The weather’s taken a turn for the worse on the coast, with grey clouds covering up the blue sky, and delivering rain showers through the day. So we went swimming to the outdoor pool! Well, the pools are thermally heated, so instead of being cool, they’re heated to a range of temperatures between 31 degrees (coldest!) to 39 degrees. And so swimming in the rain is unique, when you’ve got your body boiling, and your head and shoulders getting attacked by pin-pricks of freezing cold raindrops. The rising steam gives it a slightly mystic feel too.

As the rain carried on in the afternoon, we went to ‘The Rock Face’, which is an indoor climbing centre in the town. We haven’t seen these kind of facilities at home – it was in a warehouse, and all the walls were covered in climbing holds. It cost £6 for each of the girls for all day climbing. There were lots of adults and children, trying out the different routes and levels of difficulty. Charlotte, who’d been rock climbing at Christmas, was straight into the harness and off up the wall.

Emily didn’t need any encouragement either. As soon as she had her harness on she was away, up the wall. I had to call her back to attach the rope to her! Although it was a little more difficult for her, because the hand holds were set too far apart at times, she managed to get three-quarters of the way up the wall, and quickly got into the hang of abseiling back down again for another go. We went there because we were looking for an indoor activity for a rainy day, but the girls enjoyed it so much I suspect we’ll be looking for a climbing centre when we get home.