Argyll and Bute take the plunge for New Year

ON New Year’s Day across Argyll and Bute, locals and visitors alike launched themselves into 2026 with a refreshing and decidedly bracing tradition: the New Year Dook.
Temperatures may have hovered around freezing, but that didn’t deter dozens of enthusiastic groups from plunging into the icy waters of our lochs and coastline to celebrate the start of a new year.
The New Year’s Dook is a relatively modern Scottish tradition, but it draws heavily on much older ideas about cleansing, renewal and starting the year afresh.
The word dook simply means to dip or plunge into water, and while Scots have long believed in the restorative power of cold water, the organised New Year’s Day Dook is thought to have emerged in the late 20th century.
Its most famous home is South Queensferry, where the Loony Dook began in the late 1980s as a small group of friends taking a tongue-in-cheek dip in the Firth of Forth after Hogmanay celebrations.
What started as a dare quickly grew into a public spectacle and later a charity event, inspiring similar plunges across Scotland.
The tradition also echoes much older folk beliefs. In Scottish culture, water has long been associated with purification and healing, and many pre-Christian customs involved ritual washing to cast off bad luck and welcome new beginnings. Combined with Hogmanay’s deep importance in Scotland—historically more significant than Christmas—the New Year’s Dook fits neatly into the idea of physically and symbolically washing away the old year.
Over time, the dook has evolved from a post-boozy bravado challenge into something more inclusive, and for many it’s as much a social event as a personal challenge. Local clubs, community groups and even a few determined pets joined in this year.
In Argyll and Bute, ringing in the new year with a cold-water plunge is becoming a beloved way to embrace the fresh start ahead—and to do it together.