> Me and a long time fishing mate of 35
> years are hacked off with booking fishing > breaks that are a massive disappointment
Jim, have you considered buying a cheap caravan?
> venue crap/accom crap etc.
If the venue is no good just hitch up and move elsewhere. Also, you can make the accom in the caravan as comfortable as you want.
> Our ideal is a self catering, riverbank
> side barbel/chub venue with the stretch
> to ourselves.
There are thousands of caravan/camping sites in UK and many have access to fishing on site or very close to site. One I use is Dobbs Weir caravan site. I step out of the caravan, walk 20 to 100 yards (depending where I'm pitched) and I'm on the bank of the River Lea a few yards downstream from Dobbs Weir itself (there are barbel there + Tim Archer's record Chub - now superceded - was caught there last year). No need to hump tons of tackle to the swim, if I forget something I just amble back and get it (same for meals, toilet, something good on telly, etc). Getting a caravan needn't be expensive (2nd hand 'vans aplenty are around) and since you're paying ?500/600 for a week in a s/c cottage, you'd soon cover your costs as most caravan sites only charge between ?10/20 a night, including hook-up to mains electricity.