Cheery in the Gloom

It was still dark as Sue drove us down to Porty for our Thursday dip in the brine.
There was a very fine drizzle in the air but the advantage of it not being light was that the weather was really not visible so didn’t make the same impact as it would if we could see it.

The tide was high, the water calm and there was no wind- an ideal scenario for cold water immersion. I nearly said swimming but there was little of that , none from Sue and a few strokes from me which went nowhere. It is a very different story in Stromness where the Selkies do swim treating the sea like an indoor pool.
We city girls just chat and laugh and bounce about allowing the cold water to reach as far as our vagus nerves but not our heads.

As we returned home , now in the light, we could see a very dreich wintry looking day, one when it hardly gets light and has a miasma of gloom which saps the spirit.

A warm shower later and I met up with a friend for coffee and after lunch had a damp walk  which took in a ‘nosey’ round the local Alpkit shop situated across the street from this colourful house.  
In this part of Edinburgh it’s better to use a bike than a car -there is very little available parking and what there is,  costs.