The return to this amazing venue was a certain, at the back end of 2012 Alison Darley and myself took to Capernwray's clear waters for a dip after coaching, the water was cooling in the autumn months but the sun was glorious as we followed it round the quarry in our attempts to seek out its final warmth of the day.We were the only two swimmers in the water and the area was silent other than the evening calls of the resident birds. The divers in the water showed their presence by the surfacing of the bubbles as they broke the waters glassy surface. Swimming around taking in the visions below us, the water the clearest it had been all summer (it tends to get EVEN clearer as the water cools), we found the diving bell, never been seen before by either of us, we were just two grinning swimmers as you can imagine! And then far below us we spied two divers, their yellow fins standing out in the blue of the water. Without speaking as telepathically agreed we followed the divers by their bubbles, large and small rising from the depths bring fresh waves of cold water with them. I am not sure how long we followed them for before the magical moment happened. At the same time we both realised we could see our own reflections in the larger bubbles as they rose. In sync we stopped swimming and at the same time said 'bubbles' to each other. Then it was heads down and grinning under the water we watched ourselves get bigger in the milky surface of the bubbles as they rose, we stay in until the water chilled us to the point of shivering. Our only disappointment - not a camera with us, we had left them in the car and were too chilled to get out and re-enter the water again - we vowed to return.
The winter has seemed soooo long, too long when you are waiting to return to a venue you love but finally we could wait no longer, it had to be done, dates booked and announced, swimmers adding themselves as attending. The water was around 9 to 10 degrees, the sun shining and an added bonus of 3 divers who very generously had repsonded to a request to share their bubbles with us. Steve Smith, Stuart Sanderson and Mark Fairhurst had kindly agreed to meet us and let Alison and i track their bubbles - this time cameras charged and ready to click away! I had arranged to meet Steve at Capenwray, it would be easy, i would be wearing a wetsuit, him a black drysuit and with yellow fins...i mean how hard can it be!!! Other than the fact that people rarely look like their facebook photo (oh yes there are those that put pics of themselves aged 4 on or even better their cat!), but given the discription we were sure to spot each other, confident i arrived at the venue...to find it packed full of vans...and divers and oh yes they all had black dive suits on and you would not belive how many were carrying yellow fins!!! Needle in a haystack time!!! After asking around 6 men in black, high are you Steve...i gave up asking when the 6th told me no he wasn't but he could be if i wanted him to be!!! Phew how hard was this going to be, then suddenly a male approach...oh thank the lord...Steve was there!!! Introductions made, he and his friends had arrived and brought their under water cameras too...yippeee I was really looking forward to this! The guys went off to get their kit, us swimmers changed and to the waters edge. The sun really lending its warmth to us, astonished divers exiting the water were astonished at our plans to swim, 'we have drysuits on and we are cold..you guys are hardcore they said' We must have looked like we knew what we were doing, 20 neoprene clad swimmers all grinning practically itching to get in the water. Group photo taken...it was time to get in....at this point even people in the cafe had come out to take pictures of us getting in!
The intital bite of the water hitting us as we entered, its clarity permitting fleeting glimpses of the fish, who used to the divers feeding them obvioulsy thought that we had brought a buffet with us for them to feast on...those new to swimming and having never been to capenwray dealt with the sudden intrusion with great dignitiy but yes there were a few squeals and whoops!!
Left - Where is it and will it touch me!!!!
eeeeeek...the fish are over here!!!!
Divers stood around watching our entry...it was swift...no hesitation...other than the ritual....warming of the wetsuit...Vanessa Christie and i have literally got this down to a fine art now...almost syncronised you could say!! What do you reckon Ness...a wee smile!!!!
Swimmers do what swimmers do and headed off exploring the sights below them, stopping to admire their surroundings, their shouts of 'look at this', 'oh this is amazing' echoed round the watery cavern.
Alison got busy finding our divers....yellow fins...thats what we were looking for!!! We found them...the bubble hunt commenced. Thankfully Steve knew what we were after and he and his friends set about making sure we were getting them. It must have looked quite strange to anyone watching, the other swimmers blasting round and then us too virtually prone in the water, the occasional kick of the legs to keep up with the divers. But we wanted bubbles ...and its bubbles we got!
There was a particular shot that we were trying to get. Our reflection mirrored in the bubble which is what we spotted the previous year...would we find it or was it a one off last year never to be seen again. The divers at this point were relatively shallow in the water (for divers that is), but slowly they moved deeper, thankfully the blue and yellow fins meant that they were were still visible.
One thing we had not anticipated or to be honest even thought of was the temperature..on the top of the water where we were it was around 10...but the bubbles that the divers were releasing from the depths ...were so much colder and that in turn made us soooo much colder! Have we got the shot we wanted...it was hard to tell, our own body temperature kept steaming up our goggles, the cold was making us start to shiver. Oh for it to have been a red hot day (few and far between i know) We knew we would have to return in the warmer months to keep trying...even if we did have the shot we wanted. Here is the one i am most pleased with:
The divers bubbles were cooling us down rapidly by now, we really should have got out 10 minutes before we did but it was a such an amazing sight to watch our reflections growing larger as they headed towards us, having them burst over us. Vanessa came over just at the point we had decided to get out, leaving her with the bubbles, we headed to the showers. Oh the warmth of the cafe was calling!
Warmed as much as we can be, we headed up to the cafe for warm drinks and food. Time to get the camera out to prove everyone made it out alive...and they did and they all had big grins too or maybe that was the frigid waters fixing their faces into position. But here are a selection of the post swim, trying to warm up pics.
Apparently this food came with chips....!!!
20+ Tired but smiling swimmers headed home, all of us suitably warmed up, they enjoyed the water, the fish came to say hi and observed us from below, the sights greeted us....a great day by one and all. See you all again soon!!
