Jennifer and I went swimming in the sea at Achmelvich Beach a few days ago and it was great. As usual it was cold when we were getting in but well worth it to swim around in the turquoise waters. This experience was surpassed however, by our swim in the Ullapool River Estuary this morning. James and the young folk (who have arrived to meet up with Jenn and Russ before they go home) went to climb nearby Beinn Gobhlach which we can see across the water from the cottage. Russ went golfing, and Jenn and I headed to the mouth of the river. It was only an hour after high tide, which is particularly high this week. The estuary looked stunning in the sunshine and a large portion of the grass at the edge of the river was completely submerged. The duck pond had merged with the estuary and a flotilla of ducks came paddling up the river towards us. In we went bravely, and once we were swimming it was fine - noticeably less cold than the sea a few days ago. As we were swimming about, who did we see but Russell, waving at us from the golf course. A couple of the other Estuary swimmers turned up; the weather and the swimming was absolutely splendid. We felt perfectly warm as we made our way, swathed in towels, back to the cottage, but we realised that actually we were quite chilled, so I jumped into a warm shower and Jenn had a bath.
After lunch, Jenn, Russ and I went for a very pleasant stroll around the village where Russ treated us to ice lollies, and now we are reclining in the garden in the warm sunshine. It’s our Mum’s birthday today; she would have been 89 and she has been in our thoughts.
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