BASHED BY BUTTERMERE

BASHED BY BUTTERMERE!

 I swear that when i went up to Buttermere in the Lake District and swam a fortnight ago, the sun was shining, the lake was mill pond flat hence the reason i came home and rushed to organise a social swim for one and all. Sunday the 11th of September, however, it was a totally different story, we swam in the tail end of hurricane Katia so as you can imagine the conditions could not have been more different. Stood around in the rain outside the Croft House Cafe, waiting to see if anyone would turn up i was really pleased when a gaggle of wetsuit clad persons came bowling down the road, geared up and ready to go!!! Yes it was game on!!! We hung around for a bit, before deciding it was actually better to have your wetsuit on rather than standing around in the rain which was doing its best to penetrate the area's i did not know i had on my body. Changing on a bench is another new one for me too, the puddles were so deep and large you could not do it at ground level. Lord only knows what the customers in the cafe next to us thought as they huddled over hot coffee watching Pat .....and me get changed in the storm. Clothes stored in the car, we decided to wait around a little bit longer for the stragglers and sure enough along came Kate Upshall Davis and Alison O'Brian. Get changed quickly i shouted and join us asap. It was superb to see so many people turn up on such a wet and windy day, some of whom had traveled quite a distance to get there.

The group, approximately 17-18 of us plodded up the road and headed towards the lakeside. Michael and Ann Harrison had turned up with their children, who had a less than pleased look at having to stand around in the rain. Unusually for social swims we had the offer of a safety kayaker in the form of Ian Mulvey and his partner Emma, and their dog who had organised a triathlon the previous day. Ian had arrived early to check the lake out for where he would need to be positioned in order to help out. Due to the weather he ran the risk of overturning so he requested that we swim over to the left hand side of the lake and swim up and back that way. I gave a very quick briefing to the group and we all got in the water. Buttermere is wonderful in that it is very shallow for quite a way then shelves off sharply into nicely deep water. What is not so pleasant is the stones, its mainly slate, which is particularly unkind to the bottom of your feet, it was actually easier to get in up to your knees then just go for it.

Now to say that the weather was NASTY was an understatement, wind howling down the length of the lake, rain that when it hit your face felt like a million pins and could be felt through your wetsuit.

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Dorothy getting pelted by the rain

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Some of the swell!

We were actually swimming through the tail end of hurricane Katia and it was going to be challenging. When i had set to organise the swim i had initially stated that the idea would be that we start to swim the length (and back) of the lakes, having tackled Grasmere on Kate's birthday this was the next one on the list. All of a sudden it did not seem like a good idea, i had invited these people, some of which had traveled a good few hours to get there and now it looked like we might not be able to even do one length.  We decided to see what it was like when we swam the width of the lake over to the left hand side as requested by Ian.  This proved to be difficult in itself, the waves pounding us from the right coupled with the shallowness of the water meant that progress was slow, but at least it gave us a chance to adjust goggles and wetsuits. Finally getting over to the left hand side, we all seemed to non verbally agree it was game on, we were going to go for the two lengths.

Looking around us we could see two other groups of swimmers starting to head out into the water, i knew one of those groups would be Dorothy,Ann,  Alison O'Brien, Sam Plum Pat Maycroft and Kate, the other group i could not quite make out who was in it. Our little group made the decision to swim on, there were enough in each of the other groups that they would be ok together.

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Boot the dog!!!

And off we went, because of the waves you still could not see the furthest point of the lake that we were meant to be swimming towards. Despite the fact that each wave seemed to punch you, we all managed to relax and get in a steady rhythm, stopping every now and then to make sure everyone was alright and to chose the next point of land to sight on. The men were evenly paced as were there women, it was comforting to know that they stopped for us to see we were ok but also reassuring to have them along as well. We even had Boot the dog along with us...his speed in the water put us to shame!!!

Sheet of rain heading towards us!!

