65: There’s a Break In The Rain

 

There’s a break in the rain
I’m gonna go outside
Stand in the sunshine for a while …
And may my love travel with you everywhere (Petty, T. 2020)

In South West England, where I live, The Christmas and New Year holiday week was notable for the relentless wind and the rain – and I believe this was the same for much of the rest of the country. Fields and homes were flooded, trees were uprooted and the sea battered away at the coast. We thought it would never stop raining.

And for much of the time it didn’t. But, when it did … oh what joy! We could get outside. We could go for a walk. We could go for a swim. Those little dry interludes were to be treasured. – And I’m happy to report that over the New Year holiday we found, not just one, but two breaks from the rain! It was a surprise, and not what the weather people had forecast, but we grabbed it gratefully and went outside … and of course we went swimming!

The boats, the sands, the esplanade,
The laughing crowd;
Light-hearted, loud
Greetings from some not ill-endowed; (Thomas Hardy, 1869)

Weymouth and Sea Bathing

It has become a family tradition, in recent years, for us to all go away together for the New Year holiday. We enjoy family time, exploring and learning about new places, getting outdoors and ‘blowing away the cobwebs’ of the ‘old year’ and remembering those who we love and who are important to us. Our destinations of choice are inevitably a ‘seaside’ location in order that we can welcome the New Year with a swim. This year, that destination was Weymouth.

The water of this fine Bay is quite pure, of a beautiful colour, and perfectly clear and transparent. … The Bay is so well sheltered by nature, that for tranquillity it surpasses what I have ever seen. (Dr. J Crane, 1795)

Weymouth was the home town of Dr Crane, author of “Cursory Observations on Sea-Bathing” (1795) about whom I have written elsewhere (Oliver, 2021). Dr Crane was an early advocate of the benefits of sea bathing as a cure for a wide variety of ailments and it was he, who was quick to recommend, in 1789, that his home town of Weymouth would be the best place for King George III to convalesce.  King George III suffered from a recurrent, and eventually permanent, mental illness. It has been suggested that he had the blood disease, porphyria, but the cause of his illness remains unknown. His physicians, including Dr Crane, extolled the virtues of sea water to aid his recovery and recuperation from these episodes. The King enjoyed his time, swimming and walking, in Weymouth so much that he went there regularly – and so Weymouth secured its place amongst the most popular seaside resorts of the time – and Sea Bathing, as a treatment was given the Royal stamp of approval.

Weymouth … has been much frequented for its commodious Sea-Bathing, which it furnishes, in a manner superior to any other in the Kingdom…I do not wonder at its being the Resort of many people of the first Distinction. (Feltham, J. 1815)

The King and his family bathed in the sea – at six o’clock – every morning whenever they visited Weymouth. I’m not going to draw any concluding correlation here – but – despite his illness, at the time of his death, aged 81, he was the longest-lived and longest-reigning British monarch, having reigned for 59 years and 96 days; and he remains the longest-lived and longest-reigning male monarch in British history. – just saying!

Here Comes January

And so, yes, we – being people of ‘first distinction’ – also spent New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day in Weymouth. And on both days we woke up to a break in the rain. Being a sea swimmer in the UK teaches you to be spontaneous, to not procrastinate and to not make plans that can’t be easily changed. The tides and the weather are the ones in charge of your itinerary. You just need to be attentive to what they have in mind for you.

And so we grabbed those happy opportunities and we went swimming. And it felt wonderful, as it always does. The regular Weymouth Bay Sea Swimmers, who swim there every day, were an invaluable source of knowledge and we were grateful to swim with some of them at Greenhill Beach and to welcome the incoming year in the best way possible.

And apart from the swimming, the best thing about January, for me, is to observe the hours of daylight becoming longer. It already feels tangible to me, and so, even though, at the time of writing, the rain has been replaced with freezing weather and the threat of snow, I am endeavouring, each day, to find positive examples of the changing of the season and am trying to notice all the gradual signs of the brighter times ahead.

By January 31st there will be 1 hour and 15 minutes more daylight than on December 31st. That’s something to celebrate and to hold on to. It won’t be dark for ever. It won’t be cold forever. It won’t rain for ever. Sunny days will return. Hold on (and just keep swimming).

Be still, sad heart! and cease repining;
Behind the clouds is the sun still shining; (Longfellow, 1842)

Photo Credit: Beth Oliver

Local Details

Greenhill Beach, Weymouth
Sea temperature : 10 degrees Celsius
I swam 300 metres
I was in the water for 10 minutes
We warmed up at The Lookout Cafe

References

Crane, Dr. J. (1795) Cursory Observations on Sea Bathing   Delamotte’s Library,

Feltham, J. (1815) ‘Guide to all the watering and sea-bathing places, : with a description of the lakes, a sketch of a tour in Wales, and various itineraries, illustrated with maps and views‘, printed for Richard Phillips.

Hardy T. (1869) At A Seaside Town in 1869, from an old note, The Thomas Hardy Society

Longfellow, H. W. (1842) The Rainy Day, in Ballads and Other Poems 1842, Cambridge

Oliver, B. (2021) Cold Water Swimming For Well-Being, in Journal Of Public Mental Health, Volume 20, No. 2, pp. 105-110

Petty, T. (2020) There’s a Break In The Rain (Have Love, Will Travel) on the album Wildflowers And All The Rest, Home Recording.

64: Bend Me, Shape Me

Bend me, shape me, anyway you want me
You got the power to turn on the light (Amen Corner, 1968)

Last month I finally succumbed to the Covid19 virus! I was very disappointed because I have always been so careful and I couldn’t think where I might have caught it. I also felt disappointed to realise I was not, after all, ‘super human’ with an inviolable immune system. However, I was even more disappointed that I had to miss the last opportunities to swim in the glorious late October sunshine and the calm, inviting tides. I felt miserable, knowing that by the time I was able to get back in the water, it would be November and the weather and the water would be a lot less welcoming. This is a crucial time of year for the all year round open water swimmer. The days are getting shorter and darker, the weather tends, increasingly, towards the wet and windy – but more crucially still, we are aware that as each week passes, the temperature of the water is dropping by a degree. Winter swimming is a psychological challenge. If you don’t keep getting in, it just becomes more difficult. And I wasn’t able to get in!

Just Keep Learning

I spent my time, while not swimming, catching up on reading and listening to radio podcasts – and I am happy to report that I learned some things about the health benefits of swimming that I had not previously known. I already knew that swimming was an excellent form of exercise that works the whole body, builds strength and lowers blood pressure. There have been numerous studies (Paulling, 2019) that prove how good swimming can be for all age groups and how it can help with a number of different physical and mental health conditions. There have also been an increasing number of studies that show the health benefits of swimming in cold water (Oliver, 2021) and I have referenced many of these in previous blog posts. I thought I was fairly up to date on all the research about the health benefits of swimming, However, I found out something new and interesting (to me). It turns out swimming has also been shown to be good for improving the ‘elasticity’ of your blood vessels in a way that no other exercise can.

and your heart is like an ocean
Mysterious and dark (Bob Dylan, 1976)

Suppleness, Stamina and Strength

Dr. Michael Mosley has a regular podcast on BBC Radio 4 called ‘Just One Thing‘. He has also published a book by the same name that brings together many of his findings about ways in which you can impact your mental and physical wellbeing by introducing simple changes to your daily life. One of these podcasts (September 2023) was about “the unique benefits of going for a swim”. In it he interviews Professor Hirofumi Tanaka, from the University of Texas, who explains why water-based exercises like swimming are especially good for improving the elasticity of your blood vessels, in a way that land-based exercises are not! I had always known that swimming is an excellent exercise for building suppleness, stamina and strength in the muscles, joints and lungs. Now it turns out swimming can also build suppleness in our arteries.

