Wildswimmer Pete

Very light snow here @ 11:55 am Edit: now started snowing properly.

Compared with recent slate grey skies, today was sunny although very chilly. Current outdoor temp. is 0C. Glad I invested in an Ororo electrically heated jacket, made a lot of difference. It will be most definitely useful should the anticipated severe cold materialise.

It's a Decathlon Easybreath full-face snorkel mask. Lets me breath normally through my nose rather than having to have something stuck in my mouth.

Another dark, grey, depressing British winter day. Only saving grace is it's a bit milder. Glad I was swimming indoors in a pool heated to 30C, listening to classic 1960s rock hits. I swim underwater using one of these:

Vile couple of days. Dark, slate grey, and cold.

December 1962 wasn't mild, at least here in NW England. We saw the first snow showers arrive in mid-December with lying snow during Christmas Day and Boxing Day '62. This is from actual experience. Autumn '62 was very mild with the first frosts occurring in late November.

A belated Happy New Year's Day to all. The change of month and year ushered in an improvement in the weather. Endless days of dripping damp, grey skies but today we had sunshine for most of the time with more forecast, albeit with cold nights and increasingly cold days. As the old saw says, as the days get longer, the cold becomes stronger. Noticed the coldies are salivating over the prospects of the current SSW event.

The hateful British climate has really excelled itself today. 1.3C, high wind and what appears to be normal rain, not the freezing variety which I find surprising given the air temp. Horrid day

Wet early morning but cleared to give fine and breezy afternoon. Currently having seriously beefy showers but no sign of thunder/lightning.

I wondered if there was something go around as my bad chest has returned. The weather doesn't help: cold, cloudy and windy with recent very light drizzle.

Stormy with heavy showers during the morning. Brief glimpse of sun late afternoon but now dry and windy. Not too cold at 17.5C (max 18.5C), min last night 8.6C.

More like a summer day, cloudless sky from dawn to sunset. Spent all afternoon sunbathing topless in the back garden which will top-up my Vit D but UV index now too low to actually tan. Mid afternoon (2:20pm) Liverpool ATIS reported 21C.

On now but very low, just enough to maintain 20-21C during the day. Off at night despite the weather.

Dreary, extremely forgettable day. Highlight of the day, the ride down to my local Spar. Yes, that bad.

Last night certainly cold with just 2.5C minimum. Sunday morning fine and sunny but clouded over during the afternoon so turned out a bog-standard October day with the trees now rapidly changing to autumn colours. When the leaves have dropped I used to enjoy the smell of leaves smouldering on bonfires but we don't see (or smell) too much of that these days.

Wet this morning but cleared to lengthy sunny intervals with remaining cloud melting away. Chilly breeze which will doubtless lead to a cold night and possibly frosty morning.

Gloomy most of the day with some sunny intervals around lunchtime. During the afternoon watching local school kids on their way home and I had a flashback (yes, a real one) to similar October days during my schooldays.

Woke this morning to cloud, wind and rain, in fact it felt like an October morning typical of my 1960s schooldays. Brightened up a bit at lunchtime but remained mostly cloudy. Not feeling particularly warm at 15C or so, contrasting the summery conditions in the south-east. Back then we had equinoctial gales especially during March but these seem to have declined since. Climate change?

Managed to get as low as 6C last night. Today very mixed, cloudy then showery, then sunny intervals, now cloudy and relatively mild. The mix was was added to by a short sojourn to Bodelwyddan (N.Wales via M56, A494 and A55) with my mate to collect a vehicle. The day was noticeably chilly emphasising the change to real autumn. While on the A55 had several views of my Wirral homeland under full sun which also highlighted Liverpool city centre in the distance.

Cold and dull all day with rain when I woke around 8am. Managed around 13C max, currently 9.3C. Been more than a little off-colour so didn't make the journey to the leisure centre but started adding to my heating bill with my living room temp. set for 22C.

Long sunny periods today but only about 14C rather than 21C yesterday and the day feels cold. Suspect tonight will be even colder than recent nights, possibly even frosty? Currently clear and calm.

I've got two, as my motorcycling days seem to be over. Heart failure means I don't have the stamina to pedal a standard bike. Both of mine are a bit naughty as both are "Power on Demand" with motorcycle-style twistgrip "throttles", with pedelecs the motor only runs as long as you are turning the pedals but a lot of e-bike riders have the same type as mine. Power is still limited to 250W and max. assisted speed 25km hr or 15.5mph, should you exceed that speed the motor shuts down. Decathlon do one for about £700, my Rich Bit cost £1300. The Rich Bit has 21 speed dérailleur gears so can be ridden as a conventional albeit heavy mountain bike. Alloy frame and magnesium wheels. The 36v LiIon battery is inside the frame, it's a folder so folding the frame gives access to the battery although charging is via a socket on the frame.

Even warmer this afternoon, more sunbathing under a cloudless sky. Now turned cloudy, no doubt the cold front that's bringing a sharp drop in temp. tomorrow. Bit more of a breeze then Wednesday, noticeable while riding my e-bike in shorts and string vest. I think we made 21C.

Long sunny intervals so I was able to sit out in the garden topless and top up my Vit D3. Suspect it'll be monthly sunlamp sessions then until next April and have to control my mood as we're approaching SAD territory. Not looking forward to the next Arctic blast forecast for the weekend.

Passable weather this afternoon with sunny conditions and my hands didn't get cold while riding bike to friend's home despite it being breezy. Nothing like it was on Sunday when I suffered cold hands (now on beta-blocker but have always suffered from cold hands even as a child). Looks like it'll be cloudy tonight so probably nowhere as cold and the breeze seems to have dropped.