But what have we got here?

Click the image of the book to see the text more clearly.  Check it out carefully.  Charles Cotton explains that Pike Pool gets its name not from the rock springing up in the middle of the river but from the "Pike" that you see standing up there distant from the rock.

Here is the Pike Pool, on the map it is clearly marked.  It is still there and you can catch fish from it to this day if you are there at the right time.  Right there where Izaak Walton lost "a great fish"!

Here is what it looks like today.  The trees have partly concealed the "Pike" but you can make it out.  Even in this coloured water during this winter's rain it still looks mysteriously fishy...

Pike Pool from Charles Cotton's Path

Kneeling down there, in years gone by, your faithful correspondent has managed a few trout and grayling.  This summer I'm "Going Back" and will be trying to repeat the pleasure!

I'll show you another landmark from the Complete Angler in the next blogpost.  On it you can trace one or two of the footsteps, not of our great angling ancestor Charles Cotton but of one of his humble maidservants...

Regular Rod