Vantastic Lukas: The second home

Arrived…

On Friday July 31st, the hottest day of my tour so far, I reached the most familiar corner of southern France where my good friend Sebastien lives.

I had arranged to go fishing with him and was warmly welcomed by him at the previously agreed spot on the lake. A place that was covered in blooming, fragrant mint. It felt like I had arrived. Everything was very familiar and it was as if we hadn't seen each other again for a short time, even though our last encounter had been almost a year ago.

Only with regular cooling down in the lake (although with a water temperature of over 28 degrees you could hardly speak of cooling down) was the day more or less bearable.

Finally action again

I placed my rods in the bright sun and found lots of fish in a small bay next to us, slowly making their way along the surface. That's exactly where I placed 2 of my rods and had the first bite after about 2 hours despite the high temperatures. To my surprise, the fish jumped lively throughout the lake despite the temperatures and by midnight I had already had 3 bites. I was happy to finally have a little more action again and to be able to share the joy.

I spent 5 days at the lake, Sebastien went about his work in between and returned in the evening. The fishing activity decreased as the weather got significantly worse, for which we both had no explanation. Despite all my attempts, I was only able to catch a few fish. We covered very different depths and areas of the lake but the fish were swept away. There were no more fish to be found on the surface either. At the end of the session I was still able to increase my catch statistics a little, which boosted my fishing confidence again after the last series of blanks. However, the time we spent together at the lake was all the more valuable and could not be replaced by fish.

Short break in the mountains

When we both left the lake on Tuesday, my route went to a mountain lake in the Pyrenees. Friends of Sebastien's who visited us the evening before recommended that I go there to stand in the camper in a beautiful setting and, if necessary, fish for trout in the crystal-clear lake.

The boys didn't promise too much. After I tormented the sprinter at over 1500 meters in altitude, I was met with a fantastic sight. Of course, the current holiday and Corona situation also drove many other holidaymakers to this place. A suitable place to park was quickly found and before the sun disappeared behind the high mountains I jumped into the cold mountain lake to cool off. It was amazing how quickly it cooled down at this altitude once the sun had disappeared. After dinner, I went to bed at a time so that I would be fit for a hike the next morning. After preparing all the necessary provisions early in the morning, I put on my hiking boots and climbed the mountain.
Approximately 10km and 1000 meters of altitude made me sweat a lot and were a nice change from my usual training sessions. Coupled with the spectacular views I had, it was a good contrast to recent fishing sessions.

Sealed off from the outside world

When I arrived at the car in the afternoon and had taken a refreshing swim in the lake, I set off from this place again. The main reason was the lack of a net at this height, which unfortunately I was more or less dependent on.

It was interesting to see how dependent I was on the Internet on the one hand, but how relaxing and pleasant it felt to be unavailable and “separated” from the digital world. I don't think it would hurt anyone to take such breaks regularly in order to concentrate more on themselves.

When I reached the valley and was reconnected with the outside world, I decided to drive to a body of water about 2 hours away. The places there were more or less easily accessible by car and in two days a friend and his girlfriend announced that I would meet at the lake for 1-2 nights…