According to Tanaka’s research swimming ‘decreases arterial stiffness’, a risk factor for heart trouble. As Tanaka points out, cardio-vascular disease is a disease of the arteries, not of the heart. The function of our arteries is to ‘cushion and buffer’ the cardiac pulsations, but as we get older our arteries become stiff, and this can lead to damage in our crucial organs that are no longer ‘cushioned and buffered’. In his research, Tanaka found that regular swimming was ‘highly effective’ in reducing stiffness in the arteries and the consequent stress on the organs. He also found that swimming was more beneficial than walking, cycling or running for keeping the arteries supple.

There’s Something In The Water

Tanaka admits that ‘no one knows why’ exercising in water should have this effect, but he has done comparison studies using ‘cycling in water’ and ‘Nordic walking in water’ and found that also to be more beneficial in reducing vascular stiffness than when cycling or walking on land or in the gym! It is ‘something to do with being in water’ he says.

And another, fabulous finding from Tanaka’s research is that swimming seems to also be ‘better for the brain’ than other forms of (upright) exercise, or as Tanaka puts it ” water immersion increases cognitive function”. He hypothesises that this is due to the blood flow to the brain being increased because the exercise is done in a ‘supine position’! So, when swimming, we are exercising and increasing the flexibility of just about every part of our bodies. No wonder I feel so good after a swim! Thank goodness for Professor Tanaka and his interesting research. Yet more reasons to Just Keep Swimming!

Let it come
Let it rain
Rain all over me
Like the tide, let it flow
Let it wash all over me (Madonna, 2015)

It’s Not Winter Yet

I am also happy to report that I am, now, fully recovered from my encounter with Covid19 and, as October became November, I have been able to get back into the sea and enjoy some lovely late autumn swims. Despite my anxiety, the ‘getting back in’ was no where near as challenging as I had imagined it would be and I found the temperature of the water is still relatively comfortable.

There is no doubt that we are heading towards colder weather and cooler seas, but (at the time of writing) it doesn’t feel that winter has arrived yet – and, standing in the sunshine after my swim today, the sun still felt warm on my back. I was grateful for that and grateful for the joyous company of the friends I swam with and chatted to. And I was happy to know that I was also increasing the elasticity of my arteries, of my brain and of my muscles and joints!

The 5 ways to Well Being (New Economics Foundation, 2008) are Be Active, Keep Learning, Connect with Others, Pay attention to the Moment, Be Grateful and Kind – and Just Keep Swimming.

November 5th 2023 – Sea Temperature 10 degrees

References

Aked, J., Marks, N., Cordon, C., & Thompson, S. (2008) Five Ways To Wellbeing, New Economics Foundation

Amen Corner (1968) Bend Me Shape Me, from the album Round Amen Corner, Dream Records

Dylan, B (1976) One More Cup of Coffee (Valley Below), from the album Desire, Columbia Records.

Heid, M. (2017) Why Swimming Is So Good For You, TIME Magazine, March 2nd 2017

Marcin, A. (2017) What Are The Top 12 Benefits of Swimming, Healthline.com

Madonna (2015) Wash All Over Me, from the album Rebel Heart, Maverick

Moseley, M. (2023) Just One Thing, BBC Radio 4
Moseley, M. (2023) Just One Thing, Octopus Publishing Group

Oliver, B. (2021), “Cold water swimming for well-being“, Journal of Public Mental Health, Vol. 20 No. 2, pp. 105-110. https://doi.org/10.1108/JPMH-02-2021-0027

Paulling, D, (2019) ‘Why Swimming Might Be The Best Form Of Exercise You Can Do‘, USMS.org

63: Here Comes The Rain Again

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Here comes the rain again
Falling on my head like a memory
Falling on my head like a new emotion
I want to walk in the open wind
I want to talk like lovers do
Want to dive into your ocean
Is it raining with you? (Eurythmics, 1983)

This was supposed to be a blog post about a swim around Burgh Island; it was supposed to be a blog about my last swimming event of the season, the culmination of the summer and the turn towards a different kind of outdoor swimming as the water starts to cool. I had it all prepared in my head.

But then the rain came! And not just any sort of rain. This was “a month’s worth of rain …in just a couple of hours” (Marsden & Stone, 2023). As well as the rain there was thunder and lightning accompanied by strong winds and heavy sea swell. And so, the event, that I had been so looking forward to – to swim round Burgh Island, in South Devon – was cancelled (or more correctly, postponed until next year).

The best laid schemes o’ Mice an’ Men
Gang aft agley,
An’ lea’e us nought but grief an’ pain,
For promis’d joy! (Robert Burns, 1785)

It had all been going so well. After a rather cool and disappointing August, we had been enjoying a September heatwave. For 2 weeks, it had been the sort of summer we dream of: hot and sunny, with glorious sunrises and sunsets, calm tides and warm sea. I had been able to complete some fabulous, long, sea swims, every day for 2 weeks and was looking forward to a weekend away – of swimming and walking – in that beautiful part of South Devon.

Burgh Island

The small, tidal, Burgh Island is on the coast of South Devon, opposite the seaside village of Bigbury on Sea. The island is only accessible on foot at low tide, by a strip of sand, which at high tide is completely covered, leaving a ride on the famous sea tractor – or a swim in the sea – as the only means of access.

The island is strongly associated with Agatha Christie, who often visited and who used it – and its art-deco inspired Hotel – as a setting and inspiration for two of her well known novels: “And Then There Were None” (1939) and “Evil Under The Sun“(1941).

“The Queen of Crime”, as Agatha Christie is known, “was also a queen of the brine and both an avid wild swimmer (back in the halcyon days when it was just known as swimming) and one of the first westerners to master stand-up surfing” (Newbury, 2021). Agatha Christie is linked with a passion for sea swimming as much as she is famous as an author of crime fiction. Photographs of her in the sea and in her bathing costumes radiate with the sort of joy commonly seen on the faces of cold water swimmers emerging from the sea today – including mine.

I like sunshine, apples, going to the sea, bathing and swimming … (Agatha Christie, 1977)

Lets Make The Best Of It

Cancellation (or postponement) of swimming events is a regular, and not unexpected, hazard given the vagaries of the British weather, but (apart from the ‘year of Covid’) this was the first time it had happened to me. I have swum in events where the sea conditions have been difficult and challenging (see I Cried Me A River and Stormy Waters) and so I understand that the forecast has to be very challenging – and unsafe for the support crew – for an event to be called off. I understand all of that. And I understand how disappointing it is for the organisers, and for the charities that they support, as well as for all the swimmers. I also understand that many people who live and work in that part of Devon were much more badly affected, through flooding and storm damage, than I was. But I was very disappointed nontheless.

