I spent the weekend (my birthday weekend!) camping in Devon. On Friday, having finally arrived at my campsite two and a half hours later than planned thanks to everything going wrong with the traffic, I decided to drive over to Bude for the evening. I fancied getting a wild swim in while I was in … More Swimming in Bude Sea Pool
If you saw my first wild swimming experience the other day or you follow me on Instagram, you might see me swimming in the sea quite a lot at the moment. But the fact is that I’m pushing my comfort zone – I’m still not a huge fan of the sea and also the actual … More Ten people you’ll meet in the pool
This weekend I went to London for the first time in nearly two and a half years. It’s a bit busy for my tastes – I’ve become a lot more claustrophobic than I used to be and I really hate crowds nowadays. But I’d been hanging onto a ticket to see Queen + Adam Lambert … More 24 hours in London
Last weekend, I had my first wild swim adventure and it was… well, mixed emotions. I’m opting for “wild swimming” rather than “open water swimming” or “cold water swimming”, by the way, mostly because the Rebel badge on the subject is called Wild Swimmer. It’s a badge I dithered over doing – it’s from the … More My first wild swim adventure!
If you’re going to swim in a delightful outdoors naturally heated geothermal pool in Iceland, you’re going to have to face the dreaded Obligatory Naked Shower. Icelandic pool water comes straight from the ground. They don’t put chlorine in it or any other chemical disinfectant. The way Icelandic pools remain clean is to demand that … More Public nudity post-pandemic | Iceland 2022
I planned to write a post in July about how I’m a kayaking instructor, guys! and that post is still coming, I (more or less) promise – but it won’t be this summer. You might have heard my kayaking story a few times. I’ve done a few half-day sit-on-tops tours on the open sea, I graduated … More My 2022 kayaking and wild swimming plans
Oh, this is a difficult one because quite honestly, there are so many pools, spas and springs to bathe in that the only true itinerary I could give you is to take a month and just drive all the way around Iceland, stopping everywhere. Every settlement with more than about ten people living there has a … More An Iceland itinerary for waterbabies
Back in May, I wrote a post about my first swim of the season, my goals for the season and just generally my thoughts on swimming. The season has now come to an end; the pool has closed for the winter and I guess I’m now not swimming again either until it reopens next May … More 2021 swimming review
The other weekend I went for my first ever Moonlight Swim at Shepton Mallet lido. It’s an event they put on during the summer at the full moon and it features a two-hour outdoor swim by moonlight, firelight and fairy lights and a free hot chocolate to warm up afterwards. It’s a heated pool, heated … More Moonlight Swim at Shepton Mallet lido
Since I’ve gone back to swimming recently, and since I made some comments about Iceland the Obligatory Naked Shower (although it’s possible they were in the first version that I deleted and rewrote), I thought I’d write a whole post about Iceland and swimming. Most western countries are pretty big drinkers and Iceland is no … More Iceland and swimming
I Am A Polar Bear 