Latest / DunkersPodcast / Cold Water Escapes and Coastal Luxury | Nigel & Morag’s Dunking Journey

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Cold Water Escapes and Coastal Luxury | Nigel & Morag’s Dunking Journey · DunkersPodcast

0:04
Welcome to Junkers podcast. This is Mark P and we're live
0:08
from Abersoch in North Wales. I'm Mark P and commonly known as
0:14
The Hoff and I'm here today with a couple of very special people.
0:18
Today's guests are a dazzling duo.
0:22
Nigel, legendary foot specialist of the bell surgery, the man
0:26
who's seen it all, Veruca's warts, athletes, foot diabetic
0:31
ulcers and everything in between, all approached with
0:34
care class and cutting edge 3D foot scans.
0:38
Nigel reminds us our feet are our foundation, which makes him
0:43
nothing short of a dunker's architect.
0:46
Morag, calm, sharp and the only person who could keep Nigel in
0:51
check and on his toes whilst raising four boys and becoming
0:56
the Queen of luxury on a shoestring, escapes.
0:59
Morag worked for the BBC. Granada Television.
1:03
Oh, Granada Television. She's just she's just changed
1:06
channels. So storytelling, irrespective,
1:10
is in her blood. But today we're the ones chasing
1:13
the scoop, because every time the rest of us are braving the
1:18
ICC Morags just popping away to a five star spa for less than
1:23
the price of a fish supper. Supper as well.
1:27
Supper leaves us, leaves us all agass.
1:31
How do you do it, Morag? Secret industry trick X Granada
1:36
sorcery, Bribery. Let's find out how this dream
1:40
team of heels and deals keeps it all going with a bit of dunking
1:45
A-OF style and a few gems along the way.
1:48
Nigel Morag welcome. Let's dive in.
1:51
Thank you Morag. How long have you been abersoch
1:55
dunking? Abersoch dunking.
1:57
Abersoch dunking coming up for three years now.
2:01
And. And it's absolutely wonderful,
2:05
exhilarating. If somebody had said to me three
2:09
years ago I would be going in the sea right throughout the
2:13
year, I would have thought you're having a laugh.
2:16
And yet now I would never miss it.
2:20
I absolutely love it. And Nigel, how did you go from
2:24
Chalton Clinic clause to Abersoch, Sandy Shores and why?
2:30
Well, we moved down here in April 19, 2019, but I was still
2:37
going back to Manchester until September 22 and amazingly we
2:43
actually started donking in October 22 after Mark had met
2:50
Sue Teague at a Welsh Class I. Think no no, the RNLI
2:55
fundraising committee. Oh, well, I was close.
2:59
And anyway, so whatever the whatever street corner it was
3:07
invited Mike and I to come down and it becomes very addictive,
3:12
particularly with your, your presence there as well, Mark.
3:16
And we very quickly got into the routine and particularly and
3:20
strangely enough as it was coming into the winter, so we
3:24
were getting the last. Of the warm.
3:26
Temperatures in the water in October 22 when we started as
3:31
the sea temperature went down. As you know, I like to collect
3:35
sea temperatures and very quickly got thermometers to
3:39
measure this water temperature and I think that year it went
3:43
down to 4°. Yes, let's see.
3:46
Let me tell you, our our dear listener Nigel is also, in
3:50
addition to orders of talents, he's our scientist.
3:53
He's our resident scientist. In fact, I used to call him
3:56
Biggles because he's got this amazing hat which just looks as
4:00
though he's come out of a out of the war and bailed out over
4:03
Abersoch. Yeah, well, there you go.
4:07
But he's also our scientist, so there's never a number without
4:10
Nigel's behind it. So, Morag, describe your first
4:14
dunking experience. Well it's very hard to remember
4:19
that it's such a long time ago, but I expect I've found the
4:23
water super cold thought what am I doing?
4:28
But absolutely loved it and have never looked back really.
4:32
Do you have a sort of a post dip and a pre dip routine or do you
4:36
just roll out of bed and as Andy said, make the decision from the
4:40
beach? Well, I definitely roll out of
4:43
bed, but Nigel very much has a predict routine whereby he has
4:47
buckets of water. He has to prepare my breakfast,
4:51
has to bring me my coffee in bed and then at that point I get up,
4:56
get changed and we head down to the.
5:01
Beach, pray tell? Buckets of water.
5:04
What for? Water to wash the OH.
