The River Tees and Pees!!

The River Tees and Pees!!

A quick blog about today's swim. I am entering the cold water swimming phase of the year...and entering events, the long suffering man indoors as per normal gets told 'WE' are entering this event....meaning I want to so you are! And so the winter swimming which i do all year round and in the winter wear more neoprene than is humanly possible....now the neoprene can take a rest as 'WE' train for the Chill Swim in Windermere (http://chillswim.com/) in February. 

The other half  to be fair is NOT loving it, the cold which does not normally affect him is at the moment, hes not finding it as much fun as me, but that being said, hes doing it! Makes me proud but also made me giggle today!!!

The river Tees is less than 15  minutes from our house, Low Force and High Force are both within spitting distance....the water....very chilly, the other half sporting a new watch with temperature gauge and willing to give it, its virgin try out picked up his kit and off we went. 

The water despite is dark appearance is actually very golden when you are in it, the peat of the land lending itself to the warm colours of the water that do little to raise the temperatures.

Hearing the force of the water as we walked through the fields can be a bit disconcerting but not as much as crossing the bridge that appears to be suspended on string!!! Its actually very secure but does not feel it as you walk on it, i ban anyone from being on it with me!

There were various walkers around, but they all appeared to be going in the opposite direction, kayakers were heard to be saying the water was too cold and were looking to get out! But on we walked to our chosen place.

Glancing around, trying to ignore the windchill factor, we checked to see that there was no one around that we could offend, we started to strip off, the wind chill lowering the body temperature faster than we would have liked! Still no one around!!

Then the getting in bit, its always the most painful, i feel i am fine until it hits the chest area and then the breathing has to be controlled, Geoff slowly lowering himself in...it looked painful and as i was about to find out...it was COLD!

The ducks on the other side of our little swim area were none too impressed at having their water invaded and sped off only to return to their place on the opposite bank...i am assuming because they realised how chilly the water was!

Entering the water, the rush of it current was surprising, we had picked a sheltered bit and yet it was still fast moving underneath despite it deceptive calm surface! The water did have an icy bite and just at the point of open water tourettes kicking in we hear...'is it chilly'!!! Oh for the love of god...please change the record....i smile sweetly and explain to the walkers astonished faced what we were doing and why. They stood and watch for a minute literally dumb founded by their find before moving on. Good we could now get on with the business of getting chilled! 

Geoff timing us, fascinated i am glad to say by the dropping numbers on his watch, i sit next to him as the shivers take over his body...i inform him to carry on looking at his watch the water will warm in a minute...the penny takes a second or two to drop...i am upstream from him doing what i always do when in cold water!!! The look on his face tells what he thought of that....but i am sure he did appreciate the seconds worth of warm as it passed him by!!!

Well it took his mind off the cold as he informed me of his not wanting to be down stream to me!!! The laughter unfortunately showed other walkers where we were....here we go...'is it chilly' seriously....i was busting to really tell them but decorum prevailed...this time! Again they stood and stared whilst Geoff 's shivers abated in the water timing us and i swam, occasionally hitting a shallow patch, looking into the water onto the peaty glow of the rocks below. On a sunny WARM day i could have been in for hours! But today it was not sunny, nor was it warm!

Getting out was the easy bit, getting clothing on a body that you could not feel if it was dry or not because you were that cold is a different matter! And just at the wrong time..yes more walkers...these however averted their eyes and carried on walking!! Finished dressing and it was a short walk to the car, enough to start warming us up, a great little dip in wonderful waters...it will be swam in again!!!