Windermere swim number 1

Windermere swim number 1

Who would have thought that an innocent swim would turn into an epic meeting.!

A good friend Alison Darley and I decided to have a wander over to the lake district for a swim...well it would rude not too wouldn't it. The weather was crisp but fine.
Arriving at the Langdale Chase hotel, the owner and very good friend Thomas Noblett granted permission to swim from his jetty and as and added bonus we used his 'swim cave' to get changed in...oh the luxury of a warm room to exit fleecy clothing into a cold wetsuit.

The water was remarkably clear with the bottom seen for quite a distance, it always turns us in to intrepid hunter for fallen treasure....yet to find any but we live in hope! Alighting the warmth of the changing room we walked the short distance to lake side, its rather like the feeling of leaving a pool changing room to get to the poolside, you feel the eyes of others on you as you do what you hope is a normal gaited walk. In our case its not fellow swimmers that are watching but guests of the hotel who must me wondering who the nutters are! i resist the urge to ask if my bum looks big in this!

Alison and i had decided to do our normal...swim then play. Managing not to break our feet on the slippery rocks we headed deeper into the water, the cold dampness penetrating the wetsuit and quickly taking what heat remained as well as our breath. As my good friend would say its chuffing cold, as she attempted to put me in a zen like trance to combat the chills! As you can see she had me in fits of giggles instead!
But that is nothing new when we are together. The odd boat passed by us, passengers agape as they huddled deeper into thick coats, some wave...we tentatively wave back...after all we are attempting to look professional....slipping off a rock would shatter that illusion!

   

Eventually we got down to the business of swimming, my daughter Gemma, our photographer for the day. The cold on the face can be likened to a visit to the dentist, the gums go numb, the lips feel thick. But swim we did until the chill of the water prevented us from moving in a coordinated way. A bit of butterfly to warm us up didn't go amiss either, it never fails to amazing me how Julie Bradshaw MBE managed to do the channel all butterfly when we struggle to do 50m!! But try we do...no matter what it looks like and on the odd occasion Alison brings her monofin for us to play with as well! Again it probably not pretty but do we care....for a short time us adults revert to a child like state and just have fun!

Eventually the temperatures drove us from the water and back to the warmth of the swim cave, no matter what the distance, how long we are in, its fun, its great company and its the pure love of the water that brings us back to it time after time...little did we know we would have time for tea and scones (and those scones are amazing!) infront of an open fire...truly and open water swimmers dream, and then we would be nipping back in the great of long distance swimming!!!.... windermere swim number 2 coming soon!!!!

Happy swimming everyone!!