5:06
What of all the costumes that we've got covered in sand from
5:10
the water and the the neoprene boots that are full of sandy
5:15
water and God knows what else. So yeah, I get out and get all
5:20
that ready so that we can enjoy a a nice leisurely swim with you
5:26
good people on the beach. Yes, it was quite a sharp
5:30
induction to the winter in 22 when we started, but you very
5:36
quickly become addicted to it. And above all, it's the
5:39
camaraderie that goes with the swimming, which is great
5:43
exercise. And as your previous podcasts
5:45
have pointed out, it's very, very good for you from the point
5:50
of view of your health. And we realise that here
5:55
immediately. And the more you good people
5:57
filled us in on the details of that, advise us about all the
6:00
kit that we needed to get. So I never thought I'd be seen
6:04
dead walking around in. Neoprene booties and neoprene
6:08
booties and. All the rest of the kit that we
6:10
can I mention on camera. Can I say how very fetching they
6:15
look as well? There we go on.
6:18
One aspect that appealed to me, I read that cold water swimming
6:23
activated brown fat, which meant you use more calories and as a
6:30
result you lost weight. All I can say is nearly three
6:33
years later, I'm still waiting for it to find my brown fat.
6:40
Well, I'm trying. Stick with it more.
6:43
You'll get that. You'll get that.
6:45
Yeah. I think you touched on
6:47
something, one of you just about the community.
6:50
And I think the community is, as you'll know from the previous
6:54
podcast that I've done, it's really, really strong.
6:57
I think people, because a lot of us, I don't know about yourself,
7:01
but a lot of us, we, you know, we've been down here since
7:03
12:00. We didn't really, we knew
7:06
people, but only at a distance. But since 20s, COVID wasn't all
7:13
bad. A lot of it was bad, but it
7:15
wasn't all bad because it did allow us to sort of broaden our
7:19
our perspectives with places to go and different people we were
7:23
coming across. And the community is so
7:26
important. The community's incredible.
7:29
I mean, I think for us, I very much see coming to live here was
7:34
1 chapter of your life closing and a new chapter opening and
7:40
dunking for us has allowed us to meet this wonderful group of
7:45
people, make lovely friends. And we wouldn't have had that if
7:50
we hadn't joined the group really.
7:52
And it's the fact that we have conversations about everything
7:57
and anything. We talk about family, we talk
7:59
about travel, we talk about this week for instance, who to get
8:05
your nails done with, Koala bears, Kangaroos.
8:10
I was talking about that this week at the cafe.
8:13
It's amazing the topics of conversation and the cafe.
8:17
The cafe is, it is important, isn't it, that walk after the
8:21
dog walk? Afterwards, the fact you've done
8:23
4000 steps before 9:00 in the morning, it's amazing.
8:28
It sets you up for the day. Then you go and have your coffee
8:31
and your almond croissants and it's just could not be better.
8:37
I feel incredibly blessed that we're part of it all.
8:40
It's very, very special. So what was life before?
8:44
I'll come to Nigel in a minute because I do know a wee bit
8:46
about his life before. But what was your life before?
8:49
I mean, not that when you worked at the BBC, but when you worked
8:52
at Grenada. Yet I was swearing I was coming
8:57
to that. What was my life?
8:59
Yeah. What was your life before?
9:02
Here before we started dunking, I think we arrived here and
9:08
bought a property which needed renovation, so our life was very
9:12
much taken up with builders and renovating the house.
9:16
Then COVID arrived. We didn't really know anybody
9:20
but we got out. We did lots of walking and of
9:24
course we travelled a lot. Yeah, yeah.
9:27
Which is where you got your person for easy deals or great
9:31
deals. Absolutely.
9:32
So before, even before that, because you, you raised four
9:35
boys. So where was this?
9:38
Where were you when you were raised four boys?
9:39
Well. We lived in Wilms though, had
9:41
the four boys, but all our summers for 20 years were spent
9:45
in Abaso in our caravan. OK, so the boys were brought up
9:50
here, they worked in the sailing club to them as teenagers.
9:55
They spent their lives swimming out on the water.
9:59
So Abersoch is a huge part of their lives.
10:02
And now they live in London, they live in York, Congleton,
10:05
but they all love coming back here.
10:08
Do they? It didn't put them off at all.
10:10
No, definitely do. You think any of them will
10:12
actually make the home here eventually?
