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In Search of Waterfalls and Peter Rabbit

I wrote this in January, but haven’t been able to finalise it, until now. It’s taken so long to sit down and write this blog. A combination of full time work, and several bereavements, one no other than my beloved Riley has slowed me down somewhat. Then I got covid for Christmas (after many years of dodging it). It’s only now that I am able to sit down and write about my last trip to the Lake…

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Lucky Number 13!

Better late than never! Happy Halloween! Rydal Water was my 13th swim of 2022. It was also a lake I had planned on doing a Halloween special. I hope you enjoy the video below. On the morning of my Halloween swim, we got up at 5am and headed up the motorway in the dark towards the South Lakes. Not long after sunrise, we parked at White Moss car park with it’s controversial pay and display. We…

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A Year in Wildlife 2022

A Year in Wildlife 2022

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In Search of the Fairy Island

In Search of the Fairy Island

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A Week at Osprey

A Week at Osprey

I’ve been really neglecting my blog of late but I have a reason for that, and that is… I’ve a new job! I got a full time job at the cardio-respiratory dept at the New Royal, doing general reception/admin work. I’ve been there over two months and still enjoying it! A few weeks into my new job, we had a week booked at a boathouse on the shores of Loch Tay. The week before the UK had temperatures…

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Another Swim/Walk Adventure

Lots of stresses and strains have been going on behind the scenes recently, and wild swimming has been one of the few distractions. Last week David and I had a day off mid week and so we planned a swim adventure. The tarn in question was Hayeswater, Hartsop, which had been a reservoir up until 2005. The dam was removed in 2014 and the tarn was returned to it’s natural state. We parked at a free…

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1001 Outdoor Swimming Tips

1001 Outdoor Swimming Tips

A few weeks ago I was contacted by Vertebrae Publishing regarding publicising a new swimming book that was being published. I thought about it and decided to agree. They sent me a copy of Calum Maclean‘s book, 1001 Outdoor Swimming Tips. After a week or so of planning, David and I headed towards North Wales to Llyn Cwmorthin a slate quarry we had previously visited in 2016. I had already…

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#30DaysWild

June was and will always be all about The Wildlife Trusts’ 30 Days Wild, an annual challenge, asking participants to do something nature based each day for 30 days. Though I may not have blogged every day this year (I’ve been feeling too jaded for that – and there’s lots going on behind the scenes here too), I managed to post daily on Instagram. Here’s a small recap of some of the wild things…

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A Small Measure of Peace

A Small Measure of Peace

For the Jubilee bank holiday weekend, David and I managed to take a day out to the Lake District. I decided to revisit Brothers Water, the last time I was there was in 2017, and I was rather tired during my swim there after a mammoth five hour hike earlier that day. So, this time I planned on a more leisurely visit. Brothers Water We managed to dodge the bank holiday crowds but not for long. We…

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Revisiting Chester Zoo

A couple of weeks ago David and I took a day trip to Chester Zoo, a local haunt we used to go to every week! It’s had been a few years since we had visited and quite a lot of the exhibits have changed for the better. We paid almost £30 for day tickets for the both of us, a pretty pricey day out but spent all day walking miles around the zoo. We both took cameras, and it seems we focused mainly on…

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10 Years in Our Home

10 Years in Our Home

It’s the house’s 10th anniversary! To celebrate, I thought I would write a blog celebrating the highlights of 10 years in our home. It all started when we got the keys to the house on a sunny Friday in May 2012. There was a lot of hard work to be done before we could call it our home, but we had a lot of fun, shed blood, sweat and tears along the way. Our first job was to knock down a stud wall…

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Meeting Max the Miracle Dog

Meeting Max the Miracle Dog

It’s been a month or so since Max the Miracle Dog of Keswick passed away. I had intended for Riley (our border collie) and I to visit his statue in Hope Park, Keswick while he was still alive but that never happened. However, we managed to finally take a visit to Keswick one day in May. Christine, Riley and Max Riley himself has been having some health issues. He has been fussy with his food…

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The Easter Bunny Went for a Swim

The Easter Bunny Went for a Swim

It’s taking me a while to sit down and write this blog. To celebrate Easter, I decided to do something similar to my Christmas swim. You can read about that here. So I purchased some fluffy rabbit ears and tail and this Easter bunny went for a swim in a Snowdonian llyn. It’s getting harder now to find accessible swims in both the Lake District and Snowdonia, but one llyn was situated not far…

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Wild Swimming in the Lake District

Wild Swimming in the Lake District

For mid March, David and I had an opening in the calendar for a few days away. Eager to get my wild swimming season started again, I booked a few nights away to our usual home from home in the Lake District, Hermiston, Braithwaite. We have been visiting this B&B since 2016 when the current proprietors took over, and Phil and Helen are always so welcoming and helpful. We will always recommend them…

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Looking Ahead - 2022

Looking Ahead – 2022

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10 Years of RSPB's Big Garden Birdwatch!

10 Years of RSPB’s Big Garden Birdwatch!

This weekend was the RSPB’s Big Garden Birdwatch. I’ve participated since 2012, when feeding the garden birds helped me through a bereavement. Since then, I’ve seem some wonderful visitors to our urban yarden. In 2012, two blue tits sparked my feeding frenzy and every day since then I’ve left seed out for the garden birds. Steven the herring gull is a recent superstar of the yarden. He started…

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My December

This will be my final post in this monthly series. December 2021 has been rather a quiet affair for David and I. Christmas spent with family, was a tiring couple of days and after all the excitement of the preparations, I somehow felt sad and forlorn. The weather this month hasn’t helped either with very few sunny days. I’m writing this post with grey laden clouds diffusing the light, giving me a…