Comedy couple renew vows on wild swimming tour

Couples who swim together, stay together - especially in the freezing cold waters around Scotland.

Julie Wilson Nimmo, who played Miss Hoolie in the popular children's show Balamory, and Still Game's Greg Hemphill are back with a new series of Jules and Greg's Wild Swim.

In the episodes, the comedy pair tour wild swimming spots around Orkney, Shetland and the Outer Hebrides in their trusty campervan.

And they made sure to mark 25 years of marriage by renewing their vows at an Orkney chapel built by Italian prisoners of war.

The ornate building has become one of Orkney's top tourist attractions.

"Just as the chapel was lovingly crafted, you have built a life together," a priest officiating the service tells them.

"Twenty-five years ago, you made promises to each other. I invite you to recall the vows you made on your wedding day."

After the ceremony, Jules says: "I think my mum's going to love this.

"Even though she'll be raging she's missed it for the second time."

The couple eloped to Las Vegas in 1999.

"I actually thought he'd fell over because we'd had a few drinks," Jules says of the proposal.

"But then I turned round and he was on his knee and he said, 'Do you want to get married here?'"

The couple tied the knot on board a hot air balloon 1,500ft (457m) in the air of the Nevada countryside.

"Then we went back to the hotel and had two beers and two hot dogs because we had no money left," Greg adds.

Throughout the series, the couple tour the islands with some special guests including their two sons Benny and Chevy and dog Bonnie.

After her sons moved away from home in the same month, Jules says she felt "like my arm had been cut off."

"You want nothing more than them to be independent and be their own people," she says.

"But then when they go, the house goes very quiet."

The boys pick up their parents from the tiny airport on the most western inhabited island in the Hebrides, Barra.

They arrive on the only commercial flight in the world that lands on a beach.

Landings have to be timed precisely as the runway gets washed away twice a day by the tide.

This starts their tour of the islands, covering areas 200 miles west and 500 miles north, with breathtaking views in every location.

The trip takes them swimming around remote caves near Stornoway, as well as the wild Atlantic coast off Benbecula.

On the drive down to Vatersay, Greg, who grew up in Montreal, peers out to sea.

"Look how far west we are," he says. "The next stop west is Canada."

The pair make sure safety always comes first in each swimming location.

By the beach in Vatersay, they observe choppy waters and decide against a dip.

"You would not swim in that," Jules says. "I know we love to swim, but you've got to respect the sea."

In each spot, Jules and Greg meet locals who learned how to swim in the shallow waters around their islands and swear by the mental and physical benefits of a freezing cold dip.

They speak to people who run a Gaelic cafe, distillery owners and farmers - as well as a couple of friendly seals.

Local postmistress Jeanette joins them for a dip and tells the couple how she started swimming in Barra after her daughter, who has MS, found it helped with her symptoms.

And Norma, who runs boat tours off Stornoway, says: "It's the only thing that rids you of what's going on in your head.

"If you're stressed, if you're tired, if you're not feeling well and you need to connect to something, I think the cold water and the sea really does it."

Another woman, called Mhairi, tells how she started swimming regularly in the open water after her husband died.

"My life was completely manic," she says.

"But I didn't swim for grief, I swam more to have something for me. It was a way to escape and have freedom."

After his first swim of the day, Greg considers how quickly his mood changed.

"I really needed that, I think I was a bit grumpy this morning," he admits.

"And I realised it's because I hadn't been swimming."