river swimming.

What a wonderful weekend we have had. On Saturday we celebrated a friend's birthday by spending the afternoon in an idyllic setting, tucked away in the countryside of Somerset.

The birthday girl had read about the river in Tellisford in her wild river swimming book, and thought it would be the perfect plan to go for a birthday swim.

While we were sat stuck in a hot car in heavy traffic on our journey there, I tried to convince myself that the water might just be heating up under the heat of the sun. Who was I kidding - it's October in England - there was no way the water would be warm!

I dabbled my toes in the water at this spot to test the temperature. I might as well have been putting my toes on ice, it felt that cold! But hey, we were here to go in the river, so that is what I did...well I got halfway to being in. By the time I was waist deep in water and the shooting pin-like feeling of the icy waters had turned to numbness, I didn't fancy putting my shoulders under - the sun was shining on them - and it would have been rude to choose water over sun. John was far more hardy than me, and actually swam around & stayed in twice as long as me.

I took a wander around the surrounding fields and stood happily under this oak tree, listening to the acorns falling down around me. 

I find it so refreshing to escape from the city to the country, away from the sounds of cars & surrounded by trees and lush green grass. Can you spot John launching the frisbee?

As we drove home, we saw this happy sight of a tractor, ploughing the fields. The perfect image to be imprinted in our thoughts as we drove back to the city.

Pop by later today to hear about our Sunday fun...