When plans go up in smoke
Don’t sit around and mope
Find somewhere else to go
(Divine Comedy, 2019)

We had booked and planned for a family weekend away and we still had the accommodation booked, so we did try to make the best of it. It wasn’t ideal, by any stretch of the imagination, and instead of swimming around Burgh Island, we walked around it – in the rain and the wind – and looking down at the sea crashing on to the rocks below, I felt quite glad that I wasn’t going to swim around it that weekend after all.

In my opinion, you cannot visit the seaside and not go in the sea! And so, despite the weather, after walking around the island, we all (including my daughters and my two grandchildren) left our damp clothes on the rocks and ran into the sea at Bigbury-on-sea, and swam in the rain. It was such fun and brought smiles and laughter to all our faces – even though it wasn’t quite the beach weekend we had planned. Putting our damp clothes back on again afterwards wasn’t so much fun, but at least we had been in the sea – and I can now add it to the list of places where I have swum along the South Coast.

At the time of writing, we are still experiencing heavy rain, strong winds and stormy seas – and I do not find it easy to be positive or optimistic when the sea is not fit for swimming in. Under normal circumstances I would try to cope with disappointment, low mood and challenging circumstances, by going for a swim. So waiting for the weather and the tide to become more accommodating is testing me in ways that I do not feel comfortable with.

However, in the words of Agatha Christie’s famous detective, Hercule Poirot:

“It has been a wet day. The wind blew, the rain came down, and the mist was everywhere so that one could not see through it. Eh bien, what is it like now? The mists have rolled away, the sky is clear and up above the stars shine. That is like life, Madame.” 
(Agatha Christie, 1941)

And so, I will try to follow Christie’s advice, and:

“Let us think only of the good days that are to come.” 
(Agatha Christie, 1945)

Local Details

Sea temperature : 18 degrees Celsius
I swam 600 metres
I was in the water for 20 minutes
We warmed up at Venus Cafe

References
Burns, R. (1785) “To a Mouse, on Turning Her Up in Her Nest With the Plough, November, 1785“, included in the Kilmarnock Volume (1786), first printed and issued by John Wilson of Kilmarnock on 31 July 1786.

Charleston, L.J. (2016) Agatha Christie Was One Of The First British Women To Surf, Then Wipeout, And Have A Wardrobe Malfunction, HuffPost.com

Christie, A. (1941) Evil Under The Sun, Collins Crime Club.

Christie, A. (1945) Death Comes As The End, Collins Crime Club.

Christie, A. (1977) An Autobiography, Collins

Divine Comedy (2019) Let’s Make The Best Of It, from the album, Office Politics, Divine Comedy Records.

Eurythmics (1983) Here Comes The Rain Again, from the album, Touch, RCA Records.

Marsden, R. and Stone, I. (2023) Flash flood: Huge thunderstorms keep Brits awake as torrential downpours turn roads into rivers threatening the rush-hour commute – with forecasters warning of a wet and windy week ahead, in Mail Online , 18th September 2023

Newbury, M. (2021) Queen Of The Brine, justaddwater.org.uk

Oliver, B. (2017) Stormy Waters, justkeepswimming.wordpress.com

Oliver, B. (2021) I Cried Me A River; I Cried Me A Sea justkeepswimming.wordpress.com

62: Come out upon my seas

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Closing walls and ticking clocks
Gonna come back and take you home
I could not stop that you now know
Singin’ come out upon my seas (Coldplay, 2002)

In the summer of 1936, a young Dylan Thomas, was invited to visit Cornwall and to stay with a friend in Penzance. He enjoyed his time there so much that he returned a year later with his girlfriend, Caitlin Macnamara. Dylan and Caitlin began their visit, in June 1937, staying in a cottage in Lamorna Cove. Soon afterwards, on July 11th, they were married, by special licence, in Penzance Registry Office and spent their honeymoon in a small hotel overlooking Mousehole Harbour, somewhere, Thomas is quoted as calling ‘the loveliest village in England’ (Dylan Thomas, 1936). Following their honeymoon, they moved to ‘a studio above a fish-market‘ in Newlyn (Thomas, 1937a) where they stayed until the end of the summer.

“And I was green and carefree …
In the sun that is young once only,
Time let me play and be
Golden in the mercy of his means …” (Dylan Thomas, 1945)

By unplanned coincidence, on the 86th anniversary of Dylan and Caitlin’s nuptials, I was also staying in Penzance and swimming in Lamorna Cove, Mousehole Harbour and Newlyn. The locations for our swims, that week, were carefully chosen by the team from Sea Swim Cornwall with whom I enjoyed a mid-week sea swimming holiday. We didn’t know in advance where we would be swimming because all successful and safe sea swimming is very much determined by the weather and tidal conditions. Joining a locally experienced team of swimming guides meant that the locations for our swims would be chosen on the day, or shortly before. And so, it was a bit like a magical mystery tour! And all the more exciting and interesting for that.

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The swim guides were severely challenged, that week, by strong westerly winds, threats of thunder storms and heavy rain (such is the nature of an English summer!), but they succeeded in offering a range of sheltered, safe and scenic group swims, that I would never have had the confidence to undertake alone. We swam with seals, we swam through a narrow, working harbour entrance and we swam over beautiful sunken kelp forests and ancient rock formations. We did 2 swims each day and each swim was different and in a different location. I was left feeling that there was so much more to explore along this little stretch of coastline – both on land and in the sea.

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Dylan and Caitlin

I can find no reference to Dylan or Caitlin enjoying swimming in the sea while they were there in Cornwall, but I find it hard to imagine that they didn’t. They enjoyed being outdoors and walking along the coast while they were there (Williams, 2020), so I am sure that they would have also gone into the sea. Thomas’s poetry is full of powerful references to and metaphors about the sea. He spent his life, after they were married living in The Boathouse at Laugharne, on the beach, overlooking Pendine Sands and he clearly loved the ‘tusked, ramshackling sea‘ (Thomas, 1952). I have found reference to Caitlin, as a teenager ‘running wild across the moors, swimming in the river and riding bareback’ (Gorman, 2014) and so I cannot imagine that she would not have been drawn to swim in the sea, in Cornwall, in July and August, in what in 1937 would have been quiet fishing coves.

Time Passes

One of the recurring themes in Thomas’s poetry and stories is the passage of time, and so a further coincidence is, that, in recent weeks, as I approach one of those ‘landmark’ birthdays, I had also been reflecting on the time that has passed since I started writing this blog. When I began this swimming journey in 2015 (see It Started There), it was my intention to ‘swim the South Coast before my 70th Birthday’ and to write about my encounters with historical, geographical, community and emotional discoveries along the way, rather in the manner of Roger Deakin’s Waterlog (1999).

