Swimming on the radio

Swimming on the Radio

Wow, I have been invited to talk on the radio about open water swimming! Lovely, i thought what a great opportunity to get the message across and try to get more people in the water.

Chatting with the shows producer a wonderful lady called Cecile Wright, a fellow open water swimmer who i have swam with in her local waters of Salford docks. Once we got over the initial, will you, yes as you can imagine the conversation turned to swimming, we both share an immense passion for it. The chat was lovely and she is a genuinely lovely woman.

And so on a very cold day with snow mixed in with the rain, i headed off to Middlesbrough BBC Radio studios to link with the BBC in Salford. Arriving the two ladies on reception were lovely showing me where to do and getting cups of tea. 

The room, warm enough and completely silent being insulated to the sounds around us, quite an eerie feeling!  Tea duly arrived and i was left to play with the microphone and headset....the urge to play with the buttons.....huge!

Shall i have a play with the microphone...well go on then might as well while i am here. My daughter in the room with me, so as you can imagine we had a giggle, which almost dissolved into hysterics when a voice came over the headset to say hello! A sound test was carried out then it was time to sit and wait!

So wait we did, playing with the microphone some more....then the voice came on again, informing me that i would be put through to Salford in about 3 minutes to go live on air. Gulp, now why on earth, did that prod my bladder into requiring emptying! Too late now. Listening to the previous interviewees was good fun too and helped take my mind off of impending bladder issues.

And then the moment arrived and it was time to chat on Womans Hour with Jenny Murry, if i succeeded in inspiring only one person to give it a go to me that would be a success. Plus i had put it on facebook that i would be on the radio....you lot make me nervous! Hopefully i did you proud! Here it its go to about the 34 minute mark and have a look

Womans out, got to about 34 mins

It was great fun to do and pleased with the opportunity to promote open water swimming to the everyone...and Jenny..you never know i might just be able to persuade you when the weather improves!

Oh and here is a little extra video, playing before the interview...think i might have a limited career in radio if i was a presenter but it was good fun, and i am not sure if i believe the sound man when i asked him if he had been listening in when i had been playing and he very politely informed me 'he had not ....but if he had he would not disclose!!!' - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YA6fpsF05Ao&feature=plcp

POST 24 HR SWIM....AND STILL WE SWIM!!!!

POST 24 HR SWIM....AND STILL THE WATER CALLS US!!!

So to continue the saga of the 24 hour charity swim....having packed up all the gear Dorothy Mills and I headed...or shall i say attempted to head back to my house in Middleton in Teesdale, not more than 2 minutes up the road and i can tell you i felt decidedly punch drunk and did not feel like driving. The white lines in the middle of the road appeared to invite me to close my eyes and have a nap, my god this was not a pleasant feeling at all. I seriously thought of stopping and just sleeping by the side of the road!!! But the journey was short and i told myself do not look at the road, look ahead, put on loud music.....on second thoughts, cancel that  VERY loud music windows down and go for it.

Oh the drug of the white line, it draws your eye to it, induces you to fall in love with it, your body relaxed, the  tension of supervising a mass 24 hour swim over, the sheer exhaustion of being awake for over 30 hours kicking in..you can feel the motion of the car, its warmth despite the windows being fully down seeping into your body. Oh god this is going to be the journey from hell, Dorothy in her vehicle must have been feeling the same we had both been awake the same amount of time with no rest or sleep! Radio on...loud, nope louder, ears are almost bleeding the volume is so loud but if you ask me now or even at any point in the 40 minute journey home what they played i could not tell you, i was literally driving on autopilot.

The lines if the A66 are complete torture when you are beyond tired, they tempt your eyes to shut, they want  to to drift off to the land of nod, believe me they are seductive! Turning off the A66 and heading through Barnard Castle and out into the countryside the head started to clear, one of my favourite spots looming on the horizon  Many a person will vouch that i can not pass it without stopping to marvel at the view but today it was not going to happen, if i stopped i would fall asleep!

Thankfully the house loomed in front of us, could i even be bothered to get the stuff out of the car, no, straight to the kettle, tea made then sitting down, feeling like a zombie a person virtually incapable of speech slowly slumping towards oblivion. I can remember hearing the words go to bed but could not respond, the eyelids making their own downward passage. And for the next three and a half hours nothing would have woken me and nor did it. I did not hear Dorothy making her way to her own oblivion, but when i awoke feeling marginally better than i had earlier in the day. And what did i awake to - a gloriously sunny day, and i mean it was massively glorious.

Any fatigue i felt appeared to have left my body, and i had a cunning plan.....lets go swimming!!! Yes really! Now i wanted to wake Dorothy but should i, i had the perfect place in mind, somewhere she had mentioned a desire to swim in several times. I would give her another 10 minutes.....and my god they passed slowly!

Right times up...Dorothy....wake up, the suns shining....fancy a swim. The look said it all until Dorothy realised that yes it truely was a wonderfully warm sunny day! From almost comatose with sleep deprevation to pretty much bouncing in seconds....well after a cup of coffee sat in the sunshine. It did not take a lot of persuading and in a jiffy our kit was sorted ready to swim! Leaving him in doors to sort the sunday roast out we headed off, did we give a time for returning....as if!!

Heading off, yes we were tired but we had had the power nap as required and were both looking forward to where we were going to swim, you have to bare in mind that this is a lady who's company i cherish and who i was looking forward to swimming with, we share our outlooks, sense of humour and our love of swimming. Its purely a delight to be in her company and to be able to surprise her gave me as much delight as i hoped it would give her.

Arriving at our destination you would not think we had been up for over 30 hours with little food or sleep, the sun beating down on us made us almost childlike in our approach, it could have been howling a gale, we were keeping a promise we had made that we would swim here and here we were at the entrance like kids scrumping for apples ,feeling a  little naughty but knowing we were going to do it regardless! But it felt great to have the sun warming us, the anticipation of the cold water awaiting us, we both knew this was going to be special.

Dorothy as per norm san wetsuit; me with, we got ready and headed into the water. I swear any thought of sleep leaving our bodies as the cold water hit us and wow it was chilly. Instant wake up and huge grins. It was a must that we swam to and under the waterfall to see the view from the other side. The water quite a bit more forceful than my last swim there, but still doable!

Pushing through the force of the water we were able to sit on a blackened ledge. For two fully grown up women we were grinning like children and acting not dissimilar but it was amazing. The sunlight lighting up the droplets of water as they bounced all around us, it was like viewing the world through a veil of diamonds.

And yes when the sun hits the water it really does appear golden!

It really was the tonic we needed, Dorothy even encouraged me to go sans suit...now for those of you that have ever worn a suit then taken it off its like a double shock to the system, just when you thought you were numb before...you weren't but you soon will be!

Looking rather like a dying swan as i struggled not to go in face first, hearing Dorothy's chuckles behind me! But i managed to steady myself and then sans suit ducked under. The icy cold of the water rapidly removing any traces of warmth that the wetsuit had afforded me. Quickly though the body adjusted and wow it was wonderful. The picture taken by Dorothy though shows my initial shock at the cold!

Swimming and dipping until the cold got to us, then it was time to reluctantly get out, dress and have a wander. Its only a small area but so pretty. There are infact 3 waterfalls, the lower i would not swim in due to all the tree debris that falls into it, the upper yet to be explored.

waterfall number 1

Wandering round with camera's clicking , and then off for a quick drive round the area before returning to sit in the sun with a glass or two of wine and just relax and chat. Before enjoying a sunday roast,  a few more drinks a lot  more chat then to bed for a well earned rest, what an amazing weekend with a valued friend!