Wednesday 19 September 2018

Buttermere Lake: a bit rough, a bit choppy and a bit chilly, but great fun (despite the bout of sea sickness mid swim).

I have been told that Buttermere is the loveliest place, and if I ever got the opportunity to swim there, I must. Sadly, because of the sea fret (or fog or mist or whatever you want to call it), the rain, and the frankly ‘a bit sh*t’ conditions, last week when we turned up to swim there, there was absolutely no way of knowing if it was beautiful, or not (return trip will be in order to check). What I did know though was that the lake was crystal clear, choppy, proper chilly (13oc) and if you squinted you could just about make out the far end of it. 

We have had an amazing run of sunny days this year, which sadly didn’t stretch as far as the day we had planned to swim in Buttermere. The conditions left me in no doubt that it was going to be a bit rough in parts, and despite considering myself a relatively competent open water swimmer, reminded myself that this does not make me immune from the possible dangers.

The swim was as expected: difficult, challenging, slow going, tiring and cold. I don’t mind sharing with you that I was sorely tempted to sit it out in the lovely, warm café instead drinking coffee, however I had driven three hours to get there (well Shark did, but I did contribute to the journey by being in charge of the Satnav, which is actually crucial to actually getting there seeing as that neither of us can read a map, or have any sense of direction. I managed it perfectly well with only one error, resulting in a ten minute addition), AND I had paid nine pounds to park, AND I had bought some new goggles especially, and so wasn’t not swimming, unless of course the organisers pulled the proverbial plug on the event (I am so not apologizing for that clever pun). 

This year, with all of its weather record-breaking highs, Shark and I, like most others, have been swimming in mostly (one emergency lake evacuation, due to lightning, aside) calm and, sometimes-balmy warm water, AND in skins no less! However Buttermere was a stark reminder of how quickly the weather can make conditions change, and how unpredictable the open water can be. We faced conditions that we have not been used to for a long time, in particular the cold. The week before the lake temperature was still a respectable 17oc. 

*I am well aware that submerging yourself in any body of water colder than yourself can lead to hypothermia, and the colder the water, the more likely this is to happen, and more quickly, and that no-one is immune, not even the most seasoned of swimmers, and so I’ve added a link to a blog I wrote about it that I’m told is worth a read AND was actually re-tweeted at the time by RNLI. Being re-tweeted by RNLI is better is than the time I swam with Duncan Goodhew when I was eight (mostly because I barely remember it, and there were two hundred other people swimming with him too). 

In addition to the cold, the rain meant that the water was really choppy and visibility was low, which made it disorientating and really tough going. Adding this into the mix meant that a swim that would usually (in a lovely chop/wind/cold/rain free lake) take me less than an hour and a half, took me nearly two hours. I am so pleased that I took the time to bilaterally breath when I first started swimming five years ago. This reduced the amount of times I was slapped in the face, by the lake to only several thousand, which made all the difference!

Swimming in a wetsuit was compulsory and I have to say certainly helped against the cold. The organisers had also insisted that we swam with a tow float too, which was a great call, and although they are not considered a safety device by the manufacturers, I do feel that since I bought the most humongous one I could find, that actually in an emergency situation I suspect it would be able to keep a hippo afloat, if necessary. It was great to have it during the swim; it gave me some extra confidence, although it was less great on the times when it decided to become a hat or smack me in the face after a gust of wind.

One final thing about the day that I would like to share and also includes a heartfelt apology, is this - Eating chocolate cake shortly before you get into a choppy lake to swim (like a millpond is fine) should not be considered. It should be a no-no on account that that it may not stay down. I speak from very bitter experience, and as far as I am concerned was a complete waste of a perfectly good, and not to mention expensive, slice of cake that I had forked out an over inflated £3.00 for at the service station. My apologies to the swimmers behind me, of which thanks to the lack of visibility meant that I was unable to apologise in person to after the swim, as I had no idea what they looked like, and again, thanks to the low visibility, would have no idea what they were about to be swimming through. If it’s any consolation, it was advertised as a hundred percent organic and was absolutely delicious at the time!


Here’s that 'must read' link I mentioned.




Once again, thanks for reading, and for those of you that enjoy my blogs, my book 
Open Water Woman Swims Windermere 
is available in paperback and electronically on Amazon. 

Here's the link:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Open-Water-Woman-Swims-Windermere/dp/1980614660/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1535300602&sr=8-1&keywords=open+water+woman

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