KH
Another frosty night....
MG, SW and I, with dogs, meet at Cogden – my suggestion as it’s my favourite stretch of the Chesil beach, wilder and more open and, especially now at half-term, emptier than anywhere else. The sky is brilliantly blue, the sun warm, the wind barely a whisper, and the bouncy waves of the last few days have died down to leave just a lacy edge of foam on the shore line. In other words conditions are PERFECT, almost identical to those of about three weeks ago when MG and I swam here, except for the fact that the water temperature has dropped after some very cold nights.
I leave my swimsuit in the car and have to race back up the hill and down again by which time I am positively hot. SW and MG are waiting, warming themselves in the sun. We discuss how many calories are burned up by cold water swimming – a lot surely but perhaps not equal to the five slices of toast/fry ups/double hot chocolate you feel is your due. We delay no longer and are straight in. Percy wades into the foam and then retreats and takes up his lifeguard duties. It’s cold but not colder, or so it seems to me. But I keep my head out of the water, unlike MG and SW. I think we will soon need hats and fantasise about a flowery turban. When we arrived the beach was entirely empty – though you could see crowds at Burton – but as we swim a few walkers and dogs appear on the shingle, bundled up in coats. They stare at us – respect? Incredulity? I no longer warm up in the water, at least not completely and I have odd areas of numbness and an ache in my shoulders and upper arms – but it’s possible to stay in, for ten minutes or so. And today the sun gently warms my face as I swim towards it. Having stayed in too long last week – subsequently taking to my bed with two hot water bottles – I’ve learned my lesson and get out before my body temperature drops too far, a little sooner than I really want to get out. We dress quickly and SW hands out little mugs of sweet, milky camp coffee – the perfect post-swim tipple.
MG is looking forward to donning fleecy track suit bottoms post-swim. I wonder about giant fleecy baby-gros. Tomorrow the weather is due to change – rain and wind on the way – so this might be the last of these beautiful October days. Not our last swim we hope.
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