Summer Swims

With winter fast approaching (when swimming gets properly good) I really must bring my blog up to date. So here is a heavily abridged account of my summer swims, which had a distinctly Scottish theme.

Scottish Lochs 

First of all was a Swimtrek holiday in Loch Lomond and some of the surrounding smaller lochs. 3 days of swimming in some truly stunning scenery, in crisp clean lochs with peaty depths.

I was accompanied by fellow Brockwell Icicles Deb, Noelene and Candy, and the group was led by the very excellent Neil, who was our guide last year in the Lake District.

In we get

Al fresco changing

Aye Candy

Following on from such delights, us four Icicles stayed on for a few extra days, taking a very er cosy room at the jolly Inversnaid Bunkhouse:

A noticeable change in tempo now occurred, including ditching our wetsuits in favour of our birthday suits (!) for some delightful little dips in the small lochs nearby, such as Loch Ard and Loch Chon (if memory serves).

The Lesser-Spotted Noelene

On the bonnie bonnie banks of etc

 Between swims we even found time to tramp about and get thoroughly lost:

Good job Noelene was there to ferret out a path for us.

Good, we're doing well.

Jumping ship

Next up: a sail around the Inner Hebrides with family and friends all aboard the good ship Leader, a wonderful Brixham trawler dating back to 1892, cor, a jewel in the little fleet of Trinity Sailing:

Leader

Now swimming in open water is much more fun if you have someone to do it with, and I soon settled upon family friend, heart surgeon and all-round good egg Doc Martin as my chosen victim. With water temps in the region of 10 degrees he took some understandable persuading, but before long we had a pre-breakfast dip firmly entrenched in the daily routine (recorded in the ship's log as "Crazies go swimming").

At 7.25am each morning I would make my way to the boys' cabin and call in my most terrifying sing-song voice "Doc Maaartin, it's time to go swiiiiimiiiing", to which a little voice usually mewed "But I'm warm" from behind the bunkbed curtain. Perhaps schadenfreude should be renamed schadenfroide if you're taking pleasure in making someone else cold?

Anyway he soon got a taste for it, aha!

Here's a wonderful little clip, expertly filmed by my dear mother, of a swim off the island of Ulva, which is tucked behind Mull. The bay was totally flat and clear, seals could be seen napping on the shoreline and not a jelly fish in sight. Surely one of the best swims of my life.

On another occasion I was allowed to swim ashore (accompanied by the motorised dinghy) to Tobermory harbour from our anchorage in the bay, which felt like a Good Thing to do.

On gaining the land and making a shivery dash for the yachtclub showers, I heard a small child ask "Mummy, why is that lady wearing her swimming costume?" but didn't linger to catch the reply.

And finally

I was very proud to complete the iconic open water swim of the Outdoor Swimming Society - viz. the Dart 10k. A beautiful journey winding along the river Dart in Devon, from Totnes to Dittisham, with a nice bit of assistance by the current. It took 3 hours and 18 minutes and I swam the whole way with my loadstar and helpmeat, not to mention fellow Icicle, Marcus. (You might also spot Rev Graham, a regular on The Swimmer, tastefully photo-bombing us below).

Before

After

The medal is lovely and has the shape of the river cut into it. I took it to the lido the next day for Show and Tell.

Sussex swims

Eek the summer has passed and barely a word have I blogged. But fear not! I have still been swimming.

First up, a lovely little jaunt to the south coast back in July with Icicles Sara, Noelene, Liz, Candy and Rachel, plus special guests Jess (Candy's daughter) and Rose from the Lido Cafe.

We arrived nice and early at Seaford and so had the beach to ourselves, and right lovely it was too in the sun.

The all important pre-swim Anzac biscuit

Why do I find the stones so much more painful to walk on than everyone else does? And why must Sara film my indignity?

Swim #2 was in the picturesque if rather weedy Meanders of the river at Cuckmere, which seemed like the perfect spot to show off some synchro moves:

And finally a short hop to the freshwater lido Pells Pool in Lewes for our final swim of the day:

Icicles on tour

What a luxurious range of swims and all in the sun: lucky old us.

Vancouver

Well lucky me on a little work jaunt to Vancouver - a city I soon discover is a veritable paradise for outdoor swimming opportunities.

For one thing there's a selection of lovely sandy beaches, and a Pacific swim seemed like a good place to start. I opted for Second Beach, checking first with the lifeguard that it wasn't compulsory to swim between the two lines of red buoys. She seemed rather pleased to have a swimmer under her watch and said she would come and rescue me if she saw me drowning outside of the buoy area, which I thought was dashed decent of her. There were plenty of people enjoying the sunshine but oddly no-one swimming - quite baffling considering the water was at least 18 degrees I'd say, but there you go.

First swim, Second Beach

Quick change under towel, Icicle hat on and in I wade. I love that first bit of getting into new water, finding out how it feels and having that little secret sense of achievement. But I'm a crap sea swimmer really when I'm on my own, easily spooked by a bit of unseen weed tickling my leg, and catching sight of some huge container ships further out in the bay made me feel very small... But the water felt fizzy and refreshing after my long flight and I managed to stave off panic for a few respectable laps up and down the beach.

