Category: wild swimming

#204 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Serendipity, walking, wild swimming3 Comments

Bluebell woods can be tricksy to photograph effectively. This was my best shot of the day in some new to me woods. New England Woods near Ivybridge. The river Yealm runs through the woods and will become a freshwater swimming location very soon. Alongside the bluebells the Ransomes, or Wild Garlic were bright and white and happy to pose for a phone camera.

Not that they would have been quite so happy to pose if they realised that a bit of wild garlic is a wonderful thing when added to roast potatoes.

Unlike bluebells the wild garlic were easy to capture.

And the birdsong was equally compliant.

#67 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Advent, Bobbing, wild swimming2 Comments

A happy sleeping seal means just one thing. The lunchtime bob/swim will be uninterrupted by Miss Spearmint. Many Bobbers gathered and had a fabulous rough swim in Tranquility Bay. In other news we have finally finished the bulb planting, shelf putting up and the Christmas decorations are finally finished. All somewhat complicated by the odd angles we encounter in this old property.

Obviously bulb planting does not make great photos but the shelves in our tiny utility room could be worthy of a photo or two.

And the fireplace and window are ready to shine.

All in all an effective use of a day. Which is more than we can say for Miss Spearmint who many hours later is still dozing, still flatulently full of fish, safely protected on her own private beach.

Pandemic Pondering #323

On By theoldmortuary.designIn walking, wild swimmingLeave a comment

Storm Darcy brought windchill factors of -3 to -5 . Beyond that the weather was gorgeous and while doing two walks, that have been in many blogs, the bright winter sunshine gave Plymouth the look, if not the feel of Greece.

Leviathon

The Leviathon was looking pretty sparky this morning. While a doughnut from a 400 year old bakery fueled our 10,000 steps.

Just having my hands out for long enough to eat my share of the doughnut was enough to lose all feeling in my fingers but a huge positive was that the jam was so solid we didn’t end up wearing it.

The harbour looked Mediterranean.

And ultimately dogs and humans found a sheltered beach to bask and scamper.

Morning walk done, it was time to return home for a few hours of domestica before the next little dose of Mediterranean sunshine.

Hugo and Lola wait patiently for the return. No chance of a 10,000 step walk this evening after the ‘Bobbers’ have had a swim but warm snuggles in front of the fire is a great substitute in the middle of February.

They don’t have to wait too long for the ‘bobbers’ to return.

A day to lift the spirits!

Pandemic Pondering #300

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Beach Life, wild swimmingLeave a comment

Pandemic Pondering #300, again!!! After last weeks recalibration of pondering numbers . I can celebrate reaching 300 for the second time in a month. Dysnumeracy rules! Today we can celebrate with a naturally occuring heart, which I found at the rear of our regular swimming beach.

Regular or repetitive these posts maybe but today was the day for socially distanced swimming at Tranquility Bay. An hour of exercise, of which only twenty minutes was spent in the water. 10 minutes stripping off and probably another 20 trying to get our clothes back on when fingers and feet no longer belong to us.

©Andy Cole

The swim today was fueled by coffee from Cakewhole who were closing as we arrived but understood our need as they sea swim too.

https://cakewhole.co.uk/ 

Cake may also have passed our lips but winter sea swimming has a way of clearing out vexascious thoughts. Cake can be very vexascious.

The peril of a swim later in the day is the timing of the sleepy zone that follows the euphoria and energy boost that cold water swimming brings. By 9pm we thought it was midnight and slunk off to bed. Ostensibly to read books, the truth, of course, was that barely had the cup of tea cooled to drinking temperature before the sleep monster wrestled us into the duvet.