A couple of years ago, I came to realise how overly ambitious that objective was (see Little By Little) and now, 8 years into the ‘journey’ I find that I have not covered more than a fraction of the wonderful coastal beaches and coves along the English South Coast. Of course, I hadn’t foreseen the almost 2 years of travel restrictions that curtailed my ambitions. However, as I read back through some of my earlier posts I recognise that my ‘swimming journey’ has been, in may ways, more metaphorical and emotional, than geographical. It is interesting, to me, to read about my growth in confidence as an outdoor swimmer, my developing love of cold water and my progress towards becoming an all year round ‘skins’ swimmer. In many ways that has been the ‘journey’ with the geographical, historical and literary discoveries along the way being an unexpected and interesting ‘sideline’ that has kept ‘the academic’ in me active.

Though lovers be lost love shall not;
And death shall have no dominion (Dylan Thomas, 1933)

And, of course, there has also been the journey of grief, and the ways in which swimming and the sea have held me, comforted me and grown around me, and my family, as we have journeyed forward without our precious daughter and sister. And as I described in an earlier post (see I’m On My Way) , this swimming journey has enabled me to find a way to re-embrace and re-discover Cornwall (see Somewhere Over The Rainbow). This summer’s little swimming holiday, with my daughters, was a wonderful birthday gift, in a special part of Cornwall. And to have experienced that, with love and laughter, and new acquaintances, new memories and new hopes and plans for the future is, to me, much more of an achievement than completing any challenge or geographical swimming goal.

After all, I have (hopefully) many years ahead to do that! I don’t need to specify any particular end goal or date. All I need to do is Just Keep Swimming! And so I will!

Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light (Dylan Thomas, 1947)

Our Sea Swim Cornwall Holiday
We stayed in Penzance and swam at Newlyn (1k), Lamorna Cove (1k), and Mousehole Harbour (1k). We also swam at Carbis Bay (1.5k) and Marazion (1.5k).
We ate in lots of lovely places but of particular note was Makerel Sky Seafood Bar, in Newlyn
Sea Swim Cornwall lead a range of guided swimming events, day trips and holidays

References

Coldplay (2002) Clocks , from the album A Rush of Blood to the Head, Parlaphone.

Deakin, R. (1999) Waterlog, Chatto & Windus

Gorman, R. (2014) Caitlin and life with the Johns, in Galway Advertiser, November 20th 2014

Oliver, B. (2017) It Started There, justkeepswimmingbillie.wordpress.com

Oliver, B (2020) Little By Little, justkeepswimmingbillie.wordpress.com

Oliver, B. (2020) Somewhere Over The Rainbow, justkeepswimmingbillie.wordpress.com

Oliver, B. (2021) I’m On My Way, justkeepswimmingbillie.wordpress.com

Thomas, D. (1936) Letter to Vernon Watkins, April 1936 Discoverdylanthomas.com

Thomas, D. (1937) Letter to Vernon Watkins, 15th July 1937, Discoverdylanthomas.com

Thomas, D. (1933) And Death Shall Have No Dominion, first printed in New English Weekly, 1933

Thomas, D. (1945) Fern Hill, first published in Horizon magazine in 1945

Thomas, D. (1947) Do not go gentle into that good night, first published in 1951 in Botteghe Oscure

Thomas, D. (1952) Poem On His Birthday, first published in Poetry in 1955

Williams, C. (2020) Dylan and Caitlin in Penzance, Mousehole and Newlyn, The Dylan Thomas Centre,

61: Stranger On The Shore

Shall I just be a lonely stranger on the shore (Acker Bilk, 1961)

I recently found myself at a swimming event (The Seahorse Swim, at Studland Bay) without my usual, family support team or swimming buddy. Unusually, everyone was away doing something else and so there I was, on the day of the swim, all alone!

Except that, of course, I wasn’t alone because there were a couple of hundred other swimmers there – some taking part in the swim and others supporting us as volunteer marshalls and safety crew.

Connected Community

Coincidentally, that same week I had been in conversation with someone who had remarked on the lovely, friendly, connecting nature of the outdoor swimming community. They observed how they had been welcomed, chatted to and made to feel included but had not felt any pressure to ‘become friends’ with anyone or to extend the connection into any other aspect of their life. They had enjoyed the ‘loose connection’ with other swimmers who were sharing an interest and a particular moment in time. This conversation resonated with me as I stood on Knoll Beach, Studland, happily chatting to and exchanging experiences of swimming with, complete strangers – most of whom I will never meet again – but with whom I experienced a welcome connection and reciprocity.

Community theorists, such as Willmott (1986), call this type of connection a ‘community of interest’: a community of people who share a common interest or passion. In a community of interest, people exchange ideas and thoughts about their shared passion, but may know (or feel the need to know) very little about each other outside of this area.

Robson (2020), has more recently referred to this sort of connection: the opportunity to have “weak ties” and fleeting interactions with “vague acquaintances” as important in contributing to one’s Social Capital. According to Robson (2020) the act of a “shared experience”, of doing the same thing at the same time with others appears to create a social bond that can be independent of any deeper relationship. (See my blog post I’m On My Way for a discussion of this)

Of course, within the looser connection of a community of interest, closer, bonding connections and friendship groups will emerge and these social connections are an important outcome of engaging in an activity such as outdoor swimming. But the broader point is, that I, (and the colleague I had the conversation with) felt accepted as a part of something, without knowing (or caring about) anything about the social, political, family or educational backgrounds of the others I was connecting with. The ‘thing’ that holds us together is swimming: talking about swimming, about tides, about the weather, about the swimming route; sharing tips and experience; and congratulating and celebrating together at the end – before dispersing into our separate lives.

And so, on that day, I did not feel alone. I did not feel like an ‘outsider’. I joined an instantly recognisable and friendly group of swimmers with whom I had much in common and plenty to talk about – even though I don’t know their names!

Smell the sea, and feel the sky,
Let your soul & spirit fly, into the mystic. (Van Morrison, 1971)

Nature Connectedness

And it is not only social connection that outdoor swimming offers to those of us who do it regularly. There are many reports suggesting positive health and well-being outcomes from engaging in outdoor activities, in groups, such as with outdoor swimming and I have written about some of these elsewhere (Oliver, 2021) and in earlier blog posts (see The Happy Club)

More recently, there are reports of growing evidence that spending time in the natural environment, such as swimming in the sea, in lakes and in rivers is also associated with a greater awareness of and care for better environmental outcomes. According to Martin et al, (2020) individuals who visit natural spaces weekly – and feel psychologically connected to them – will not only feel better mentally and physically, they’re also more likely to engage in environmentally friendly behaviours which promote the health of the planet. 

This interest in and care for the natural environment – especially for the sea and its beaches – was one of the reasons I was so keen to sign up to take part in The Seahorse Swim, that is held each year at Knoll Beach in Studland Bay. Not only is it a swim in a beautiful location, organised by a lovely group of people from the East Dorset Open Water Swimming Club, but it also raises money for The Seahorse Trust and The National Trust (who own and look after the beach) and the Dorset Wildlife Trust.

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The Seahorse Trust

The Sea Horse Trust is a small, charity dedicated to caring for seahorses and the natural world. At Studland, in Dorset, their Seahorse Project has been running since early 2009.

Studland Bay has a secret underwater forest, and the seagrass meadows on the sea bed are home to many endangered species, including the spiny seahorse, who come to the sea grass meadows of Knoll Beach every year to breed. As the spiny seahorse is a weak swimmer, it clings onto the seagrass with its tail, using it as an anchor to prevent itself being swept away.

