Hi Kevin,
I know of Swifty's but the place I went to is called Grangers (mainly a fly specialist) and it's in South Kensington. Mostly run by South Africans some of you might know.
http://www.grangersfishing.comDidn't get to the park unfortunately but did load up my reel and test the drag on a set of scales and managed to get it to just over 10kgs before the knot slipped.
Unfortunately the sudden shock to the scales completey knackered the spring
but at least I know what it can do.
The rod should be pretty capable as well.
Spent a good few hours retro fitting all my lures with Owner trebles and heavy split rings and I'm raring to go now.
The last thing I'm concerned about is Air France letting me on the plane!
My travel agent has informed them and a rep at Air France said it shouldn't be a problem when I spoke to him.
The rods are in one of the heavy duty lockable Flambeau Bazuka tubes which are airline approved so it should be OK but looking forward to dumping my kit in the beach hut, cracking a cold one and studying some water
then I know I can relax and just hope the fish play ball.
Cheers
Matt