10:15
Who knows? No, not with Article 4, because
10:17
we won't be allowed to leave our house to them now will we?
10:21
No, no, no, no. You'll have to have a trust fund
10:24
and give them all a piece of it. Yeah.
10:26
But my life's always revolved around the sea, because of
10:30
course, I was born on a lighthouse in Shetland, on the
10:35
edge of a Cliff. Oh wow.
10:36
In seas? Really.
10:38
Yeah, you're actually born in a lighthouse.
10:40
Actually born on a lighthouse. OK, it's where the Brea tanker
10:43
smashed against the rocks really in 1992 when they got water in
10:48
the fuel lines. And clearly much more Lighthouse
10:53
wasn't working at that point, was it?
10:54
That was not. After I was born.
10:57
After we were there. Yeah, yeah.
10:59
So all my life spent by the sea. They they.
11:03
No, no, no it. Was you were just born then,
11:05
wasn't it? Oh.
11:05
Yes. Of course.
11:07
Yes, yes, yes, ladies and gentlemen, she is only that.
11:13
Yeah. So the the that's that obviously
11:17
has got quite a a memory for you.
11:19
I mean, to be born in a lighthouse is quite awesome
11:22
really. There's not many people that can
11:24
put that. On the scene, it's on
11:25
lighthouses. Oh, did you?
11:26
You did, did you? Was your father a lighthouse
11:29
keeper there? Yes.
11:30
OK. Yes.
11:30
So every five years he would get moved to a new station.
11:35
So we lived on Isla in the Hebrides and we lived at Douglas
11:40
Head Lighthouse on the Isle of Man.
11:43
Oh right. Which had its own little jetty.
11:45
So my school friends and I, we would all swim off there and we
11:48
had our own little beach. It was just.
11:51
You've been you've been dunking for years, haven't you?
11:53
Yeah. And how did how did you 2 meet?
11:55
Did you? Did you?
11:56
Were you in a boat and you were cast upon the rocks?
12:00
No, I didn't run up the beach with a hauled hat on and raving
12:04
a sword around. Now we I'd lived in Mumso for
12:08
years with my parents and then when they retired down to the
12:10
South Coast of England, I moved across to a multi occupancy
12:16
house in Sale, South Manchester and Morag was already living
12:21
there in one of the flats and we met up there and.
12:25
I thought he looks nice and here we are 50 years later.
12:31
Let's be honest, more right, you didn't have a lot of choice in
12:33
the lighthouse. Didn't.
12:35
You. Yes.
12:36
She was always turning the lights on and off around in
12:38
circles. Can you believe it?
12:40
Yeah. I bet you could see well in the
12:41
dark, though. Yeah, yeah.
12:43
Yeah, when the lights were on. Yeah, right.
12:46
Yes, That's how we met, OK. Our lives evolved from there.
12:50
We quickly got together as a couple and married three years
12:55
later. And so when did the when did the
12:57
Bell surgery come about? Well I was in a sales job in
13:02
Manchester at the time in the mid 70s and I decided that that
13:07
wasn't going to be for me long term.
13:09
So I looked around for other things to do and funnily enough,
13:15
somebody else walked into that multi occupancy house in Sale.
13:20
He was a podiatrist. What was it, the YHA or YMCA or
13:25
whatever? God, there's a lot of people in
13:28
there. Yeah, yeah, yeah, it was.
13:30
It had. About 6 plus well.
13:31
When I lived there it was 5 boys and me.
13:34
Oh, really? Surprised you got a look at
13:37
Nigel. So, yeah, I, I took up Podiatry
13:44
after the influence of these people and I, Mark had got a
13:47
good job then at Granada Television as PA to the
13:52
financial director, wasn't it? And so she carried all the bills
13:56
And I went back to the university at Salford and
14:00
studied pedantry for three years full time.
14:03
Gave up the the job that I had. And bizarrely on the day that I
14:07
qualified in pedantry, that company went out of business on
14:12
the day I qualified. Really the coincidence and it
14:17
justified me what I'd done sure some years before to leave them
14:21
and go and pursue a professional career, which is what I wanted.
14:25
And so I set up the the Bell surgery in 1986, I think it was,
14:31
and built it up from there, from ground level upwards.
14:35
Podiatry. Chiropodi, same thing.