Sea grass meadows can capture more CO2 than rainforests, making them hugely beneficial for the environment and mitigating climate change. However, the sea grass is critically endangered by climate, declining water quality and by storms and so action is being taken to protect it and in 2019, Studland Bay was designated a Marine Conservation Zone. Thanks to measures such as these, in 2020, the largest number of spiny seahorses, in over a decade, was recorded in Studland Bay.

The Seahorse Swim

I didn’t (as you might expect) see any seahorses as I swam round the 2 kilometre course off Knoll Beach. In fact, due to the windy conditions blowing the sea into my face and flattening the marker buoys, I was hard pressed to see much more than the swimmer in front of me, who I followed more in hope than expectation that they were ‘on course’! But I did see (and get entangled with) lots of sea grass, so I like to think there were some seahorses nestling safely on the sea bed, out of sight.

This was another of the lovely, friendly, community run, non-competitive swimming events that I so enjoy. It took me to a beach and an environment I had not previously swum in, and offered me a safe opportunity to do just that. It also introduced me to the valuable work of The Seahorse Trust.

Oh yes! And I also learned that the video for the Coldplay single “Yellow” was filmed on Knoll Beach! #keeplearning

“Look at the stars
Look how they shine for you
And all the things that you do” (Coldplay, 2000)

Photo Credits: Alan Dunkerley Photography (for The Seahorse Swim); Neil Garrick-Maidment (for The Seahorse Trust).

References

Bilk, A. (1961) Stranger On The Shore, Atlantic Records.

Coldplay (2000) Yellow, from the album Parachutes, Parlophone.

Crow, G. & Mah, A. (2012) Conceptualisations and meanings of “community”: the theory and operationalisation of a contested concept, University of Warwick, March 2012

Martin, L., White, M., Hunt, A., Richardson, M., Pahl, S.,and Bunt, J. (2020) Nature contact, nature connectedness and associations with health, wellbeing and pro-environmental behaviours, in Journal of Environmental Psychology, vol. 68, April 2020 doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2020.101389

Morrison, V. (1970) Into the Mystic, from the album Moondance, Warner Brothers

Oliver, B. (2018) The Happy Club, justkeepswimmingBillie.Wordpress.com

Oliver, B. (2021) I’m On My Way, justkeepswimmingBillie.Wordpress.com

Oliver, B. (2021), “Cold water swimming for well-being“, Journal of Public Mental Health, Vol. 20 No. 2, pp. 105-110. https://doi.org/10.1108/JPMH-02-2021-0027

Robson, D (2020) The Surprising Ways Little Social Interactions Affect Your Health, New Scientist, 12^th August 2020

Willmott, P. (1986) Social networks, informal care and public policy. London: Policy Studies Institute.

Local details

Sea temperature : 16 degrees Celsius
I swam 2000 metres
I was in the water for 59 minutes
I ate at Knoll Beach National Trust Cafe

60: It’s been a long time coming

It’s been a long time coming
I said it’s been a long time coming
But good things are going to come my way (Tom Jones, 1966)

It’s been a long time since I wrote a new blog post. A combination of a long cold, wet and miserable early Spring and an ‘update’ to the platform I use, to write this blog, not being supported by my ageing (but not that old) desk top computer, all rather impacted my mood and motivation to write. It’s not that I haven’t been swimming (I swam all through the long cold winter, wearing just a swimsuit), but there wasn’t really anything new to say about it. Yes, it was cold. And yes it continued to fill me with joy and optimism. And on the darkest, coldest of days, getting in the water and chatting to my fellow swimmers afterwards, was often the brightest point of the day. After all, who wants to sit indoors working on an iPad when you could be outside, swimming?

I don’t have any hard, evidence based data to back this up, but it feels as though Spring this year (in the UK at least) has been longer, colder, darker and wetter than in previous recent years. There is a consensus, amongst the sea swimming community, that the sea has been taking longer to warm up this year and we were still shivering over our hot, post-swim drinks right into mid-May. The main focus of pre and post swim conversations has been the slow progress of the sea temperature and we have all been avidly studying it’s reluctant climb, and pushing ourselves to swim a little bit further and to stay in a little bit longer, in order to stay positive.

It’s been a long
A long time coming, but I know
A change gon’ come
Oh yes, it will (Sam Cooke, 1964)

Suddenly It’s Summer

Suddenly, however, in the past week or two, the sun has shone – reliably – all day long. It has been warm! I have actually, finally taken the plunge and re-considered my post-swim wardrobe. My sandals have come out of cold storage. I don’t know how long it is going to last but we are finally feeling the joy of the sun’s warmth on our skin after a swim. Picnic lunches in the sun have even been consumed!

Fortunately, for me, the arrival of the sun has also coincided with the start of the outdoor swimming events season. After 6 months of winter swimming, it is now time to start swimming further, to travel to new locations and to explore new beaches, coves and bits of coast line; to meet and to learn more about local communities and their history.

Castle2Castle

Our first event this year, on 28th May, was the ‘iconic’ open water Castle To Castle swim from Middle Point Beach, below Pendennis Castle in Falmouth, Cornwall, across the stretch of water known as the Carrick Roads to finish at Castle Beach, below St Mawes Castle on the Roseland Peninsula, in aid of the RNLI (Royal National Lifeboat Institution).

The Carrick Roads is the name given to a section of the River Fal which forms a large waterway created at the end of the last Ice Age when sea levels rose dramatically and created a huge natural harbour, the third largest natural harbour in the world. The Carrick Roads take the form of a drowned river valley dominated by a deep, meandering channel, with depths of up to thirty four meters.

Being positioned within the gulf stream, the micro-climate on the Roseland Peninsula, has been described, by the University of Exeter in 2016, as ‘sub-tropical’, These mild, wet and warm conditions enable a variety of exotic plants to flourish. As a result there are beautiful local gardens throughout this part of Cornwall, with exquisite fauna and flora.

Pendennis Castle and St Mawes Castle are two of the best-preserved of Henry VIII’s coastal artillery fortresses. They are part of a chain of forts built between 1539 and 1545 to counter an invasion threat from France and Spain and to guard the important anchorage of Carrick Roads.

.

The channel itself, can be crossed, on foot, by means of the St Mawes Ferry, or by vehicle, by means of the historic King Harry chain ferry, which has been running since 1888 (one of only five chain ferries in the whole of England) – or, with the support of the RNLI, it can also be swum across.

So that is what we did!

A Perfect Day

Oh, it’s such a perfect day
I’m glad I spent it with you (Lou Reed, 1972)

I was (when am I not) anxious about doing this swim, so early in the season, especially after such a cold Spring when the sea is colder than it should be for the time of year. Furthermore, for safety reasons, the event required the compulsory wearing of a wetsuit – and I don’t like swimming in a wetsuit. However, on the day, conditions could not have been more perfect. The sun shone, the wind was light and the sea was calm.

And I had a good swim! I didn’t feel cold. I didn’t feel tired. And I didn’t get caught up in any pods of other swimmers arms and legs. I did end up swimming rather more than a mile because in my efforts to stay away from the heaving masses of swimmers, I swam a rather ‘wide’ route on my way to the other side! But getting out on the other side, we didn’t need any of the warm clothes we had had transported across for us. It felt so good to dry off in the sun and to feel its warmth on our skin.

