aliholli: August 2021

THE DEE MILE 2021

THE DEE MILE

Saturday 7th AUGUST 2021 5pm

and the support crew for the Annual Dee Mile were ready.

It was nice and colourful down by the river...

...and the suspension bridge's golden baubles were positively gleaming.

The first Dee Mile was swum in 1822

It starts at the RED HOUSE pub (which isn't red, it's white) and the swimmers swim downstream round the bend, the Crook of the Dee, to finish under the suspension bridge . Which actually measures A MILE AND A QUARTER not a mile. Hmmm.

Depending on the tide, the winning time can be about 20 minutes or even 33 minutes.

To be THE CHAMPION OF THE DEE you must win (!), swim without a wetsuit and live within 5 miles of the Cross in Chester's City Centre.

Here comes the winner.

The finish.

There were some high arms as swimmers tried to see where they were going.

Here comes Handbags Claire.

And hubby was there at the finish with her furry onesie.

DRINK THAT COKE, Claire.

Disinfect your insides.

I know it was raining but I'm not sure how I was wetter then her, and how she still had her lippy on at the end?!! =) But I DO know SHE DRANK HER CAN OF COKE.

Meanwhile... on another river...The Trent... Emsk was with Natasha!

SOPHIE ON THE DEE

We accidentally had Soph TO OURSELVES (Louie had fallen asleep) and it was ACE!

We got on a boat!

We sailed The Dee.

Soph met the cormorant.

The cormorant was one of a set of 4 other willow bird sculptures that had been created 2 years ago for Grosvenor Park to mark 130 years of the RSPB and were built by local artist Sarah Gallagher-Hayes.

Soph had a rainbow lolly.

This arch is the old SHIPGATE, built of red sandstone, and was the 5th of Chester's gates into the city,. It now stands just outside the city walls in Grosvenor Park.

The archway was an entrance to the city from the area of the docks on the banks of the River Dee. It was in the southern section of Chester city walls, west of Bridgegate. The arch was built for a Norman earl in the early 12th century when the walls were extended to the south and west of those built by the Romans to defend the fortress of Deva Victrix In the early 19th century the gaol at Northgate was demolished and a new gaol was built at the southern extremity of the city. When the gaol yard was added, it necessitated the demolition of the section of the wall that included the Shipgate. The structure was moved in 1831 to the southwestern corner of Grosvenor Park where it now stands.

The Grosvenor train was running!

And as we'd parked in Tesco, we nipped in to get some stuff.

"She won't sit in the trolley" said her Dad.

"She will" said NaNaBub.

She did.

They couldn't go back up North without a digging session. ..and the sand in VX park was good!

VX and the ASHTON FAIRIES

Mondays are Square One days.

So I did my class as usual.

And was joined afterwards by SGB and LRB.

OMG it was like having a creche!

Yippeeeee =)

But we had fairies to find.

They were in Ashton somewhere so Drake and Soph swapped car seats (oooh ...the responsibility..) and off we went to find them.

Andrew was the brother of Gaynor, one of my aqua ladies, who told me he had died at 31 of Sudden Adult Death Syndrome and the fairy trail had been set up in his memory.

It was really cute.