I'm MAD about water

No swimming here in the icy east, the semi annual bout of plague has struck. The closest I can get to it from my spot on the sofa is a tantalising glimpse of the river outside. However I can share a little unexpected tidbit I came across in the documentary about Diana Vreeland The Eye has to Travel.

JJ

Ringstead, January 6th 2013

 

 

After a categorical fail at Burton Bradstock on the 5th (involving more humiliations than we could number including someone asking our support team, ODG, whether we were doing this "for a bet" as we pranced about shrieking in the surf) AT and I were utterly determined to swim the next day and motored over to Ringstead Bay, the home of calm seas and no-getting-out-of-it. We display quite staggering braveness in the face of the full body peel from the cold, and have a totally fantastic swim, emerging glowing, raucous and alive. The year has finally properly begun.

 

 

2012, The Highlights

It's been a wet, cold, blustery year, but in amongst it all we've had some cracking swims - here are a few of the (mainly unblogged) highlights.....

 

Thanks and love to everyone - the team, our new swimming friends, among them RL, SM, PA, GW and our new heroic mascot Charlie (a black lab who frequently swam out to try and save GW), the jellyfish, the sharks, the biting cold and the balmy warmth, the cakes, the jokes, the injuries, the blue fingers and stabbing pains, the complaints, the thrills and spills. Here's to 2012, all it's highlights and lots of swims ahead in 2013!

 

MG

 

Sweden, November

 

Had this been two years ago.... maybe I would have broken the ice and swum....

 

 

 

As it was, RL and I contented ourselves with extreme toboganning. Oh brave winter swimmers of 2010/11, what happened to you!

 

MG

 

at last

... after a ridiculously long break we manage to combine decent weather and MG and SW all in the same place at the same time...

We both managed to miss swimming completely in October and only had one swim each in September so we were a bit daunted by the idea of going swimming in mid-november.

By the time we made it to West Bay it was gone 4pm and getting dark... at least the water was calm and the beach was looking as beautiful as ever. MG sensibly had her boots and I instantly regretted not having mine. How bad could it be? We used to think November was warm. A few seconds in the surf and my feet were numb. Ouch. We were embarrassingly cowardly and ran from every wave but gradually inched a little deeper and deeper. Finally we ducked under and swam for about a minute - then out to gasp a bit and then back in for another minute or two. Following our second dip I ran back to get changed (being cautious as I have lost all my bodyfat after being ill and have really turned into a bit of a wimp) while MG continued for a third hair-washing swim.

As always we felt fantastically invigorated afterwards - especially pleased to be albe to still get in (just!) after such a long break and feel we could get hooked again very quickly...

North Norfolk weekend Sept 15-18th

Much swimming during a long weekend in North Norfolk with family. The whipping north winds made it feel freezing despite the blue sky and this combined with average 1 hour walk from car to swim point meant that all swims kept brief to avoid hypothermia. Felt a bit pathetic in September and the sea was a fine temperature but those winds are mean!

First stop Wells, the main beach was really busy with families enjoying the autumn sun. Started with a swim in the deep cool channel which cuts across the expansive beach - massive sand flats on the other side of the channel are only accessible by swimming across and so its totally deserted yet within earshot of all the sunbathers and families playing games. A bit of a surreal contrast.

After lunch a long long trek across empty sands to the sea at low tide followed by long wading through shallow water until eventually deep enough to dive under. The sea water much warmer than the channel, positively balmy. Treated to beautiful sight of a seal in the water with us, head bobbing up and down a few times about 100m away.

Next stop Thornham. Stunning walk across empty salt march to a vast empty beach - sand as far as the eye can see with a silvery glimmer in the distance betraying the ocean. I had forgotten just how vast this place is at low tide.

Much like at Wells beach there is a wide creek which crosses the beach and makes for good swimming when the sea seems just too far away. This creek is lovely for its emptyness. Not another person in sight. In fact nothing in sight except sand, sky and water.

Final swimming stop was Scolt Head Island. A long held favourite spot. A sand-bar island which can be reached on foot at low tide by wading across creeks and marshes while trying very hard not to fall over in the deep oozy mud...

...All the slipping and sliding is worth it for the stunning sight on arrival at this deserted island paradise. 

As always the swimming was a bit distant and the winds were really strong (no problem for waves which would keep us from swimming in Dorset, instead the problem is freezing on the hour long trek back) so we opted for another creek swim. The tide was still going out at this point so we had to be careful - being swept out to sea a real danger here. A run, a dive, a quick swim then a dash back to clothes before the wind chill kicked in. Brief but lovely!

SW / EW

September 4th, Cogden - sprats!

Swimming at Cogden with MG amongst the fishes. The early evening sea was boiling with mackerel and their prey. A bit odd having so much activity going on around you... what if all those fish attract a bigger predator...? Luckily all remained clear on that front. 

We saw a man from Bristol cast a net into the shallows and pull out a bulging sack of silvery sprats. Congratulating him on his catch and asking where we could get our hands on such a net he very generously gave us handfuls of his sprats to take home for tea. Being bag-less we got changed and wrapped the fish up in our swimming costumes. Floured and fried they were delicious eaten whole - probably a bit too big as some of the crunching was a bit disconcerting but the flavour and freshness was unbeatable.

SW