In the closing chapters of The Lord of the Rings, Tolkein refers to the end of October as the ‘fag end of autumn’. I think we all know what he meant; that time when the trees have all but shed their leaves which lie mouldering underfoot, scenting the air with hint of stale socks. The…
I was swimming at Short Sands back in early February and noted then that in the summer it was a pleasant swim out as far as Cod Rock. Well, the summer has been and gone and now there is a wintry chill to the breeze on these autumnal days and the sunshine is only warm…
Maybe not gale force, but the breeze buffets me and makes me stumble as it scurries me across the open moorland. Pausing briefly to collect my hat which has been blown off again I scan the industrial heritage which was what brought me here in the first place today. Across the skyline behind me 4 chimneys…
I have not been to Dartmeet since swim #43 back in May and now it’s October. That is actually a good thing and what this 100 swims is all about: not going to the same place over and over (though I have probably swum 5 days out of 7 at Holne Bridge all through September as…
Unlike last weekend’s 790 mile circular road trip for a swim this weekend’s was only 460 and though the planned swim at Aberystwyth had to be abandoned due to very unfavourable sea conditions there was a backup. Nevertheless that prospect looked none too promising the following morning. The previous evening’s rain had mostly blown through leaving the roads littered…
It is quite apparent as the leaves begin to turn, leaving the river bank with a tide line of the fallen, that time is slipping away. As a consequence, if I am going to get anywhere close to having swum at 100 different places by the end of the year then as I am being sent off…
From the comfort of the sun baked beach the lighthouse standing at the end of the breakwater does not appear to be so far away, but distance over water with no real frame of reference can be deceptive as it is in this case. The answer is 850m or just over 1/2 a mile in…
Walking down the hill to the river along the road which dips in and out of the shade I’m aware of the fact that it is quite warm, but it does not seem overly warm, in fact it is only 2 days later that I catch up with the fact that the temperature is hitting…
It’s 9am and faint mist still hangs in the air over Denham Bridge. The car had been dripping wet with dew when I left the house and even now the air is chill, appreciably cooler than the water of the River Tavy when I dipped my hand a moment ago. The calendar has clicked around…
Our evening saunter to the pool showed a good deal of promise with sunshine breaking through down the coast and slowly the rent in the clouds widened, a wedge of blue sky being driven up the coast towards us until finally it swept the beach and the pool below. Or to be more precise, where…
Open Sky Swimming 