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Celebration at the Flying Stag and more swimming
We went out for a celebratory dinner at The Flying Stag in Braemar last night because this week my application for British citizenship was approved! I just have to go to the ceremony, give my oath of allegiance to the Queen and then I get a certificate of citizenship. I feel honoured and overjoyed to […]
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Swimming in the Clunie
We swam in Clunie Water in Braemar yesterday in the same spot we swam over the summer last year. It was a lot colder this year. Absolutely freezing in fact so we used our wetsuits. It was still lovely and clear and we could see fish in it which is always reassuring. The colder temperatures […]
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New Year’s Day 2022
We all got wet suits for Christmas so we decided to christen them at the beach in Aberdeen today. That’s Daniel and Elizabeth in the centre of this next photo venturing in together. I’ve never swum in a wet suit before but I have done some winter swimming and I can tell you the wet […]
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Cambus O’May Suspension Bridge
The kids and I went to the Cambus O’May suspension bridge today. Ben is snowed under with work and couldn’t join us unfortunately. The bridge reopened in April this year following major repair works after Storm Frank nearly washed it away back in 2015. It’s a beautiful Edwardian suspension bridge built in 1905 across the […]
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Sunday diary: good food and wild swimming
Today started at around 2am with the cat meowing at me. She wanted to go outside but we don’t let her out at night and usually she’s very happy with that. I think her bowel movements must have got out of sync and she was desperate to go and crap in the neighbour’s garden. Eventually […]
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Our trout friend, Segways, squirrels, and the River Dee
I haven’t done so much swimming since I was a kid when we’d spend a week or two at the beach over the summer holidays. I’d get sunburnt and dumped by waves but generally have a very good time. We’ve been swimming with the trout in the Clunie River everyday and we’ve named one of […]
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Swimming in the Clunie River
Yesterday was another warm day and we swam in the Clunie River in Braemar. It was refreshing, crystal clear, and home to lots of juvenile trout. The trout ranged in size from tiny to an adult that was at least half a metre long. They can live for 10 to 20 years apparently and are […]
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Cooling off in the Dee
The temperature has reached a top of 26C today. I think this is the hottest temperature I’ve ever felt in Aberdeen. We had no choice but to cool off in the river. We cycled up Deeside Way a short way and walked down to the River Dee near Allan Park. There are some nice swimming […]
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Swimming at Potarch Bridge
We went for a swim at Potarch Bridge today. It was smashing and I realised that it’s the first time I’ve been wild swimming in summer in Scotland. Usually I just do the idiotic thing and submerge myself mid-winter for bragging rights. After all, what’s the point of doing something if you can’t brag about […]
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Bon Accord Baths
I visited the Bon Accord Baths today: a previously council-run indoor swimming pool in central Aberdeen, constructed in the 1930s in Art Deco style. The council closed the pool in 2008 and since then the building has become derelict. The council tried to sell it in 2015 and amid a public outcry at potentially losing […]
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Swimming in the Dee
I’ve been a bit grumpy this past week because sometimes it feels like the world is conspiring against me. Earlier in the year I planted lots of sweet pea seeds. Only one of them germinated and when it had grown to about 10cm tall I planted it at the base of the tree on the […]
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Winter swimming
We went to St Cyrus beach for a swim today. My sister-in-law is visiting and she has a penchant for icy showers and swims in freezing lakes in Switzerland. The photos make it look like a warm summer’s day but it’s actually winter here and the water temperature was 7°C. I’m preparing myself psychologically before […]
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I swam in the North Sea in winter
A couple of years ago I swam at Balmedie Beach. It was March and so I just missed out on being able to say I swam in the North Sea in winter. We’re currently staying at a secluded spot up on the Fraserburgh coast an hour or so north of Aberdeen and so I decided to […]
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Surviving a haircut and learning to swim
I took Daniel to get a haircut today at the first barber’s I came to on our way to swimming. The hairdresser was a short and muscular middle-eastern-looking man with tattoos up and down each arm. It all seemed to be going fairly well except that Daniel kept moving his head. He’s not the easiest customer and indeed for […]
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Balmedie Beach
We had a superb day today. We booked one of the Co-wheels cars to try out and went to Balmedie Beach where I went for a swim in the North Sea. We drove one of the electric cars parked very close to our home. We have a swipe card which unlocks the car from 5 minutes before […]
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Scarborough New Year’s Day Dip
What kind of crazy person goes swimming in the North Sea in winter? My sister-in-law, that’s who. Yesterday, we went to Scarborough on the North Yorkshire coast, to join the New Year’s Day Lions Club fundraising dip. Ben’s sister swims every weekend in Lake Geneva so she is well-trained in icy dips. I thought about […]
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Geneva
Another day, another city, another sister. This time we’re in Geneva visiting Ben’s sister. I have never been all that fond of Geneva because it has somewhat of an exclusive feeling to it. It also seems to be full of banks and shops selling expensive watches. Something that they do very well here though is […]
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More from St Andrews
You can’t go to St Andrews without visiting the world-famous Swilcan Bridge and this we did today. I’m not sure whether you’re allowed to walk onto the green for the purpose of taking photos but we did and no-one told us off. Here are our tacky tourist photos. Ben is attending a conference here so […]
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Saturday morning at Takapuna
It has been quite hot here. Not as bad as the heat folks in Australia are enduring, but hotter than we’re used to. So we’ve been swimming in the sea every other day and I’m quite enjoying it. This morning I thought it would be nice to go for an early swim at Takapuna beach […]
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