14:37
Yes, it's is it. Podiatry is the the American
14:42
word for chiropodi, which they dropped in the 1950s and were
14:45
forever trying to persuade the public to change over to using
14:49
the term podiatrist. And they're still doing it now,
14:54
are they? Yes, I think both titles have
14:57
been protected by law after a long fight by by the podiatrists
15:04
group and so yeah, we are now have a protected profession
15:10
title wise. But we started the practice,
15:12
didn't we? We bought this old Victorian
15:15
building which was full of bedsits.
15:18
And they were they. It was inhabited by drunks and I
15:20
had to get rid of them because they all had no, they had no
15:25
written contracts. The previous owner had never
15:28
given them a written contract to stay there.
15:31
So I had to quietly persuade them that the roof was falling
15:34
in or the floor was needing repaired.
15:37
And after three years I managed to get the most of them out, but
15:42
not all of them. That took another eight years,
15:46
persuasion and and fun and games of things like 3P suites being
15:51
thrown out of upstairs windows because they wanted a new one,
15:55
and people keeping lead weights behind the door in case the
15:59
owner me came up and challenged them as to why they've not paid
16:03
the rent. So it was quite interesting.
16:05
Yeah, it was almost got there. Yeah.
16:06
Yeah, we. Cleared it out and we eventually
16:09
made six or seven treatment rooms, so we have a variety of
16:12
services working. There.
16:14
Yeah, it worked very well. Yeah, yeah.
16:17
And that's what we sold on in 2022.
16:20
It took quite a while to to get it there because I wanted the
16:23
right person to take over from me.
16:25
And I'd identified that person in 2015, but due to his personal
16:30
circumstances and and COVID, it delayed it for seven years,
16:34
which on reflection actually worked very well in our favour.
16:38
I was going to say yeah, yeah, yeah.
16:40
And when the time came, all the people that have been with me
16:44
for 30 years stayed with him and gave him an instant income the
16:49
minute he walks in through the. Door.
16:50
Oh nice. But he, he'd already wanted a
16:52
place in Oldham. OK, OK.
16:54
And I knew him and his father who set the practice up up there
16:58
in Oldham, and he just wanted somewhere on the South side.
17:01
So he got that from me and off he's gone and done.
17:03
Very. Well, with very good question,
17:06
are podiatrists bound by, is it called the Hippocratic Oath that
17:10
that doctors are? So if somebody, somebody's
17:13
verruca burst at 35,000 feet in an aircraft, are you sort of
17:16
called in to help them and settle them down or you, you
17:20
don't? I'm just thinking in the same
17:22
way that people might keel over on an aeroplane, then a doctor
17:25
is on call. Would you be under that?
17:28
Sort of. No, I don't think we work in the
17:31
same way that you're referring to, No.
17:36
Yes, there are podiatrists working in the health service
17:39
and have done for many, many years, but I don't think it
17:43
works the same way that you're inferring.
17:45
Right, right. It was, it was just a sort of a
17:49
left field question because we, we, we come across so many
17:52
doctors one way or another, some being one.
17:55
And and you know, these occasions do happen in the
17:59
aircraft. I just wondered if somebody was
18:00
really, really say they've got venous leg ulcers and they've
18:04
got they've got a lot of problem with it and the prick because
18:06
they hadn't got the their flight stockings and they were they
18:10
were in real sort of distress you clearly.
18:13
No, I'm not aware of us having any connection with that.
18:18
Or responsibility to. Responsibility, but.
18:20
Just give them a parachute. Yeah, yeah, you would.
18:22
Yeah, you would. As a Yeah.
18:24
You take the meal off them though before they went out the.
18:26
Window, yeah. No, you would.
18:31
If you remember the human race and you could help, then you
18:33
would obviously want to go and give them whatever assistance
18:36
you could manage. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
18:39
So Morag, just give him Nigel a rest for a second.
18:42
Tell us about how do you get these deals?
18:45
Because these deals are just unbelievable.
18:48
All the dunkers. And I'll just sort of set the,
18:52
I'll just set the scene. There's all these dunkers and
18:55
we're all we're all like holidays and we all try and get
18:59
away and we're there in the water and morags and Nigel are
19:03
off somewhere in a five star hotel and they've got it.
19:06
As I said at the beginning, for the price of of two cups of
19:10
coffee. How do you?
19:11
Do it where we're going next Wednesday.
19:13
Oh yeah. Well, do you know?
19:15
Tell them where we're going next Wednesday.
19:16
Actually, I did think there might be a business in this for
19:19
you so you could organise these because you're that good at
19:22
finding them. How do you find them more I?
