Tales from a down-shifted family
- Making the most of modest means
Alan, Anna & Morgan live in West Wales and attempt to make the most out of life. Alan is a freelance website designer, Sports & Exercise Science Lab Technician and full time Dad & husband. Anna works at Aberystwyth University and is a full time Mum & wife.
The forecast for the weekend wasn’t great, butt summer seems to have stayed with us and I’ve been making the most of it! Nothing new there! Gravel Pits Friday evening was spent at the gravel pits in Cwm Rheidol with Aber Kayakers and the the Scouts. The all got on really well with their kayaking and...
Read more »Yep, that’s right, it wasn’t an illusion. That person that people saw in the swimming pool on Thursday morning was indeed me! It was my first time swimming since the day after Boxing Day last year – all thanks to a shoulder injury that turned out to be osteo-arthritis. What’s more, I managed to complete...
Read more »I know I usually try to have an action packed weekend making the most of what Wondrous West Wales has to offer but this weekend was particularly good. It started on Friday with my usual early morning walk around the dunes and then a trip into town. Anna had a few chores and some shopping...
Read more »The Christmas Holidays continue and we’ve almost lost track of which day it is, but I remembered it was Sunday so ended up having a fairly busy day cycling, swimming SUP Surfing, walking on the beach and indulging! The Usual Sunday Morning It started like any other Sunday morning for me, up early at 4:30am and...
Read more »We’d been planning a Boxing Day Swim for weeks and as usual the list of people coming kept growing and growing – I was beginning to wonder if we’d have enough Christmas cake, mince pies and biscuits to go round as I’d invited everyone back here after the swim for warm drinks and cake to...
Read more »Despite feeling fairly ill this morning and the fact that once again early on a Sunday morning it was pouring with rain and blowing a gale, I decided to ‘Man Up’ and go for my planned bike ride anyway. My reasoning was that I was up and out of bed, but I was feeling ill. However,...
Read more »On with the Thermal Cycling Clothes Thermals were the order of the day for my early morning cycle ride this morning. After a few weeks of torrential rain whilst cycling early on a Sunday I was quite looking forward to the forecast of dry but very cold. So, on went my thermal long-sleeved top, thermal 3/4...
Read more »The days maybe getting shorter and summer maybe coming to an end, but we’ve had a sensational few days of open water swimming here in Aberystwyth. There has been no rain for a while and no wind either so the sea is super clear with amazing visibility. Although, starting the swim in moonlight means that...
Read more »No wind, no surf and some sunshine greeted us in Aberystwyth on Monday morning for our swim. It was a later start time than usual at 8:30am so that more people would be likely to join in as we were planning on swimming from South Beach, all the way across Aberystwyth, and then on beyond the...
Read more »As I think I’ve already mentioned, rather than having a proper family holiday this year Anna and I are taking several days here and there off work so that we can have lots of long weekends. Last weekend was just such a weekend and we were heading towards Bristol for a large ‘Cole Family Picnic’. Friday started...
Read more »Another early morning swim in Aberystwyth. This time with Helen, Emma, Richard, Larry, Martin and Victoria and a small pod of dolphins. Dolphins! We could see the dolphins in the bay before we got in, playing in the early morning sunshine and chasing fish. We got in and swam out towards them and then after...
Read more »I had a fun little estuary adventure on Wednesday. My day started with an early morning swim from South beach in Aberystwyth out around Castle Point and back onto North beach with Graham, Helen, Richard, Mike and Victoria. I do think I picked the wrong activity though because as I left the house to drive...
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