Windermere September 2008

I first tried to swim the length of Windermere with the BLDSA (British Long Distance Swimming Association)in 2008.

There was no disgrace when I was pulled from the water after about an hour and 40 minutes of flogging against a 5 foot swell (-who let the tide in? That's more like sea swimming!). The problem was that the rowing boats being used to support each each swimmer were starting to sink. So the race got cancelled and the ribs flew round pulling the swimmers from the water, like it or not.

And I have to say it left me with mixed feelings; the organisation and cost needed to get myself and crew up to Windermere from London and prepared for the gruelling swim was far from insignificant. Yet to be pulled out when conditions had already tempted large numbers to retire did save me wondering how long I could have gone on for.

I have since heard the Windermere swim described as the "Wimbledon" of the open water season, for the reason that it provides a reasonable bench mark for deciding whether to attempt the Channel or not. Whether that's right or not, I guess I will only be in a positin to judge after I've attempted the Channel. But after the race was aborted in 2008 and on the back of a similarly weather-trashed swimming-summer, I kept my secret dream of swimming the Channel, well, secret! I was just beginning to realise the size of the mountain to climb before I could dare to admit, even to myself, that I might try to attempt the Channel in the coming years.