An Egyptian decarbonisation engineer, Amr Madbouly, has become an enthusiastic advocate of Welsh nature and cold water swimming. Despite growing up in Cairo, a city with average air and water temperatures that do not dip below 20C throughout the year, he now regularly plunges into freshwater in Welsh rivers and waterfalls, rising from his bed at home in Bridgend at 5am each day to do so. The 34-year-old discovered his love for the country after his girlfriend (now his wife) sent him pictures of the Welsh countryside when they first met aged 17. He said he was motivated to move closer to mountains and waterfalls of the Brecon Beacons National Park, and found employment to do so at Port Talbot’s Tata steelworks.
Madbouly said the sharp contrast between Cairo and Wales is one of the things that makes his new home so appealing. “When you have so much heat and sun in your life you long for cold and you’re like, finally, it’s colder now. I love it,” he said. Madbouly only goes into the water if it is safe and has warned inexperienced people to be careful with cold exposure. Doctors initially wanted to put him on immunosuppressant medication after he was diagnosed with arthritis, but agreed that lifestyle changes might help. Madbouly found a passion for cold-water swimming and says he has seen an improvement in his arthritis symptoms. He says he also feels better in general, with a lift in his mood and a decrease in depression
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