Andy
I think that this the forum is a great angling community which offers a great wealth of learning opportunities for those willing to reach out and socialise with other anglers.
My first experiences of guided days fishing go back quite a few years to when I started experimenting with nymphing and took Danny, (Rough Diamond), who had received a little bit of skepticism on his reports relating to his nymphing exploits up on an offer of a days coaching on his local river.
Although not a qualified guide I've fished with and against enough top level anglers to know a good angler when I see one and what I learned from Danny in a day would have taken months if not much longer to work out on my own. Move on a good few years I have still yet to fish with anybody who covered water so quickly, catching as many fish as Danny did and it's a shame he no longer posts on the forum.
My next exploits were through the Monnow River Auctions where I won a days guided fishing with Photographer Peter Dawson, Welsh International Terry Bromwell and Liam Welsh both masters of the dark art of nymphing but no slouches when it comes to presenting a dry fly.
When you fish with anglers of this calibre, with the guidance offered you learn and pick up things very quickly. You know your set up is right, you have the right flies and guidance on how to present them and if you have any obvious flaws or difficulties they are addressed and corrected very quickly with a few kind words and friendly advice. If you're lucky you'll also come away with a few extra flies in your fly box and providing you've paid attention a great foundation to build on.
If I was struggling with any element of my fly fishing I'd have no hesitation in contacting a guide to help me out. Ok it can be expensive however the benefits and knowledge you come away with would take a competent angler weeks if not months to work out and a beginner an awful long time.
Add to the above, days out with other forum members such as John H, Mr Northerone, CT, Bongoch, Rob Denny, Devon Dabbler and Iain Mortimer, some of whom I've fished with a number of times, the amount of knowledge you can gain fishing with other members is immense.
From a forum perspective, those who I've fished with as friends and guides have been great company.
Next year I'm hoping to have 10-14 days in USA fly fishing, with Montana being the likely destination. Guides there charge $450- $700 for a days guiding with wading being the bottom end of the scale and a day in a boat at the top end of the price range. Because of the weakness of the GBP against the USD and the amount of info on Youtube and in books, the chances of my friend and I hiring a guide are slim particularly when a lot of the fishing will be indicator fly and nymph, dry fly and nymphing with a bit of streamer fishing thrown in. That said, never say never because on our last day we may very well decide to have a few beers and have a relaxing day in a boat, letting somebody do the rowing just to add the icing to the cake on what should hopefully be a great trip, providing we don't have to cancel like we did this year.