Chris Yates Bank Tramp

[Shaun Harrison]

I have seen tidier gentlemen sleeping in the park.

This was during the filming at Redmire of A Passion for Angling.



A different shot from a well known scene.

[MaggotDrowner]

Surely the man can afford a tent and camp bed now.

I couldn't do that. I'd feel too exposed and I wouldn't want anyone else seeing me like that either.

[Shaun Harrison]

Good job it wasn't windy, Redmire would have been littered with newspapers.

[The Old Buffer]

Yes the great man is not renowned for taking that much care of his person or for that matter his tackle. I also doubt that housework is top of his agenda.

But all things considered I still like his style.

[Santiago]

I might be wrong and cannot quite tell, but is that an enamel Fisherman's Excuse mug next to him?? I use to have one just like it!

[Shaun Harrison]

Yes the great man is not renowned for taking that much care of his person or for that matter his tackle. I also doubt that housework is top of his agenda.

But all things considered I still like his style.

Me too and housework isn't the most important of things in many peoples lives. My roof and walls are there to keep the worst of the weather at bay and my possessions dry.

A friend of mine wrote this at Christmas...

Last November my girlfriend and I made an impromptu visit to see our friends Chris and Will Yates. There had been talk of fishing, so I brought a rod just in case. As it transpired, mine didn’t leave its tattered moth-eaten bag, and from the comfort of an old armchair, drinking orange pekoe and eating crumpets that oozed butter, I didn’t notice as time evaporated by the fire.
After swapping tales of old and new and in the midst of artwork discussions for Chris’s book ‘The Lost Diary’, it was promptly noted that due to the orange light that was pouring through cobwebbed windows, laces must be tied and steps taken to the outdoors, for if we didn’t venture then, we wouldn’t make a full round of ‘floop’, a Yates tradition.

[Aquaerial]

Surely the man can afford a tent and camp bed now.

I couldn't do that. I'd feel too exposed and I wouldn't want anyone else seeing me like that either.

Interesting..I'm quite the opposite as I prefer to sleep outside any shelter if possible. This weekend I'll be on a exposed reservoir after bream as the owner wants to reduce the population density. I'll take a brolly type shelter but if its dry I'll probably do my usual and fall asleep in my chair by the rods. Years ago we never really bothered with camping gear other than for long sessions of 3 nights or more or if the weather was really inclement. A brolly does suffice to be honest especially in the summer. I do use a camp bed and appreciate it on proper trips as at some point you do need to sleep with attitude but again if its dry it will be beside the rods with a cover over to stop the dew and frosts. I find the direct connection with nature via sight, sound,smell and temperature so fulfilling.

[Snape]

Although I can't sleep on the ground or a hard surface due to a bad neck and back I try to sleep outside if possible and on a low ex-army camp cot.
Looking up and the stars and feeling the cold night air on your face with all the scratchings and murmurings of the night creatures make it a wonderful experience. Only in summer though!

[Santiago]

I sometimes sleep on my punt, at anchor in a Thames side stream in the summer, on a small bedchair in a space that's 6' by 4'; the tricky bit is waking up and remembering which side to get out of bed on!

[Northern Eel]

We always used to fish like that, lying on the floor with nothing more than a sleeping bag (sometimes we took an umbrella)

A friend of mine fished the river teme a lot in the 90's he never bothered with an umbrella, when he was tired he would climb the fence into the farmers field, get in his army surplus sleeping bag and fall asleep on the ground.

I must be getting a bit soft now though, I always take a bed, the last time I slept on the ground like that was in June 2013 and it was the coldest, dampest June night I can ever remember!