B my mate and I had a few, including a double.........for him! Not giving too many details on that spot, people fishing have seen me land the other fish, so no point in playing secret squirrel about them. Feeding hemp, and fishing caster, on a float seemed to work in the summer, just before dark, and picks up a few chub........and millions of gudgeon!

TeeHee. They got a 59 Reg Porsche yesterday. Just gaily followed the taxi, and..............CRUNCH. The blonde+car are now 2 foot the ground. I walk everywhere, doesn't bother me.

Only been back in the country 18 months. Just finding my way around the Newbury rivers, and.........I'm being moved. Montpellier. At least the Catalan I learnt in Barcelona will come in handy, and the missus being French! I never really bothered learning French. Might have to talk to the MiL then! I need to start researching where we are going to live, which will pretty well be governed by fishing availability. Info/links are therefore requested on Herault (34). Anyone lived there, holidayed there?

It is true, to a degree Rusty. Until I had a few health problems, I used to race yachts at World/European/National level. In fact my log-on is the boat in which I won my last Worlds in 2003. At that level, you don't wear shorts and teeshirts. You have: A) a Drysuit, which is a totally waterproof suit, built in feet, sealed at the neck, and wrists. And you don't get wet. 3mm wetsuits, stops wind chill and protects against sharp boat bits. They trap a layer of water between the suit and the skin, which warms up. Requires you to be continuly active though, or the wind chill soon leeches out the heat. C) a Steamer, a halfway house, 5mm neoprene. I hated them, a Drysuit that was designed to leak seemed stupid to me. Surfers use them though, because of the knock protection and bouyancy they provide. So, the theory is correct, but in practice you'll feel the cold, unless you go for a jog every 15minutes or so! I'd guess your gloves will 3-5mm Neoprene, which should be a waterproof, to direct contact with water, but probably leaks through the wrists, etc. You could try using thin Lycra gloves inside, we used leggings and teeshirts for this stuff to protect against nappy rash. Try wearing a wetsuit for a week! Added benefit of an extra base layer.

Can't help you with the parking, it's a 10 minute walk for me, and I'm a taxpayer Bayer House multistorey is free parking Sat/Sun, and if you can get there early, Old Bath Road is free. In both cases you would walk through Goldwell Park, 5-10 mins max. Been getting some barbel and chub, 3/4/5lb, out that swim with the tree trunk. Fished with work colleague who's a big barbel angler further downstream, near the LS&B, on Sunday afternoon. I had 2 barbel, biggest was 4lb, but he had 6, biggest was 8lb, and it's still free there. Parking's a problem, even more expensive, as it's near to the centre of town Still 10 minute walk for me.