19:24
Think it's just research is it? It's literally spending hours on
19:28
the Internet and deciding where we want to go, checking places
19:33
out. Yeah, definitely just and just
19:38
searching it all. If you, so if you're going from
19:40
A to B and or A to C&B is a nice stop off overnight, then you'll
19:45
just sort of check it out and. I'll check it out.
19:48
I use TripAdvisor a lot. Oh, do you?
19:50
Yeah. I would review anywhere before I
19:53
book it. I wouldn't book it without
19:55
checking first and I just generally look for deals.
20:00
I decide somewhere we want to go.
20:02
We're going off to roads at the end of the month.
20:06
That's something pop that I know I'm looking forward to relaxing
20:09
in the sunshine. Although having said that, there
20:12
was an earthquake there yesterday.
20:14
Really. Yeah, OK.
20:15
The hotel was shaking. The beds were.
20:18
Shaking. That's a slight hiccup, but you
20:21
know, we'll go anyway. But I just found a deal through
20:25
Facebook on that. Did you?
20:27
Yeah, that the Earth. Moved.
20:28
I hope that. I hope.
20:30
Well, it might be moving for you, so I do hope that quick.
20:35
Move on, move on. At the end of June.
20:38
Yeah, I was gonna say just take your bed roll just in case we're
20:41
all right. Yeah, it's, oh, well, we'll,
20:43
it's, it's all right. Because we've, we have wondered
20:46
whether you've got a fast track to sort of some of these tour
20:49
companies and they, they sort of think, Oh, well, here's a deal
20:51
coming up. In actual fact, just as a
20:53
connection, loose as it may be, We had, I know a couple who live
20:57
in Liverpool and they often cruise.
21:00
And I mentioned to because it's only sort of, it was quite, it's
21:03
quite young. So I wouldn't say quite young.
21:05
Mid 50s, yeah, mid to late 50s. And they've been cruising for
21:08
about 15 years. And I said to him, Pete, because
21:11
this was when he was early 40s, he said you're a bit young to go
21:14
cruising. He said, Mark, we can't refuse
21:16
them because a lot of the cruise lines, they'll have refurbs or
21:20
they'll go to a particular destination and then they'll
21:24
come back. But they they don't, they're not
21:27
actually sailing from that destination.
21:28
They're coming back to home port.
21:30
So in that instance, if you just find ships that have
21:35
disembarked, say in the Caribbean and they've got to
21:39
come back to say Southampton, then the the cost of the cruise
21:45
is for absolute nothing because all they're doing is running the
21:47
ship. And you've got 2000 staff who
21:49
are amusing themselves for however many days at sea and
21:53
they just, you know, the passengers.
21:55
And he's, he's told me that the prices are just for nothing.
21:59
They almost get paid for going. So I wondered whether you got
22:03
the same deal with hotels, but clearly it's I would.
22:06
Say, use the booking sites as well because quite often they
22:10
are cheaper than going direct to the hotel, which is bizarre
22:14
isn't it? Yeah.
22:15
For instance, we're going to stay in the Grosvenor in Chester
22:18
next Wednesday night. Because I go back to.
22:21
Cheshire to get my hair cut. Yeah, it's just and it's used to
22:26
have a have a night away, isn't it?
22:28
And it was from. Nigel, yeah, go on.
22:31
Sorry. So I'm letting him come too.
22:33
But it was actually cheaper to book on hotels.com than it was
22:38
to book direct with the Chester Grosvenor.
22:40
Yeah. How does that work?
22:41
I know. I know, it's just crazy.
22:43
And it's a great facility, the Grosvenor, because it's right in
22:46
the middle of the city. That's right, yeah.
22:48
And you just walk out there and marks there in the shops before
22:51
we know it. I'd I'd heard that the did is it
22:55
the Grosvenor Group that had got oh, no, this is a real left
22:58
fielder. But haven't the Grosvenor group
23:00
group got something to do with the new hotel?
23:02
Well, they. Come in.
23:03
Do you have heard that? Yeah, they come under bespoke
23:05
hotels. OK, Bespoke hotels apparently.
23:09
Downtown, right, Right. OK, well, there we go.
23:14
So your, your, your favouritism for the Grosvenor will be
23:18
extended down here. You can have a night overnight
23:21
down here, Nigel. Absolutely.
