So Rhoda and I agreed to meet last Sunday as part of my 'ooh I'm in Wales lets become an adventurer' and Rhoda's love of open swimming. She swims in the Albert Dock in Liverpool regularly.
"It's called the Blue Lagoon" I'd enthused and it's on top of the horse shoe pass, it's a disused slate quarry....so last Sunday we set off with more baggage than you'd take for a 2 week holiday, each, and said to the biker at the Ponderosa cafe on our arrival "Is that there Blue Lagoon over there mr bikerman, thankyou please?" pointing to a big huge mountain of slatey hill!
Now having broken my rucksack I must confess I didn't look overly Bear Grylls with my wetsuit and other post swimming things poking out of an ASDA bag for life! nevertheless after passing several tonnes of slate and several 'DEEP WATER, KEEP OUT' etc signs and after trying several entry routes (most of which were just sheer edges down to the quarry), we located a descent of sorts. I chose to slide it on my ass and my leggings now live in the dustbin.
Looking back at what we had descended, with not a soul around and a sky turning grey we both confessed we were a tad apprehensive and thought maybe a day at the lobotomy clinic might have been a more appropriate day outing.
HOWEVER, having spent the previous week stuck in my lounge in an ebay wetsuit (not the whole week though you understand) that was too small for me and as I had (on finally removing myself from it) had to buy yet another one...no way was I not going in now!
So we tentatively made our way in and I then freaked out as I saw a tyre underneath me - clearly less lethal than a great white but strangely off-putting nevertheless, though I'm not sure anyone died from ever just seeing a tyre. And then I reminded myself there was a actually a van at the bottom of it anyway which I'd seen on a youtube video of the Llangollen blue lagoon and so I figured I should 'man up'.
So we swam about. feeling like two avid explorers and we gasped at the cold (I was mainly gasping as my wetsuit was choking me but I couldn't admit even the next size up was no match for the amount of cake -homemade and palm oil-free by the way- I had recently been consuming!). The Lagoon is very clear and it's circa 40ft deep I think it is (thats about 12 metres right??).
We'd done it! So we sat on rocks underwater and chatted, we peeked underwater with Rhoda's goggles and then i put my left hand underwater....and pulled it up with a rather grim wound to the side of my wrist! It looked like a little smiling, little chatting mouth with little teeth. Convinced I was going to bleed to death as it was near my artery we scrambled in our wetsuits up the sheer slate climb, me with a sock tied around my wrist to stem the blood, Rhoda carrying my 'bag for life' or death as I feared!
We had to change out of our wetsuits at the top quickly before we could get to the Ponderosa cafe where we had parked; whilst changing and with bleeding wrist, my towel blew away leaving me in the rain, on top of a disused slate quarry on a hill in wales with no clothes on! Hugely amusing. Benny Hill meets Holby City!
The chaps at the Ponderosa cafe patched me up, I didn't pass out, Rhoda played Mum and made me tea with sugar and I got to A&E where I spent a lovely evening eating the contents of the hospital shop and with what looked like the cast of my big fat gypsy wedding who came in after me. I chatted to a few people and reflected that A&E is one of the only places you don't ever want to be first in the queue and should be happy to wait.
So a rather adventurous start in perhaps a less than easy wild swim spot, but I had great fun, my wrist is healing and I've a list of rivers and waterfalls to visit when it's sunny - all this on our little island.
Sometimes we travel so far and yet great little gems and things we are looking for are right in front of our eyes.. often they cost nothing to do and are source of adventure, risk, excitement & laughter.
Next on the list is the Blue Lagoon on the coast of Wales, which is where the sea has breached an old quarry wall, looks great and has conga eels at the bottom...yes they look mean, but I'm just going to envison them all shimmying around the seabed "Lets all do the conga" and my fear will be abated.
Evening all x
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