Then still in full swimming regalia I made the short hop to my next swimming spot a mere 20m away... Viz Second Beach Pool:

My eyes gleamed and my tail went up 2 togs on the bushiness scale. 50 m of swimming heaven right by the sea but without the hassle of sea monsters. Yes please!

Next day, I made my way to the fun and friendly Kits Beach, where Vancouver families were out in force enjoying picnics, volley ball and other wholesome Sunday activities:

I headed straight to Kits Beach Pool, about which I had heard great things. And lordy I was not disappointed:

A 137m salt-water lido on the beach! My eyes popped out of my head and my tail fell off.

The further section was cordoned off for lane swimming, but rather than being divided into lanes there were simply two black lines painted on the bottom, with the area between them designated for overtaking, and everyone swimming together anticlockwise on the outside of the lines. A new system on me but worked beautifully and felt much more friendly and sociable to all swim together like shoals of fish. With so much space and general goodwill flowing about I soon settled into a lovely front crawl rhythm, steadily notching up 20 lengths (2.7km) with hardly an effort. Hooray!

I enthused to the lady next to me in the changing room and, swapping swim stories, discovered that she used to swim for Canada - how good is that?!

One evening I couldn't help but pay a visit to my hotel's own pool, on a roof terrace on the 6th floor... Inevitably, I couldn't bring myself to swim in it:

I think not

...so plonked my keister in the hot tub instead, which was rather enjoyable in the rain.

And finally, a trip to the aquatic centre, built when they hosted the winter olympics in 2010:

From the outside it slightly put me in mind of a care home for the elderly, and indeed when I arrived at 6.30am there was a little gaggle of grey-haired Japanese ladies waiting to be let in. But inside all was high ceilings and exciting echoes...

A juicy 2k swim for me, for most of the time just one other person in my lane, and even a bonus glimpse of the very impressive synchronised swimming team practising in the little pool on the far side.

Thank you Vancouver for some of the best swims outside of Brockwell I've ever had.

In case you happen to be going there, here's my Blue Peter-style attempt to provide an annotated map:

Tooting midsummer relays

After the Brockwell Icicles' competitive debut at the Tooting Bec lido spring gala in March, to our surprise we found ourselves invited to return for their midsummer relays - with me once again in the unenviable position of (dis)organising the Brockwell squad. We were allocated two teams of four swimmers, and after the usual descent into email/twitter mayhem, 11th hour substitutions and the familiar hunted look returning to my eyes, at last we were ready to rock & roll.

Our 'Dream Team' of fastest swimmers was made up of Rachel, David, Tim and Noelene, whilst our 'Custart Cream Team' of scenic splashers comprised Sara, Candy, Marcus and me. We also had the luxury of two timekeepers/general supporters in the form of wonderful Joanna and Carole.

Meeting in the Tooting lido carpark at the designated hour of 19h15 on Wednesday, it became clear that nerves and inertia were setting into the Icicle squad. The idea of sitting in the car and drinking the prosecco we'd brought was mooted longingly.

Nothing for it but to gobble down some crisps for morale and head into the fray.

The formidable Brockwell squad

Each race was 16 lengths divided between four swimmers, with each swimmer doing one length at a time. A bit confusing so Alfonso and team provided a demo on land:

Each team was provided with hats of matching colour so you could spot your teammates coming towards you, and all 34 teams swam at once (!) side by side without lane ropes.

At 100 yards it's a little daunting and hard to judge the distance. Sara went off first for the Custard Cream team, her little red hat beetling towards me and Marcus at the deep end. In sploshes Marcus and off he goes, overtaking a green hat along the way - good work! Then here comes Candy, I'd better get in. I'm so used to only swimming at Tooting in the winter it's almost a case of not-cold-shock. Here I go, swimming a bit wonky on my first length but pacing it OK. Length #2 I tried a bit too hard and slightly died around 70 m - suboptimal - so took my last two lengths a little more sedately. It's the Brockwell Way. Meanwhile the Dream Team a few rows down were putting in a sterling performance, seeming to get faster and faster as the race went on.

After my last length I popped up and asked "where is everyone?" - the pool was fairly empty by this time, ha ha. Candy nevertheless put in an impressive burst for the final furlong, narrowly beating one of the other remaining teams amid much cheering and a sense of victory. Hooray!

Quick showers then time to crack on with the prosecco...

Nice hat Candy

..oh and very tasty barbecue sandwiches from the all new cafe (where valiant attempts were made to eek out the last of the ketchup)

And look it's lovely Jonathan of The Swimmer fame:

Time for the awards ceremony... and what's this?! The Dream Team has only gone and come second in their age category - MEDALS!! You can hear the surprise in the compere's voice even as she announces the result.

Dreams can come true

A very proud moment for the Icicles.

And my homemade medals for all of us - everyone's a winner (of sorts).

Custard Cream Team

A most successful jaunt - thank you for having us, Tooting. Rio 2016 here we come...