Welcome to Waterblogged



Welcome to our Blog. The majority of the content is about our outdoor swimming activities; with other comments, thoughts and pictures along the way. See our website http://community.lincolnshire.gov.uk/blueskyswimming/


and our videos on You Tube: http://www.youtube.com/user/Nicola8259



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Thursday 28 October 2010

The Last Gasp?

You know how it is on holiday...you get to the last day or two and worry that you're still looking too pasty faced to convince your colleagues back in the office you've enjoyed a tropical idyll? So you go all out for The Panic Tan...
...Well, I seem to be in End of Summer Last Swim Panic!
Look at this beautiful photo I took to record the gorgeousness of the lake last night after I'd enjoyed 10 minutes of cold water immersion. So peaceful, so lovely, so damn cold!
Then, we're on to Panic Swim #2 today with this lovely man - superfit superswimmer Justin Mumford! Look at him huddled in his fetching Lockhart Garratt (forestry management experts par extraordinaire!) fleece, cleverly concealing his chattering teeth!
We'd been talking about a lakeside meet up all summer and this seemed like it could be our last chance, so we skived off the office for a very early lunch break and toddled off for a quick dip.
Water temperature was only 8 degrees today but the air temperature and GORGEOUS autumn sunshine made the water very appealing.
A bit of oohing and aahing on the get in, but we managed a good 15 minute scull around with the grebes and a couple of bemused anglers for company.
I'd been a complete grump before the swim; bogged down in silly office trivia and irritations. We both emerged with trademark silly grins, and have enjoyed the glow all day of uplifted moods and rebalanced perspectives.
Thanks Justin for joining me, great to have your company and be reassured that there is at least one other person who thinks this is all a good idea!
What a brilliant treat and a perfect way to (perhaps?) end my summer swims for 2010?
Then there's always the beach at the weekend......

Friday 22 October 2010

Still hanging on....

8 degrees air temp, so the 9 degrees in the water should have felt more inviting in theory if not in practice.
I've trialled a new access strategy to cope with the rapidly cooling water - where I used to go for a quick committed plunge, last night it was more of a slow immersion to try and soften the blow of the icy water.
I felt pretty scared of this new phase in my outdoor swimming adventures, so I also felt pretty triumphant and capable after managing to survive a 10 minute pootle about in the dusk with bats for company instead of kingfishers.
The lovely warm glow afterwards felt magnificent and I walked back the long way to the car to enjoy this brilliant clear cold air and bright moonlight we have at the moment.
PS. Thanks to Malcolm for goading me into the swim - there's nothing more likely to get me to do something than someone saying "you'll never do it" - I do so like to prove people wrong!!!!

Tuesday 19 October 2010

London 12 Degrees x 2

Saturday 16th October
Gorgeous Blue Sky for our first visit to Parliament Hill Lido - I've been wanting to swim here for years. Not put off by the 12 degrees water temperature Lesley and I bagged a few lengths. The stainless steel liner is shiny but the deck-level water line meant I had to slide in rather than dive - still kept my head dry for the next swim...... It's a beautiful pool and I can see why it's so popular - even in Autumn. And nice hot showers too.

Over the Heath - round the Heath - getting our directions all about yet again - but eventually arrived at Kenwood Ladies Pond for our second 12 degree swim. Lovely spot to swim and we both stayed in too long but it was worth it. (Next time I'll bring a second swim costume - buerk - having to put on a wet cold two piece.)

No pics - battery dead after this one!

Monday 18 October 2010

Skegness is SO Bracing...


...and Gibraltar Point was pretty invigorating too! What a GORGEOUS day for an autumn quickie dip. Really lovely swimming in the gentle rising tide, boys on lifeguard duty and sandcastle patrol on shore - a perfect treat on such a crystal clear day.

Thursday 14 October 2010

How long can I make this summer last?


Chilly dip last night, 12 degrees in the lake, left me shivering and teeth chattering...but I'm SO reluctant to give up the cool water for the year. So I'll keep on a little longer, just need to keep adding the woolly hats and thermal vest layering - and maybe a flask of tea?
Only trouble is, that will take so long to get all the gear together that it will be dark...and the gloomy spectre of GMT is looming on the horizon - how I do hate leaving the Castle in the pitch black after work, YUK!
Somebody used the W word with me yesterday, but I'm holding on to Autumn for a few weeks yet before succumbing to the dark, swimless season...

Thursday 7 October 2010

Heavenly Hampstead, Lovely Londoners


How is it that life can come at you full frontal in one concentrated 1/2 hour?...
....slipping into the cool calm waters of Kenwood Ladies Pond was transformational yesterday.
Copper oak leaves and sulphorous willow carpeted the surface, parting as I passed and reforming behind me.
The setting sun cut through the trees to illuminate the water in shafts; my skin shining golden as I sculled around with the moorhens, customary silly grin on my face.
But where were my waterblogged sisters with their much needed good sense to tell me to get out of the water? I slipped into my usual lone swimming trance and just couldn't be sensible enough to get out...but hey! I'd come all the way from Lincolnshire, sneaked out of an accounts review meeting in town, trekked across London by tube, Hampstead Heath the wrong way in the wrong shoes....I was DETERMINED to get this sublime swim into my day!
I still have the silly grin on my face, scaring the regular East Coast commuters. Hey ho, back to the fens country girl, your city adventure is over for another day, your life a little enriched.
Postcript thanks to all the lovely Londoners who helped me on my odyssey across the Heath - Man in Newspaper Kiosk, Woman with Dog, Spanish Man on Bench, Young Mothers with Babies in Buggies, Builders on Viaduct Bridge, Dogwalking Scottish Man, Mum & Daughter on way to Kenwood House, Local Couple Disagreeing over Direction, AND Lovely Staff at The Pond.
So, how many people does it take to navigate a country girl across a mile of London .... FOURTEEN! Now I see why I usually travel with my waterblogged sisters!!!