23:24
Pack the car up, cases in the back and off we go down a mile
23:28
down the road to the Grosvenors New facility in.
23:31
Abersoch if it abersoch if it ever opens.
23:35
If it ever well, yes, they're only a bit of a go slow, but we
23:38
won't say anymore because that will put too much of a dateline
23:40
on the on our podcast. I'm going to come back because a
23:46
question that has really been in my mind.
23:48
I looked up a few feet facts before you came on and I thought
23:52
because it was quite interesting.
23:54
And funnily enough, I was listening to a podcast that I
23:57
particularly like listening to and it's the diary of Aceo.
24:01
It's quite a good one. And he has business people on
24:05
basically. So I was just sort of, I'd got
24:08
an hour and a half to kill and lo and behold, the podiatrist
24:12
happened to be on there and she was sort of expounding the the
24:16
importance of your feet for your whole mental health and her
24:20
physical health because of importance.
24:23
And I picked up that and you just tell me if I actually got
24:27
anything like this wrong. Almost 1/4 of all the bones in
24:30
our body are in our feet. 8000 nerves means it's perhaps the
24:37
most ticklish part of our bodies.
24:40
Which yes listener, he is smiling at that.
24:43
And there are 250,000 sweat glands, which means 2 feet can
24:49
produce half a pint of sweat per day.
24:53
I can't believe that is that. Right.
24:55
I think Mark should be a podiatrist.
25:00
Does he know more than? You I know nothing.
25:02
I. Don't know anything?
25:04
Oh, well, let me. No, I'm going to boast now
25:07
because I've got a few more in here.
25:09
When walking, each foot takes 1 1/2 times your weight, and when
25:13
you run, it takes five times your weight.
25:16
I suppose that's about impact, isn't it?
25:18
Yes, yeah, yeah. And foot massage.
25:21
This is the one I like. Improves mood, overall health,
25:25
and boy does it feel good. Well, my wife enjoys it.
25:28
Does she? You have never massaged my feet
25:31
in your life. Nigel.
25:33
Oh. No, it must be the other woman.
25:37
Are we going to say who looks after your feet?
25:39
Who looks after your feet? More Nigel under duress.
25:42
Under, under duress. OK.
25:45
And Nigel, who looks after your feet?
25:47
I wouldn't trust her with. This self flagellation is it?
25:51
Oh God. No, Yes, it's I'm going to.
25:54
Go to get They're still working on a Tuesday morning here.
25:57
Yes, of course it is. Yeah, Yeah.
25:59
So what's the normal problems? Nail problems, are they?
26:02
And plantar fasciitis? Oh.
26:05
That's a regular yes, that comes up frequently and can be fairly
26:10
easily dealt with in most cases. It's quite interesting because
26:15
it's amazing that you've got a talent to do something that
26:18
you've been taught at university and you can help people out
26:22
fairly straightforwardly and they can get about their
26:26
business with these and less pain.
26:29
Some things you can cure, some things you can help, some things
26:33
you've got to refer them on to somebody else to to deal with.
26:37
But it's, it's what I always wanted is to be able to help
26:41
people with issues that were causing them pain.
26:43
And here it is. Podiatry is the.
26:45
Is the answer to me, Yeah, yeah. And just on that foot, foot
26:50
ailments. Apparently it also helps cure a
26:53
pain in the balls or the heels. I like to possibly.
26:59
Comment about what you're suffering.
27:01
From they must be talking about the feet here anyway.
27:05
I would think so because women apparently have four times more
27:09
likely to have foot problems compared to men.
27:12
Would you say that was the ratio with your clans?
27:15
Yeah, yeah, 4 to 1, yes. You do tend to see a lot more
27:19
ladies females on the couch for treatment, so maybe it's down to
27:26
footwear. Yeah, maybe other things as
27:31
well, but perhaps they're on their feet more whilst we're
27:34
sitting in the lounge chair reading the papers I better not
27:39
say much more about. That one second slap apparently
27:42
a daily affirmation has been showed to reduce this associated
27:47
symptoms of foot pain including stress.
27:49
And I wonder whether dunking exposure could be that
27:52
affirmation on a daily basis that whether that good for you.
27:56
Excellent. Yeah, Yeah, because that reduces
27:58
stress, doesn't it, Morag? You were saying earlier on how
28:01
how important it is for you with the community and just chilling.
