Simon Evans of the Wye and Usk Foundation

Clare Balding walks with Simon Evans and his family along a tributary of the Usk, in the shadow of the Sugar Loaf. Simon is a passionate fisherman and river conservationist who works for the Wye and Usk Foundation.

Simon's wife Hazel and their two children - Freya and Arlo - also joined in... Freya contributing musical accompaniment (Peter Rabbit had a fly upon his nose...) and Arlo narrowly avoiding tree-branches from his elevated position in Simon's backpack. A highlight was discovering otter spraint under a bridge - concrete evidence of recent otter activity. It's lilac-scented although perhaps not (as Clare pointed out) enough to warrant taking it home and putting it in her chest of drawers...

An extraordinary 1000 year old sweet chestnut tree loomed into view towards the end of the walk... one of the boughs as big as a sizable tree. Clare's attempts to create a human circle ended in tears.. not her's... rather Freya's nose got rather too close to the trunk.

We started at the Red Lion pub in Llanbedr, the walk took us along a tributary of the River Usk...(with a small trout leaping upstream) to our end point at The Bell in the village of Glangrwyney

Producer: Karen Gregor.