It now looks like Sunday!! The wind is in the wrong direction! God I am frustrated!!!

It looks like Saturday!

Well speaking with Kevin today it looks like I will be off on sat at 0600hrs ish!! I have been keeping busy by swimming in the harbour even though it's windy as hell!! John is still playing with his iPhone!!! We were stopped in Sainsburys this aft by a gentleman who thrust £20 in Johns hand saying GOOD LUCK!!! What a really kind and generous gesture!! I will confirm sat when I know for certain!!

Its nearly here!!

Well the big day is nearly here and I am beginning to get a little nervous! Good news is my wrist is great! It feels a little sore but certainly not as bad as it was and I have been swimming without any problems! Today John and I are finishing off packing everything and the kitchen looks like a bomb site!

(See left)

We have just spoken to Kevin our pilot on the Folkstone Angler and the weather isn't great but he is hoping I can go on the tide window on saturday which will be excellent as its Yorkshire Day on sat!!

John is relaxing by constantly playing Harbour Master on his iPhone - its just not irritating enough!

I have downloaded the Dan Brown Angels and Demons audiobook so that should keep me entertained!

We are off to Dover tomorrow morning and we are staying in a studio appartment at Varne Ridge Holiday Park

Lets pray that the weather clears?

Injury free?

Well I have spent the last 10 months virtually injury free but over the last few weeks my left wrist has got more painful! I have a history with my wrist as I had to have it reconstructed in Feb 2007 (I lost 3mms on my ulna and the head was removed!). Anyway I got to see a physio on monday this week and he referred me back to the surgeon at the hospital. I saw him yesterday and had an xray and was diagnosed as having a very inflammed joint - he then proceeded to inject it with steroids and told me to not swim for at least a week!!! At this point I protested so he compromised on 48hrs and put me in a splint. So I haven't swum for a couple of days already and it is drving me mad!!
My swim is scheduled for 8 days time so I am hoping this should tie me over!!! Fingers crossed!

It was one of those days....

Last weekend I swam in the BLDSA 2 way Bala Lake in North Wales (6miles). John and I stayed in our motorhome and on a cloudy and windy sat morning we set off for the lake. I have to say both of us were not really 'in the mood!'. This was reflected in the swim! At 1300hrs the siren sounded and off we went. John was doing safety in his kayak and Karen T was swimming with Lisa doing her safety in Karen's kayak. As soon as I started swimming my goggles steamed up so badly that I could see barely nothing!! I tried to clear them regularly but it just wouldn't work. John spat on them a couple of times but still to no avail! I carried on swimming then stopping and was getting more and more annoyed!!! After almost 1.5 hours I was going nowhere and considered stopping for good. My last attempt of getting John to spit on them eventually worked - thank god!!!! I could now put my head down and get to the bottom of the lake, turn around and come back. The weather was awful as well - it was really windy and was against me as I swam. John also wasn't very well prepared and everytime I stopped to feed we got blown back down the lake. this was SO frustrating. Eventually I got to the bottom but it took me 2hrs 24mins which was terrible! I now had to redeem myself and set about to get to the finish! I passed a guy but was being catched by a lady with a rowing boat as her safety. I managed to finish in 4 hours 24mins so it took me 24 mins less to get back!! John told me we stopped a total of 18mins so if I hadn't messed about I would have got home quicker. I put this swim down to experience!

The LONG SWIM!

Wow - I was in Dover this weekend doing a long swim - I wanted to swim over the 6 hour mark to see how my body reacted to it and whether I could manage a long swim! At 0800hrs I launched myself into the water in Dover Harbour under the watchful eye of John. The plan being 10 hours. Freda was there waiting for other swimmers to appear at 0900hrs but I would have an hour on my own. The water was okay and didn't feel too cold. John had put some 'channel grease' on me which was made from half Lanolin and half Vaseline. It is horrible stuff but I wanted to try it out also. My feed regime was to be feed every hour for 4 hrs and then half hour after that. After a couple of hours I was joined by other swimmers, people saling in dingys and rowing boats.

After 4 hours I turned at the hovercraft wall and was faced by fog rolling in and the sea got really choppy. I was worried for a while especially when I lost the white cliffs! It stayed patchy for a while but soon cleared after about 7 hours. After this I lost most of the other swimmers. I was on my own again!

John kept me organised with the feeds and spent the whole time running up and down the shore and kayaking all over the place.

After 8 hours I began hurting - my right shoulder was getting painful but not bad enough to finish. I did think I was going to stop but a bigger part of me told me to carry on! The weather had cleared and the afternoon sun came out! All the sailors and rowers had gone as well.

I continued and eventually came out of the water at 10hrs 2mins 2secs!!!!I felt amazing! I was tired but okay! When I dressed and got back to the campsite (Little Satmar). As I went for a shower I realised that I had sunburned my face with the most ridiculous sun lines - especially where my swimming cap had ended. Never mind I look at it as a battle scar - I came and conquered 10hrs in Dover Harbour - I can't wait until the big swim now!

The water was finally warm!

Lake Coniston has finally warmed up! John and I were in the Lake this weekend. The water was lovely and it was exceptionally warm on the outside! John pottered up and down in his kayak whilst I plodded up the lake for 2 hours then crossed over to the other side and plodded back! The lake was full of canoeists, kayakers, yachts and inflatables which gave me something to concentrate on. I eventually swam just over 4 hours on the saturday and 2 hours on sunday - the trouble is that now things have warmed up so have the insects - I was eaten to pieces on sunday and still have the lumps and bumps to prove it!!
I am in Dover next weekend for a long long swim (8hrs +) before I finally calm down for the big swim!