This was also the kind of event that I enjoy the most. It was a friendly, non-competitive, community run event, supported by lots of local volunteers, in a lovely setting. Of course, there were swimmers who wanted to ‘win’, but for the majority, it was enough to ‘get to the other side’, where swimmers who had already arrived, stayed to clap and cheer, friends and fellow swimmers who were still in the water. The cheering for those who were last out of the water was as strong as the cheering for those who were first. Moreover, it raised a substantial sum of money towards the invaluable work of the RNLI.

I’m On My Way

Oh yes! It’s been a long time coming, but summer may have finally have arrived. I have successfully completed my first event and ‘long swim’ of 2023. And I have managed to write and (and more importantly, edit) a new wordpress.com blog post on my iPad!

Now that’s what I call steps in the right direction!

the RNLI is a wonderful charity, working 24 hours a day, to save lives at sea. If you would like to donate to their work please do so through this link

References

Cooke, S. (1964) A Change Is Gonna Come, on the album, Ain’t That Good News, RCA Victor

Jones, T. (1966) It’s been a long time coming, on the album A-tom-ic Jones, Decca Records

Mosedale, J.R. et al, (2016) ‘Climate change impacts and adaptive strategies: lessons from the grapevine’, in Global Change Biology , July 2016

Reed, L. (1972) Perfect Day, on the album, Transformer, RCA

59: What Three Things?

“I’m walking by the sea and the shingle sings for me” (The Who, 1971)

In my previous blog post (What a Diff’rence A Day Makes) I wrote about the importance of focusing on the joy, the treasure or the ‘specialness’ that each day offers. I will admit to, at times this winter, having found this challenging. January seemed to go on for an inordinately long time and, while there have indeed been some wonderful signs of Spring, in February, this month (as is often the case) is teasing us, getting our hopes up, only to remind us a day later that winter is not over yet. It is all too easy to feel a bit gloomy when the weather is dark, wet and cold and all I really want to do is to hibernate.

This winter, I have been following the work of Lia Leendertz and I have found her weekly updates inspiring in helping me to identify something positive or noteworthy about each day. Every year, Lia produces ‘The Almanac, a seasonal guide to the year ahead’. In addition to her annual Almanac, she writes a blog, produces a podcast, and, since last Autumn sends out a weekly newsletter in which she shares ‘three seasonal things’ she has noticed that week. She calls it ‘Lia’s Living Almanac’ and she encourages her followers to also share their ‘seasonal finds’. In so doing the weekly updates become a dynamic record of the season, whether that is what is happening in our natural world, what festivals and festivities people are celebrating, what food they are enjoying, what sounds they have heard – or anything really that is going on around us. It serves as a wonderful reminder that there is, after all, something wonderful to be celebrated or enjoyed about each day.

There is a blessing in the air,
Which seems a sense of joy to yield
To the bare trees, and mountains bare,
And grass in the green field…(Wordsworth, 1798)

High Tide

At Clevedon, where I swim in the sea, it is only safe and accessible to swim at or around high tide, due to the huge tidal range (one of the largest in the world). In winter, due to the shorter days, this limits the times that a swim is possible. Those possibilities are often further restricted by the weather, which can tend to be rather stormy at this time of year. On ‘non-swimmable’ days I have had to look for ‘seasonal finds’ elsewhere. However, looking back through my recent ‘seasonal’ swims I have been able to identify at least 3 wonderful, unmissable and memorable mornings when my trip to the beach lifted my spirits more than it usually does and gave me additional reasons to celebrate winter swimming.

Interestingly, all three of these ‘seasonal finds’ happened with the 8.00 am high tide. These morning high tide swims are always my favourites. The beach and the roads are quieter, the day has yet to really get going, and it is a great reason to get up and out of the house, feel energised and enjoy the fresh air.

What 3 Things?

So here are three of my ‘seasonal finds’ that contributed to a joyous January of swimming through winter:

1. January 9th 2023 at 8.30 am – Getting thrown – laughing – out of the sea and onto the shingle. When the sea is rough like that, not much ‘proper’ swimming can be done. However, after a week of not being able to get in the sea, the joy and the laughter of a ‘bounce’ in a tide like that is an energising tonic – and a valuable reminder of who is ‘in charge’.

2. January 22nd 2023 at 8.00 am – Watching the sunrise as the moon went down. Facing West, we don’t really see the sun rise, at Clevedon. We are more famous for the beautiful sunsets. But that morning, as the sun was rising behind us, the whole sky was pink. It was magical. And the sea was as flat as a pancake.

3. January 24th 2023 at 8.30 am – Frozen seaweed. It was certainly cold, tip-toeing over the beach to get into the sea that morning, but what an amazingly beautiful sight. It was probably (and hopefully) my coldest swim this winter with the air temperature at -2 Celsius and the sea temperature hovering just below 6. I only stayed in for 5 minutes, but those sunny and frosty mornings can’t help but light up your day – and make you glad you got out of your bed to experience it.

Looking back and identifying those 3 ‘seasonal things’ has helped me to appreciate that the month wasn’t as grey and dismal as I sometimes felt it to be. At the risk of sounding like ‘Pollyanna’ (Porter, 1913), it is, indeed, possible to find something positive, notable and pleasurable about each day, each week and each month. And now, with February almost over and the days getting longer and lighter, there is so much more, every day, to notice about the changing seasons and the world around us.

March, when days are getting long,
Let thy growing hours be strong
To set right some wintry wrong.
~Caroline May, 1887

You don’t have to find something, of note, every day, of course. You could, like Lia Leendertz aim to note 3 ‘seasonal things’ each week. Or you could, as I have done here, aim to note 3 or 4 things each month. What ever works for you! And whatever gets you through!

Just remember to ‘keep swimming’!

References

Leendertz, L. (2022) Lia’s living Almanac. https://lialeendertz.substack.com

May, C. (1887) Lays of Memory and Affection: the seasons and the sea, Randolph & Co.

Oliver, B. (2023) What a Diff’rence A Day Makes, justkeepswimmingBillie.wordpress.com

Porter, E.H. (1913) Pollyanna, Page

The Who (1971) Time is Passing, from the album, Who’s Next, Decca Records

Wordsworth, W. (1798) To My Sister,

58: What a diff’rence a day makes!

What a diff’rence a day makes
24 little hours
Brought the sun and the flowers
Where there used to be rain (Dinah Washington, 1959)

I spent the New Year weekend in Devon with my family, hoping – as we had done last year – to explore some new swimming coves and to enjoy a couple of swims in sea that is a degree or 2 warmer than at my regular beach in Clevedon.

However, if the turbulence of the past couple of years has taught me one thing, it is to not make ‘big’ plans or to invest too much hope and expectation into the days, months and years ahead. For therein, as many of us have discovered, lies the possibility of disappointment. Far better, it seems to me, is to aim to take each day as it comes – and to try to find, experience and to celebrate the joy; the possibilities; and the discovery that each day has to offer.