The lake is one and a quarter miles long, which does not sound alot but when you are getting bashed by waves, hit by sheets of rain that in themselves made you stop swimming, wind and mist, it does seem like a lot longer, the temperature varied too, from 11 to 14 degrees. There was no choice but to keep on moving.At one point we stopped to see how we were all doing, it was at this point that i realised that Geoff was not with us...strange i thought for him to not be there but the last swim had made him feel ill with the swell and this was a swell and a half so i thought that might be it and carried on swimming....only days afterward did he let me know why he had not continued to swim with us. When i asked him why he had not joined us he said he did not know how far we were swimming..my reply well i don't know why not i put it on facebook...the look on his face said it all....for a start he does not have facebook (this i know!) and for seconds we are courting so you would have thought i would have let him know!!!! Thankfully he saw the funny side but is now seriously considering getting facebook so he knows what swims i have organised and all the details...oops For the record he is now considering himself a facebook widow!!! A one point i was in awe in the water as Martin Ord swam inbetween myself and Jill Briggs, the ease in which he glided through the water in such rough conditions made me feel like a novice!!!

Anyway i digress, on we swam until we reached a point sticking out on the land, this little peak of land offered a modicum of shelter from the battering we were receiving from the weather and the waves. There was no discussion  of getting out or turning back, where to next, the land sight was pointed out and after getting our breaths back in we went back to the deep. Now on land when you sight something it has the illusion of not looking that far, however, when you are in the water it can seem like a lifetime til you see shallow water again. Occasionally when i sighted i could see the headlights of cars as they rounded the corners, most slowed down, probably to wonder what on earth we were doing.  Then finally the water started to turn a slightly lighter colour, then stones and rocks came into view....these gradually got smaller in size until wow here we were in the shallows by the land. All of us looked drunk as we tried to stand up so sitting on the pebbles in the water became the preferred option, open water swimming has a habit of doing that to you but i have never figured out why, is it the lack of straight sides, no lines to follow, the fresh air, if you know i would love to find out! Debbie Taylor was the last to reach shore, smiling but cursing she informed us that her wetsuit was broke. To an open water swimmer that is tantamount to a disaster, turning round we could see the back of her wetsuit gaping open. She informed us that her suit had been filled with water while she was swimming, it must have been like trying to swim with a bag of mud on your back. We quickly ascertained that the zip of the suit had come undone and refastened it, she must have been freezing at this point, note to self, make sure all wetsuits are secured prior to swimming. A weaker swimmer would have struggled but Debbie soldiered on!

one way done, found shelter....it was not to last!!

   Martin Ord had his underwater camera with him, group picture he said...oh now we have a problem. Do you remember that feeling when you go to the dentist and he numbs your mouth for a filling and you can't tell what shape your mouth is making, well the cold from the water had given the same effect, i was not sure if i was smiling or not, i felt like i was making some sort of grimace type smile. Mentioning this to the group there was a chorus all round to the affirmative that they were the same. Huddling together we smiles/grimaced as Martin took the picture, only afterwards did i think to myself that we did not have a record of him doing the first lap, so i here by confirm that he did, and the second too!!!  