28:05
Just chilling in the water and the fact we go in the sea in all
28:10
weathers, you're never quite sure what you're going to expect
28:14
each day really. You know you could go in and
28:16
it's flat calm. You can go in when it's like a
28:19
washing machine. It's exhilarating.
28:23
It really, really is. The notoriety of the washing of
28:26
the wash tub, isn't it? Yeah.
28:28
Remember. Who can forget that day when
28:30
four of us went in and the other stood outside because it was too
28:34
rough and it was a hell of a bashing around.
28:38
Got thrown all over the place. I think it was only in for two
28:42
minutes, but I seem to remember you giving me some kind of
28:46
certificate. Absolutely.
28:47
For going in there well. Either that it was a certificate
28:51
of survival madness. Yeah.
28:55
Exactly, exactly. Do you often?
28:57
I'm just going to stay on Dunkin in a moment.
28:59
He does, because it's the theme of the show.
29:03
Do you often go wild swimming high to the to the lakes or to
29:08
the rivers? Because obviously you travel a
29:09
lot joking apart, so you'd be exposed to lots and lots of
29:13
different. You were in the Isle of Man very
29:15
recently as the. Sea was absolutely freezing.
29:20
It was. Significantly colder than.
29:22
Here it was 7°. Cooler 9°.
29:25
No, but it was 7° cooler than here because it was 16° here and
29:30
it was 9° Port Heron Beach, and it was absolutely freezing.
29:37
We really felt the difference, and that's only two weeks ago.
29:41
Yeah, yeah, it's, but you still got try and dump dump whenever
29:45
you go. Yeah, when we went to Majorca
29:47
March we were dunking and people were were there with their
29:50
coats, their scarves and they were looking pointing the mad
29:54
English. But it was positively warm for
29:58
us in March compared to him. We were thinking this is great.
30:02
Yeah, knew when you were English 200 metres away, didn't they?
30:05
More the only people in the sea are anywhere near it.
30:09
Yeah, yeah, it's. Great fun.
30:11
Yeah, no, we've not been in Lakes.
30:13
And interestingly, I did meet some people back in short before
30:16
I finished there, who were telling me that they were
30:18
swimming in a Amir, I think he would call them in Cheshire
30:22
alongside the M6 between the A 51 and the M6.
30:27
Wasn't a builders puddle was it it?
30:29
Could have been, no, I think it was a bit bigger than that, but
30:31
they were going in. Full wet suits, were they?
30:34
Yeah. Wow, that's more the Deriga in
30:36
colder, yeah, land water, Yeah. And I think you were talking
30:39
about that. Yeah, I was.
30:41
Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's what's a degree
30:44
centigrade. We went in the river on one
30:47
particular day and it was 0.5, yeah, so it was.
30:52
Went to Sakoy, didn't we? One day.
30:55
Yes, we did. Yes, went up there, yes, and it
30:58
was very slippy on the rock. Oh, that's right, yeah.
31:01
Yeah, yeah. Is that when Charlotte nearly
31:03
went sailed off down the river he.
31:05
Did he did? Yeah, that's right.
31:08
We're the word of caution to our listener while swimming's great
31:11
fun, but do make sure you can get out again.
31:15
We really struggled to get out that river.
31:17
It was the stones were so slippy.
31:19
They were, they were, but we'll, we'll do that again.
31:23
And you're both keen walkers, aren't you as well?
31:26
Yes, we enjoy walking. Yeah, because the the the
31:28
dunkers have got a walking group called the Strollers and I know
31:33
that you both go on lots and lots of walks for that.
31:36
Is that again, just because you can, You've got the time, you've
31:41
got the energy really, I guess. We'd like to do walking.
31:44
We we used to walk in the Lake District with the boys when they
31:47
were at school and the headmaster was a very keen
31:50
Lakeland walkers. So we did a lot of the peaks in
31:53
in the lakes. What did Wainwright call them?
31:58
He had a special name for them. I forget what it was, but it was
32:02
great to do those and I remember one day when we were going up
32:06
Green end. I think it.
32:07
Was great Gable well. Closed some set of hills.
32:13
Isn't it some army? Some soldiers were coming off
32:17
advising us not to go up and and we were taking 9 year olds off
32:23
in a howling Gale. They were actually being lifted
32:26
off their feet. The 9 year olds, do you
32:28
remember? Yeah, well, the one of the boys,
32:30
we thought he'd got his wet weather gear on and it turned
32:33
out his clothes were soaking wet through and he hadn't got his
32:35
wet weather gear on. So we all had to stand around
32:38
him in a circle and try and get some dry clothes on him.
