Birgit and Bert

I had a gentle introduction to swimming again at Porty this morning. Without mentioning the rise in my blood  pressure associated with the tardy #26 bus journey, I can say that the sun shone, the tide was high and the sea was calm and clear. I met up with my usual 8am BlueTits and we lingered in the water for quite some time, coming out to warmth without a shiver in sight. BlueTit Jude gave me a lift home which was very kind and much appreciated.

EcoDad spotted me in Söderberg later with my coffee and came and chatted. He actually offered to come down with me to Porty next week and be a BlueBall for the morning. I was convinced his last sortie had put him off sea swimming for good.

After lunch I had a lovely visit from BlipperBirgit and Bert from the Netherlands who have been cycling round Yorkshire for 3 weeks but made a special train trip from Newcastle to meet me. The last time I saw them both was in 2017. We demolished some Söderberg buns before sitting out in the sunshine on the patio. HL and I first met them when we were cycling in Shetland and Orkney in 2011- well they cycled in Shetland but we chickened out after a day there because of the long hills through vistas of moorland. Orkney was delightful for cycling and the rest is history as far as I’m concerned.
It’s been a full on day
PS I stand corrected ! The last time I saw them was 26th August 2022 after midges and bed bugs had forced them to cut short their cycling on the west coast