Budvar’s man in the North, Jonathan “Eric the Blood Axe” Barnes (right) pictured with fellow Whitby Vikings before a Boxing Day Charity swim in Whitby bay. He reckons he completed all of three yards in the ice cold water before retiring to the mead hall. According to Barnes membership of the Whitby Vikings is restricted to non-Whitby males who carry off Whitby women. Actually this is by the politically correct route of marriage , a pale shadow of the great Viking rape and pillage days that would make Barnes seem a big girl’s blouse to the real Blood Axe, but at least he raised £400 for charity with his Boxing Day splash.