And that is also how I tend to approach this time of year, when traditionally, we are encouraged (expected?) to make ‘resolutions’ about how we will change the way we live our lives or what we will aim to achieve in the year ahead. As I have written before (Little By Little) there are 365 days available in the year and we can use any or all of them to set ourselves a goal. There is no rule that says it has to be done on January 1^st or that it has to be a goal for the year – or even that you have to set a goal at all. “If, on one day, you don’t manage to achieve much progress, you can just start again the next day; just take it one step at a time” (Oliver, 2020).

”After all, tomorrow is another day” (Margaret Mitchell, 1936)

Outdoor swimming is a bit like that as well. We have no control over the weather, the wind, the height or the timing of the tide. Every day is different and we have to go with and to work with whatever the day offers. That can feel frustrating at times, especially when you were hoping for a long leisurely swim in calm seas or you had made plans to visit and swim in a beautiful hidden cove, but you then discover that the sea and the weather have made alternative plans! You have to learn to seize the day; to grab each opportunity when it is offered – and that if you can’t do what you had planned to do today, to know that there will be another day, another opportunity. For one thing is certain: The sun will rise again. The tide will turn again. Tomorrow will be another day, so aim to make the most of what today offers.

I have always been delighted at the prospect of a new day, a fresh try, one more start, with perhaps a bit of magic waiting somewhere behind the morning. (J. B. Priestley, 1949)

And this was how the New Year weekend in Devon was for me. New Year’s Day, January 1^st, was a total wash out. I had hoped to swim at Hollicombe Cove. But it rained heavily all day, it was windy, the sea was rough and the paths down to the cove were flooded. While I quite enjoy swimming in the rain, I do not enjoy putting wet clothes back on when I get out, especially on sandy beaches. So instead we went in (briefly) at Paignton’s Preston Sands. And we attempted (not wholly successfully) to keep our clothes dry by sheltering from the rain and the wind in the archway underneath the pier.

“We did it” is probably the best that can be said about that swim. But, a swim is, after all, a swim!

What a difference a day makes!

The next day, however, could not have been more different. The sky was blue and cloudless, the wind had eased and there was a bright crispness in the air. We drove along the coast to Brixham with the low sun shining in our eyes. And there we found the lovely little pebbly Breakwater Beach, with the sun shining on it, and one or two other swimmers gently chatting – and a seal swimming back and forth along the breakwater.  It was heavenly and so, of course, we went in.

Afterwards, we walked, along the coast path and out to Berry Head, a National Nature Reserve and Site of Special Scientific Interest with exceptional views across Torbay and beyond. And when we reached the edge of the headland, looking down we saw a pair of dolphins frolicking in the sea below!

That was an experience and a day that could not have been planned for and it will stay with me for ever.

Happy New Year. Happy New Day.

… Birds flying high, you know how I feel
Sun in the sky, you know how I feel
Breeze driftin’ on by, you know how I feel

… It’s a new dawn 
It’s a new day
And I’m feeling good (Nina Simone, 1965)

References

Mitchell, M. (1936) Gone With The Wind, Macmillan

Oliver, B. (2020) Little By Little, justkeepswimmingBillie.wordpress.com

Priestly, J.B. (1949) Delight, Great Northern Books

Simone, N. (1965) Feeling Good, from the album I Put A Spell On You, Phillips Records

Washington, D. (1959) What A Diff’rence A Day Makes, from the album What A Diff’rence A Day Makes, Mercury.

57: Read all about it!

I

“We read to know that we are not alone” (Nicholson, 1993)

I feel very honoured to have been asked by Jane Harris and Jimmy Edmonds to contribute a case study to their recently published book “When Words Are Not Enough” (2022). Followers of this blog will be familiar with my account of how I have found solace and catharsis from swimming outdoors, in the sea; how it has helped me to stay connected with my daughter Wendy and has offered a focus and a purpose to help me ‘keep going’ when I have been feeling sad or helpless.

I first met Jane and Jimmy through the outdoor swimming community network and I know how important regular swims in the sea have been to Jimmy as he has navigated his own grief journey. Their book is a beautifully written – and welcome – account of their own journey through the unimaginable changes that have occurred for them and their family, following the death of their son, Josh. They have written in an honest – and sometimes raw – way about how they learned to “regain a sense of purpose and meaning, to bring stability back to our lives, to accept his death and find a way of including it in everything we do‘. They have learned to accommodate Josh and his death into their ongoing lives in various imaginative ways that have sought to ‘fill the void left by his absence‘. Much of what they write about, as they have taken this journey, will resonate deeply and powerfully with any one who is bereaved – as it did with me. As David Spiegelhalter writes in his review of the book, Jane and Jimmy have “wisely rejected any idea of ‘moving on’ or ‘closure“. Instead the book offers “a kind of creative map” (Stevenson, 2022) to help others find a way to accommodate a new future that emphasises ‘continuing bonds‘ with the deceased.

If you think of me
If you miss me once in awhile
Then I’ll return to you
I’ll return and fill that space in your heart.
(Tracy Chapman, 1995)

Alongside their own personal reflections, Jane and Jimmy have included in the book 13 other case studies, chosen for the ways in which they illustrate the central thesis of this book: of how creativity – or creating something new that would not have existed if their loved one had not died – can shape a future that continues to include the deceased. I urge you to buy and to read the book to understand the range of ways they have interpreted that word: ‘creativity’.

Time and Tide

My own contribution to this book describes the ways in which I have found, how swimming in the sea, not only soothes me and ‘washes away’ some of the painful thoughts and feelings that sometimes threaten to overwhelm me, but also leads (especially in the colder months) to a sense of achievement – of surviving. I also describe how writing about my ‘Just Keep Swimming’ journey, in this blog, has helped me to make sense of the complex range of emotions that I continue to experience.

I am not alone in deriving this comfort and this purpose from swimming in the sea. I have, over the years, read many accounts of the impact that outdoor swimming has had on the experience of others who are grieving. It is not a surprise, therefore, that 3 of the other case studies in Jane and Jimmy’s book, (in addition to mine), are about swimming and about the sea.

“Grief and cold water, very cold water, do have a lot in common, mostly in the sense of
being alien environments that one would not normally choose to enter.” (Edmonds, 2022)

Jimmy Edmonds writes of how swimming in cold waters connects him to his son, Josh, in ways that he finds both ‘surprising and rewarding‘ and opened up opportunities to get to know things about Josh that he hadn’t known before.

Sophie Pierce describes how swimming outdoors, immersing herself in the sea, rivers and lakes has helped to console and heal her following the death of her son, Felix. “Physically, the cold water sends my body into a sharp response, like a re-set button, and this is somehow helpful”.

Ruth Fitzmaurice recounts how the ‘prolonged loss‘ of her husband, Simon, through Motor Neurone Disease led her to find release in swimming “in the freezing waters of the Irish Sea” ridding her mind “of the painful chatter“and “lifting the daily sadness from my bones“. I read Ruth’s powerful book I Found My Tribe a couple of years ago. In the case study she describes how how she was driven to write that book through the pain of her grief. “I wrote like a maniac to write my way out of this … I swam and wrote about it and the book took on a life of its own” She describes how out of that pain grew not just a book, but a community, a following, a tribe – and how this has brought her enormous comfort as she rebuilds her life.

