Days 16-18 of Summer – Playing on the beach

Yep, that’s 18 days of summer so far and counting. Admittedly yesterday wasn’t quite as nice as it had been as it was now a bit muggy but the temperatures still made it to 25.1°C which is pretty warm for these parts. It was also a Monday which is never much fun after a nice weekend, and a nice weekend it was.

Saturday

I took Morgan along to another kids triathlon training day in Machynlleth on Saturday morning and he enjoyed himself again. He was even practicing transition techniques in the car all the way there! He then had a friend over to play in the afternoon so we all sat in the garden and then went over to the beach where they built sandcastles and played in the sea. We had a quick barbecue dinner with them before Anna headed into Aberystwyth to watch a live-screening of Macbeth at the Arts Centre – very cultured!

Morgan and I meanwhile caught up with some French culture of our own by watching the Tour de France.

Sunday

I started Sunday with a lovely bike ride with Owain. Out to Machynlleth on my own and into a viscous headwind and then we did the big climb up over towards Dylife. I’ve only done it once before and it was just as steep at the top as I remembered. We then had another short climb up towards Abercegir where Owain headed home and I rode back on my own, this time making good time with the wind behind me.

Anna, Morgan and I then headed into Aberystwyth to meet up with the bee-keepers for the first of our ‘Summer Apiary Safari’s’. We opted to go with Ann to visit her hives in the poly-tunnels at IBERS. It was hot and sticky in the tunnels to say the least, but as usual a good social affair. We then headed back to Plas Dolau for tea and an impressive selection of cakes – yes, I ate far too many, but did stop at 12 pieces!

Monday

The summer continues and schools are about to break up tomorrow – lets hope the weather stays this way for the holidays, but there are signs of a change. Humidity levels are rising, the sun is still out but there are signs of clouds all around and thunder-storms are on the horizon. Ivor, our local katabatic wind was in full-force in the morning so I made us of him by going for an early morning windsurf.

It was then off to school and work for all of us, although I soon managed to head out for a quick lunch time cycle and a core workout. As soon as Anna and Morgan were home we headed over to the beach for a quick dip in the sea. I had some new goggles specifically for swimming in the sea. It has been so nice out there lately that I wanted a slightly larger pair of goggles so that I could actually see things when swimming so I’ve got a pair of Aquasphere Vista Goggles. They aren’t the largest you can get as some of them are more akin to a diving mask without the nose cover but they do have a huge seal area and therefore don’t leak in the sea as much as normal goggles do, and I think they have slightly larger lenses too.

I didn’t have much of a swim, just a quick 10 minutes or so to try them out and they seemed fine. No leaking and nice clear lenses so that I could see the seabed beneath me in all its glory – although to be honest at Ynyslas there isn’t a lot to look at! Just the fact that the goggles are new means that they are nice and clear though so hopefully we’ll have plenty more days with clear waters and high-visibility. Just watch out when removing them as the seal is so good they’ll suck your eyeballs out if you’re not careful!

Morgan was out playing around on his surf-board and it must be summer as even Anna got in the water for a bit and seemed to enjoy it. She was dying to get in really, but when the air temperature is 25°C and the water temperature only 16ºC it still feels a little chilly at first. It’s nice to have the beach on our doorstep though and we’ll be there as much as we can over the summer once the schools break-up. I just hope the weather holds.