A couple of years ago, I noticed a rope hanging from a tree on the shore on the other side of the lake towards the sandy peninsula. It had been tied very high above the water around a branch of a massive tree. No idea how they did that but it created a great swinging rope. I thought some day we should give it a try.
On a visit to the cottage in July our nieces Charlotte and Rowan, upon hearing about it, convinced us that day had come.
There's a natural platform about 6 feet above the water's edge from which you launch yourself over the water and it gets deep fast enough that it's a pretty safe. It's important to hold on tight though and to let go at the right time, ideally when you've reached the point when you momentarily stop and are about to swing back.
While the girls were brave, they were smart enough to ask uncle Neil to go first so they could be certain the rope and the tree would hold them. Once that test succeeded, we had lots of fun taking turns dropping off from about six feet above the water into the deep.
Above: Testing the rope. What are uncles for anyway?