Ebb and Flow

The challenge for all of us who are bereaved, is learning how to rebuild our lives around the grief. As I described in my earlier post And The Sea Is Wide, I have found Tonkin’s (1996) model of ‘Growing Around Grief’ to be one that resonates with me. The grief doesn’t shrink, we don’t ‘get over it’, but we can learn to accommodate it and build a life around it without it destroying us. In their book, Jane Harris and Jimmy Edmonds have taken a similar approach. As they say: “grief is not a passing phase, a moment of doom and gloom from which we will eventually emerge to the sunlit uplands of a happier and more productive life. It’s an ongoing condition … integral to our new reality”. Their book is as uplifting as it is, sometimes, sad, as they share the insights they have learned about ‘a proactive approach to grief‘.

Everyone will grieve for someone at some point in their lives and I believe that, everyone will find something in this book that ‘speaks’ to their own experience. You don’t have to swim in cold water (unless you choose to) but you might be inspired by some of the other ways forward if you read this book – and hey! – if for no other reason, read it because Wendy and I are in it!

References
Chapman, T. (1995) The Promise, from the album New Beginning, Elektra Records
Edmonds, J. (2022) Secret Waters, in When Words Are Not Enough, p. 102-109
Fitzmaurice, R. (2022) Sea Soul, in When Words Are Not Enough, p. 110-113
Harris, J. & Edmonds, J. (2022) When Words Are Not Enough, Quickthorn
Nicholson, W. (1993) Line written for the character of C.S.Lewis, played by Anthony Hopkins, in the film Shadowlands
Oliver, B. (2022) And The Sea Is Wide, justkeepswimmingBillie.wordpress.com
Oliver, B. (2022) Just Keep Swimming, in When Words Are Not Enough, p. 114-115
Pierce, S. (2022) Letters To A Son, in When Words Are Not Enough, p. 38-41
Spiegelhalter, D. (2022) Review included on cover of When Words Are Not Enough, Quickthorn
Stevenson, J. (2022) Review included on cover of When Words Are Not Enough, Quickthorn
Tonkin, L. (1996) Growing around grief – another way of looking at grief and recovery, in Bereavement Care, Vol 15, Issue 1

56: Last of the summer wine

To be sure of winning, invent your own game, and never tell any other player the rules.(Brilliant, 1933)

The end of September heralds the changing season and brings the shifting colours of the leaves, the cooler, misty mornings and the darker evenings. I am not a fan of the autumn equinox. I find, that as the daylight hours shorten and the temperature begins to drop, my mood begins to drop with it and my motivation begins to wane. I am always slow to adjust to the realisation that the days of long swims in calm waters are drawing to a close; to the acceptance that I need to start thinking about layers of clothing and hot drinks again; and to a shorter window of opportunity if I want to swim in daylight or sunshine.

However, one of the good things about September, to my mind, is that, despite the falling air temperature, the sea is still comparatively warm. The water temperature may have begun it’s downward trajectory, but ‘warmer in than out’ will always be the saving grace of autumn swimming and making the most of opportunities to swim in the sea, will always be my way of coping with that ‘September feeling’. If you are planning on swimming through the winter this year, now is the perfect time to start.

Different Ways of Winning

September also, usually, brings the last of the ‘events’ that have taken us on our trips around the South Coast, swimming in new and undiscovered waters and exploring the local surroundings (see You Are My Sunshine). This September we swam in two events in two glorious locations on spectacularly sunny days. Firstly, on Sunday 18th September we continued with our ‘return to Cornwall’ season of swimming events and swam in the Carbis Bay Swim Festival. Carbis Bay is part of an array of beaches that make up St Ives Bay, listed as one of UNESCOs Most Beautiful Bays in the World. The bay is served by the scenic St Ives Bay train that runs along the coast and is described as ‘one of the most scenic train routes in Britain’. It was a lovely, relaxed way to travel to the swim location – and a bit like a pre-event meet up, since just about every other traveller on the platform was heading to Carbis Bay to take part in the event!

The sea that day was challengingly ‘bumpy’ and cool and I was more than a little bit daunted by the numbers of truly fast, strong and experienced and enthusiastic swimmers taking part. I’m not really a fan of swims that involve multiple laps around a course marked out by buoys (especially when the sun in your eyes means that you (I) can’t see where you’re going. I inevitably get ‘lapped’ by all those fast, competitive swimmers and I prefer a swim that ‘starts here and ends there’, where I can feel ok swimming at my own pace. This was a 3k swim made up of 3 laps around the buoys and I struggled, I won’t pretend otherwise. However, I didn’t give up (some did) and I kept going until I completed the course – at which point it became clear that I was the last swimmer in the water!

The great thing about these se swimming events, I have found, is how friendly, supportive and welcoming they always are. Those fast swimmers waiting to take their place on the winners podium might have finished their swim almost an hour sooner than me – but they were all there, the whole beach, waiting to cheer me as I limped up the sand and was awarded a prize for being the swimmer who was ‘the longest in the water’! There is more than one way of winning, that’s for sure!

Yes, there were times I’m sure you knew
When I bit off more than I could chew
But through it all, when there was doubt
I ate it up and spit it out
I faced it all and I stood tall – and did it my way (Sinatra, 1969)

Seven Years of Winning

The following week, Sunday 25th September, we took part in our final ‘event’ of the season, getting up at dawn and swimming in the early morning September sunshine in the ‘Dawlish Swim’ at Dawlish Warren. Dawlish Warren has a beach next to a National Nature Reserve and is a popular swimming location. As it happens this swim was exactly 7 years to the day, since I took part in my first ever sea swimming event (see It Started There) and there were some similarities between my experience of the two events.

Both events involved me lining up to start the swim in the very early morning when, despite the promise of the cloudless sky and sunshine, it was not yet warm (in fact it was cold!). Both events were designed to encourage people to try their first triathlon or their first sea swim – and there were many first timers taking part. Both events had me standing on the shore wondering why on earth I had let myself be talked into doing this. And by the end of both swims I felt exhilarated, proud and thankful for the opportunity – and for the sea.

I didn’t win an ‘official’ prize this time either, so I awarded myself one (quite legitimately I might add!). When looking through the list of other competitors, I confirmed that, although I wasn’t first or last, I was ‘the oldest swimmer’ in the event.

I am going to hold on to that! Oh yes! There will always be more than one way of winning!

Photo Credits: Beth Oliver (Carbis Bay) and Nik Langdon-Ward (Dawlish Warren)

The Carbis Bay Swim Festival was organised by Mad Hatter Sports Events

The Dawlish Swim was organised by Sportiva Events

Carbis Bay
Sea Temperature: 16 degrees celsius
Distance Swum: 3200 metres
Swim Time: 90 minutes

Dawlish Swim
Sea Temperature 17 degrees celsius
Distance Swum: 1500 metres
Swim Time: 39 minutes

References

Brilliant, A. (1933) Ashleigh Brilliant Quotes

Oliver, B. (2017) It Started There, justkeepswimmingbillie.wordpress.com

Sinatra, F. (1969) My Way, from the album My Way, Reprise.