This month our columnist MARTIN DOREY looks forward to the festive season by the coast
How can it be almost December already? The year has passed by in a flash. Or was it a torrent? Or a deluge? Can’t quite put my finger on it. Even if 2023 wasn’t the sunniest summer on record, the sea temperature will still remain relatively warm until the end of the year. Once January and February take hold the temperatures will drop off a cliff, but for now it remains, stoically, in double figures. Enough to give you a sharp intake of breath but not enough to freeze the whatsits off a brass whatsit.
And that is very good news because, here in Bude, Christmas Day isn’t Christmas Day until the Christmas Day Swim. It’s not a unique phenomenon, of course, because plenty of other seaside towns have their own dips and swims. From flipping freezing Folkestone to
I dare ye Dundee, the mince pie tummies, Santa hats, elven ears and deely-bopper antlers take to the seas.
Christmas time in our house is all about ‘the swim’. It’s the biggest event in the community calendar and raises thousands for Bude Surf Life Saving Club. It’s also a massive social event.
Expect Bob, the local photographer, up to his Speedos in the surf, snapping happily as we wobble our wobbly bits in the winter sun. Then there’s Vicko, one of Bude’s first lifeguards, blowing his whistle bang on 11am to signal to the 600 or more goose-bumped swimmers that it’s time to dash for the breakers.
You might catch sight of the Mayor in fancy dress. And if you are really lucky you could witness the lesser-swimming pub landlord, Ian, proprietor of m
