tues 29th may, Hive

Controlled demolition, naked pilates... its all happening on Dorset's beaches. A blissful lunchtime at Hive with MG and KH. The sea a bit scummy but still lovely and the weather was glorious although I think we all got a bit too much sun...

Stub of drystone wall left behind after a recent rockfall - taken apart with pneumatic drill and knocked over the edge to make safer..

SW

monday 28th may 2012, west bay

 10.00 am; incredibly lucky to be here on sunny, quiet day.. 

..the thrift all out now, a purple band between the green and the gold. Sea warm and lovely but a bit murky. A fantastic early swim, quick sunbathe then back to making pots. Bliss.

-o-0-o-

8.30 pm; an extra swim with MG, freshly returned from London

sat 26th May, west bay

Just read MG comments - good timing, we have all been scattered and quiet. And I have unfortunately few salty tales... Hope the others have been more adventurous. Well done MG for keeping up the urban dips - how long till you try out a canal? Or the Thames??

It had been a ridiculous break of nearly a month... being unable to summon the enthusiasm to swim amongst the sewage and thwarted by south west storms on every recent visit to Dorset... until today. Escaping the sweaty hoards in town I got home by 5 and went straight to west bay. After some time in sussex a packed west bay beach looks relatively deserted... I even managed to get a free parking spot, winter style. After 5 minutes walk I had the beach almost to myself. Scorching hot, stunningly blue.

The sea was a bit choppy thanks to strong easterly wind but such beautiful views; the classic Dorset  gold, blue and green.  The fulmers were swooping low over the water making me a little apprehensive of dive-bombing. There were quite a few people paddling and swimming though and they all seemed fine, no gouged eye balls or bleeding heads in sight. The water had warmed up a lot since last month (I think mostly in past few days, it seemed to be stuck on 9deg for ages but is now officially up to dizzy heights of 11 but it did feel warmer).

A blissful swim, much longer than last month, barely any brain freeze even with diving, followed by rare treat of laying in the sun to dry off.

while sunbathing I had the odd sight of three swans (apologies for zoom) out to sea, a bit surreal to lay on the beach and watch them float past...

SW

Life in terms of Lido Lengths

MG

Not really blog-worthy, but briefly - a little late-night post work trip to Balham Leisure Centre pool, having finished too late for the Lido (why not stay open a little later lovely Lido??). I'm furious at being in town during the heatwave and any swim is better than none. But churning to and fro I find myself thinking in Lido terms - what would normally be an impressive 50 lengths is an unimpressive 12 (or something) in Lido terms. There's somethning about this that is illustrating the futility of life.

Still, I'm completely decompressed by the swim and walk home thorugh the Mediterranean evening feeling ridiculously relaxed. Vespas buzzing to and fro, people in shorts, and a general tranquility all around. The walk to Balham takes twenty minutes. The walk back, in my state of post-swim tranquility takes forty.

What, meanwhile, alas, has happened to the team?? JJ? SW?? KH?? Where are you? Salty, sunburnt and full of seaside stories I hope, from all your different corners....

How to Look Good while Nearly Dying

Saturday 19th May Tooting Lido

(with many apologies to the genuine heroes of Tooting Lido - among the many Jenny Landreth
and of course The Aquatic Ape )

MG

I'm a little behind with the blogging as I did fit in a swim last weekend (13th May) - a boiling hot day at Burton Bradstock where I sunbathed and read for a few hours before striking off into the clear, cold water for a leisurely swim. It wasn't till I returned home that I realised that my legs didn't always have this peculiar go-faster stripe across my thighs; now branded, I'm going to have to contend with the ridicule for the rest of the summer - yet another good reason not to get sunburnt...

Today I wake up to what I thought was a well-planned day - a trip with EoD to the Tooting Lido on this it's first day open to the public in the new season. EoD blames miscommunication - I blame a yellow stripe - but one way or another I'm on my own. I extricate myself (having failed to convince my housemate who is horribly hungover that an ice cold dip will bring him right back up to par) from the house - and bounce along the roads to the Lido. Swinging through the turn-stile having paid up, I'm slightly taken aback to see not only not a single woman in the pool, but also, not a single person without a wetsuit. And not only wetsuited, but serious, hooded booted turbo wetsuited, passing me by in a blur of white water and churning arms. I'm getting a bad feeling about this. But what can I do? I've paid now and there's no way back.... like Roger Deakin on the shores of the Corryvreckan whirlpool, my swimming costume is suddenly feeling mightily inconsequential. But if there's one thing two years of year-round swimming have taught me, it's how to act confident in the face of certain error and possible imminent death. It's in or nothing.

I emerge from my cubicle where every single eye suddenly seems to be trained on me. In order to appear slightly less "I've gone on holiday by mistake" I ask a leathery old Lido expert ("I've swum through every winter since 1955" - actual quote) the temperature -12 degrees! I can't believe this is right - but I feel a lot less alarmed since the sea is still at a steady 9.5. I adopt an air of nonchalence, sauntering to the side, climbing in and submerging in one fluid movement. And the truth is, it really doesn't feel that cold. In fact it feels blissful and I glide away feeling very proud of myself.

Some lengths later, I feel less proud. 8 lengths of The Lido must be equivalent to 108 lengths of the Bridport leisure centre pool. It's the largest freshwater pool in the country (91.44 metres) and 8 non-stop lengths of front crawl has totally taken it out of me, despite the fact I do swim regularly in Bridport, and have a relative level of fitness. But I'm suddenly overwhelmed by the idea that if I get out now everyone (who?!) will think it's because of the cold. And it's not! I'm not cold! I'm fine! FINE! So I perservere for a few more lengths during which time - as well as the cold beginning to get into my bones - a) a woman in a wetsuit says "Blimey it's cold" does a double take and "Oh my god! You're not wearing a wetsuit!" b) some children thrown into the pool by a father in a fit of ill-placed exuberance emerge blue and shivering to their father attempting to justify his actions "Look at this lady! She's just wearing a costume and she's fine!" If I could get the breath into my lungs long enough to contradict I would.

As a possibly hallucinated flock of south London parakeets chatter overhead I decide I can get out with dignity. I am not only freezing cold and mottled but also completely exhausted. I'm now concerned that I am going to die before I make it off Lido property which will render the whole exercise pointless. Luckily, no. Walking home there's a roaring in my ears, but everything is suffused with a new beauty and calm - whether it's the  relief of escaping alive, the blood returning to my brain, or the truly promising feeling of early summer - as always, it's been worth it.

Wild Swimming France

Yes Please Daniel Start, author of all our wild swimming bibles... very excited about Wild Swimming France (even if he has managed to pigeonhole the world's best job - why didn't I think of it?!).

MG

No Eels Allowed

No dogs or eels allowed in the pie and mash shop in Tooting. Unless they are seeing eels for the blind perhaps?

p.s when before has the expression "no eels" been prefixed by "sorry" rather than "PHEW!" ?!

MG