32:43
Yeah, time ago those soldiers, did they have wear the SAS
32:46
badges on their sleeves? Yes, they did.
32:49
Yeah, I thought that. I thought that it's it takes
32:53
also sad and soft. I think we can call that.
32:56
SAS far seen as we live so close to somebody who was in the SAS
33:03
IE it's. Not me.
33:05
It's not me. It's that ventriloquist at the.
33:07
Other end of the table. Folks.
33:09
Exactly, exactly. So I'm going to, I'm going to
33:13
ask 2 questions now. The first is we're, we're coming
33:17
somewhat of a tradition that we, we offer people the, the
33:21
opportunity to answer the question that the previous guest
33:25
has has given to them. And I've got one for you.
33:28
But before that, that I'm going to ask a personal question of
33:31
each of you. And that is Morag.
33:33
If there was anybody, dead or alive, who you'd like to go to a
33:37
dump with, who would it be? My father.
33:40
Nice, nice. Who actually, despite being a
33:45
lighthouse keeper and living by the sea all his life, never ever
33:49
learned to swim. Goodness.
33:51
Really it was very much a thing up in the islands where they
33:56
didn't learn to swim because the view was that if you got into
34:02
the sea you got into difficulties.
34:05
That was it. And in fact it did happen to his
34:07
brother. He went out in a fishing boat
34:11
and the fishing boat capsized and he drowned because he
34:16
couldn't swim. Gosh, yeah.
34:19
Yeah, he went down. Solitary note, isn't it?
34:21
Yeah, yeah. He went.
34:23
Down quickly and Nigel who? Besides the the obvious, I'm
34:28
just thinking, what's going through your mind now?
34:29
Who if who, dead or alive would you like to go to a dunk with?
34:33
I'd go with my mother because she oh would you us dunking.
34:37
When they lived on the South Coast on the Solent, opposite
34:42
the Isle of Wight, my mum used to go in dunking there with
34:45
friends. She didn't do it through the
34:48
depths of winter, but she did it into in.
34:51
November into her 80s. Wow, 80s so yeah.
34:55
And that that was on shingle beaches, which is why I I didn't
34:59
like that. It's we didn't have water shoes,
35:02
we hadn't come across those at the time and she enjoyed that
35:06
with friends who've got beach huts on these beaches.
35:09
So it was great fun. Brilliant, brilliant.
35:11
And the question that has been set for the two of you by our
35:15
previous one of our previous guests was given the water
35:19
temperature varies, are there times when you don't want to
35:22
dunk or are? Or do you just generally think
35:25
all dunkers are nutters? I think despite Andy saying make
35:31
the decision from the beach, not the bed, there's definitely days
35:35
when I look out and it's pouring rain and I make that decision
35:38
from the bed immediately. So I'm not a great one for
35:43
dunking in the rain. Even although we're going to get
35:46
wet. I don't like walking along the
35:49
beach and your dry Rd. getting soaked because it takes days to
35:53
get it to dry there. We go, Nigel, anything to add?
35:59
Well, sometimes I'm trying to persuade her to get out of bed,
36:03
Andy, but it doesn't always work.
36:06
Doesn't it always work? So I I'd probably go in more
36:09
inclement weather, but. Well, as we know from one or two
36:13
really sort of Hurley burly days that yes, I.
36:15
Mean we have dumped in the rain and we've dumped it.
36:17
We've dumped when it's been snowing, I think.
36:20
Yes, absolutely. Yeah, there was snowing on the
36:22
beach. And snow on the beach.
36:24
And I think the hardest days are probably the windy days because
36:29
when you come it's fine. When you're in the sea, it's
36:32
when you come out. It's just so cold.
36:34
But to see the sunrise coming up in the winter days when you're
36:37
going, it's just amazing and it's fantastic to live here and
36:43
see that and see the seasons work.
36:46
The camaraderie isn't. It where we are.
36:49
It is. The mountains and the the sun
36:53
coming up behind the mountains in the winter as we're going in
36:56
and the sky turns red. I mean, it's just, you think how
37:00
lucky are we? Exactly how lucky.
37:02
And with that image in mind, I'd like to say to both of you,
37:05
thank you very much indeed for spending some time with Abasop
37:08
Dunkers and the Dunkers on the Dunkers Podcast.