 
After a brief rest and before we got too cold it was time to head for the deep again and make our way back. The rain nor wind had not let up its almost murderous approach. In the little sheltered bit where we were huddled it looked calm but we knew that that would change rapidly once we got swimming. And sure enough it did, heading back to the point where we had previously stopped we could see the next group in the water following our path, Ian, Emma and the dog along side them for support. We had not been in the water 10 minutes when BANG, what on earth was that, in mid stroke turning my head to breath i found i could not move for the force of the rain pelting down on me, stopping to see what was going on i could see that we had all stopped, the rain had surrounded us completely and we could not see through it. nor it seemed could we physically move.  Looking up all i could see was the rain swirling round above our heads. What on earth was going on, we were all stuck, literally could not move in the water. Then as quickly as it came the rain released us from its grasp and carried on its path down the length of Buttermere. After quick shouts of what on earth was that we got on with the task at hand. Had we held still a little longer we would have seen the mini tornado as it was later described to me by Ian heading down the lake, he said that he could see it heading towards us and was transfixed but it, then all of a sudden he and Emma completely lost sight of us such was its heaviness, then suddenly we came briefly into view again before the tornado headed down the lake...and straight towards Ian who was sat in the water on his kayak with Emma and the dog. Ian stated that he has never paddled so hard to get out of the water as he knew that they would have been flipped off and lost the kayak to the other end of the lake. Scary when you think of it but at the time when we are all in the water it just felt like some massive force had stopped us going forward. 
 Swimming on you could tell that the wind had picked up, the idea of swimming to the furthest point that was sticking out became an impossibility as the wave pummeled and pushed us towards another area. There was nothing for it but to dig deep to make land! Landing not far short of our target are, we were all breathing pretty hard at this point, 'what on earth was that ' was the general formation of words as we grouped together oblivious as to what had just hit us. Trying to sight the point of land where we had entered took some doing, you could not see people, just a field of sheep. As long as they did not move to another field we would be ok!!! The men at this point showed their upper body physical strength as they plowed on ahead of us through the water, thank fully they did stop on a regular bases to see where we were. Our lack of upper body strength meant that our progress was slow going but we were able to maintain a steady pace.

the two wayers....!!

yep the weather was not good!!!

Dom with a big puddle!!!

The swim itself, undoubtedly difficult, was also so enjoyable. Its wonderful to turn up in the sunshine (a rarity in the uk) to a pan flat lake and get in to swim, its equally as wonderful to rise to the challenge of swimming in near impossible conditions. Loads of races had been cancelled that weekend due to the adverse weather conditions, but that did not stop us. The only difficulty we faced at this moment in time was finding the place where we had enter the water. Unbeknown to us a group of Japanese tourists had stopped, photographed and chatted with one of the other groups, it would have been interesting to get their perspective on what we were doing. 

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 In the cafe prior to swimming we had looks of disbelief and astonishment about what we were going to do. Comments of are you insane and you must be mad, flooded our way. But its what we love to do and rather than shying away from the condition we faced it head on, given that i had organised the swim i was in two minds what to do, cancell the swim and disappoint people, let everyone swim and disaster happen or let everyone swim and it be a success.

that rain hurt even in a wetsuit!

 Thankfully it was the later. Everyone entered the water and everyone left the water. Massive grins would soon give way to painful muscles and aches which for some would last several days. Pat had never though that she could or would be able to complete the distance (i had given people the option of doing as little or as much as they wanted), but because she has a group of people around her and the Ian on the kayak it was made possible for her, a real acheivement. Like i say it is not often if ever that you have a support boat with you on a social swim so it made it special that they were there and helping people reach new heights in open water swimming. Its now something i will consider for future swims where distance is involved as the level of reassurance it gave is borne out but the numbers of us that managed to complete the two lengths.

Once we got to the end of the lake it was time to turn right and make our way along the width of the lake again. Now you would think this would be the easy part but not this time. Muscles had tightend up, some of us had rub marks from the wetsuits, general tiredness had set in after all a swim that should have taken not much over an hour had lasted almost two. Dragging our neoprene clad bodies along the shoreline it was great to suddenly spot a bright orange coat in the distance, heading for that soon brought us back to where we had started. Dominic, Pete Kelly and Martin were already their looking as happy but tired. 

From the grins at the end I would say the swim was a success, acheivements had been made, some had to dash off as long journeys awaited them, for others we could langish in the cafe and warm up.

David wishing it was warmer!!!

 Some needed it more that others after swimming sans wetsuit, i can confirm that David Donaldson as now dashed out and bought one!!!
And for those of you unsure of what buttermere can look like, here are some taken by Dorothy Mills, Buttermere calmed!

Emails and facebook later confirmed that we had all had a fab day, muscles were beyond sore in some cases, some had achieved personal satisfaction of swimming further than they ever had, others they had met that challenge of swimming in extreme conditions. Would i organise another one.....oh yes, plans are afoot, after all why stop at one expance of water when there are so many in the lake district to choose from. I am so grateful for all those that turned up to swim and also those that accompained them to watch, i hope to see you at the next one..in calmer conditions!!!