Be Excellent To Each Other

Looking trim, Malc. The exercise is paying off

Thanks!

I don't really feel it at the moment, and the Scales are refusing to budge after losing about 8kg, but a few people have said it, so I guess it must be true, which is nice.

It is absolutely lovely, it's my closest (lifeguarded at least, Mothercombe is closer, but it's tiny and not apt for walking) beach, and the beach that we have been to the most since we moved here. As I said the waves are quite good too, so if you like a bit of surf it's good too

Ah you're very lucky to have this all around you.

I will recreate the shot for lucky beexers next Wednesday.

Couldn't quite get the timing with the tide right, and son's patience for perfecting the frame was limited

28) Piles Copse

First Swim of September done. wanted to go up the day before, but it had rained significantly, so 2 days of sun is better than one, for reducing the mud and warming the water.

Speaking of, the water was not as cold as I expected, not quite "warm" but I didn't need to get used to it, other than the initial 1second shock. I managed 14/16 lengths (I lost count) I would have done more, but sunset was 19:50 and it takes 3 hours to walk there and back (plus time for swimming).
I did wonder if that was going to be last post work walk/swim in Piles Copse until next year. However...


29) Piles Copse

I went again today, it's been pretty rainy, but yesterday wasn't too bad, and today was really sunny, so I thought I would give it a go. The ground was sodden in places, but I was making good time, (sunset was even earlier than last week, so I had that on my mind) It was quite windy in Ivybridge, and up on the moors too, but when I was in the shelter of Sharp Tor (not that one) it was still. However, the clouds decided to show up, so the temperature dropped.

I was quite reluctant to get in, as it looked cold, however, it wasn't too bad (albeit colder than last time) I again managed 14 lengths, but the temperature was noticeably cooler once I got out, and I was very glad to have bought my hoodie. I'll need to start taking my gloves again.

On the way back the light was getting very dim, and I really don't think I will be able to get up there again after work (so weekends only) I will still have Long Timber Woods, which I should be able to manage until the clocks go backwards.

My prediction for the end of the year is that I will end on around 36 swims (which would be 3 a month) which if I make that, I will award myself a C+

30) Long Timber Woods

No longer enough light to get up to Piles Copse after work, I had initially planned on a 90 minute scenic route to Long Timber Woods (the swimming spot is about 20 minutes away from my house), but I wasn't feeling it, so straight there and back it was.

When I got there, the rocks were damp and slippery (one of the main reasons I don't go here that often, is that it's not nice to get in and out of), but that didn't deter me.

I eased in, and for the first time in a while I had to really acclimatise to the water (this part of the river is in the woods, so doesn't get much sin light, so if often cooler than on the moors) only took a couple of minutes though, so not too bad,.

This part of the river is wider than Piles Copse, and I ended up swimming 10 circular laps (which I'd guess were about 35-40m each). I also took advantage of some rocks by the waterfall to dive in a few times, also good fun!

I was starting to feel the cold a bit, so got out, got dressed and started the walk home.

within 5 minutes or so, I felt something like an insect bite on my right forearm, I looked down, and I saw what I can only describe as thin dried up slug (or like a long thin caramelised slice of onion

I swatted at it twice, and it stayed there, and on the time it was removed.

there were small light brown stains on my arm, near where it was, which came off with a little water and rubbing.

I googled leeches uk on my phone and found this:



Which looks very much like what it was.

I have been swimming in that location for 17 years and have never had a leech on me before. Also, its at the base of a waterfall, and my understanding is that they like stagnant water, so I think I must have got it as I climbed over the damp rocks. If it was even that, it could have been a weird stick fly thing ( I didn't really let it stay on me for more than a couple of seconds after I saw it was there)

So it's left me in two minds about swimming there again. Which is a shame

31) Piles Copse

My wife gave me a lift to Harford (about 2/3rds of the way there) saving me about half an hour of daylight. I also decided to head home via the North side of the river instead of my usual route home on the south side as it is less wooded and more open.



Getting across was tricky, the rocks were very slimy, but once there, I managed 16 lengths and could have stayed longer if sun set wasn't issue.



No leeches and the walk home was amazing. I just wished I could have shared it with someone. It was almost spiritual, the sun was setting and the countryside was perfect. I was really moved, and almost in tears

32) Sandy Mouth Bay (morning)
33) Sandy Mouth Bay (afternoon)

We decided to have a weekend away, boys didn't want to come, so my wife and my daughter and I went to a holiday park just outside Bude. on the Saturday the weather was amazing, so we went to the beach. The waves were relentless, so it made the whole thing very tiring, and a bit too much for my daughter, but we had a good 30 minutes or so in there in the morning.

After refreshments back at the tent, I decided to have a second swim on my own, didn't have much time, as the tide was coming in, meaning we had to move the tent or risk being stranded. We timed it pretty much perfectly (5 more minutes would have meant wet feet all round)

I would have gone back in the next day (maybe in Bude itself) but the weather was not so nice on the Sunday, and became very stormy (so much so that the trains were cancelled, hopefully that's sorted by the weekend, or getting to Derby will be fun!)

34) Piles Copse (at dark)

Well, they have probably been about a dozen times in my life where I have thought (even if it was for just a moment) 'hmm maybe you have bitten off more than you can chew this time Malc'

This was one of them!

I knew that I would be coming home in the dark, and I had researched when nautical twilight ended, so I had worked out that If I got to a certain point by a certain time, I would be comfortable doing the rest by torch light.

It was a bit cloudier than I expected, which hastened the darkening, but the main issue was that a path I was relying on just stopped and turned in to 5ft high ferns and bracken! Which I then had to (whilst climbing up a 45 degree slope) somehow make a path through, whilst avoiding hidden rocks and ditches. Needless to say this took a lot of energy out of me, and a bit of mild panic set in. I really needed to sit down and rest for a bit, but it was getting colder and darker by the second, and I was getting wearier (doubtless not helped by a swim in a river a few minutes prior)

I eventually made my way back to the path, sat down on a stile for 3 minutes, ate an energy bar, drank some water, admired the red glow on the horizon rapidly fading, and pushed on.

My plan on getting to the Puffing Billy track was thwarted, and I was walking back the way I came, there was still one my chance to get up there, but as I got to the entrance car park, I made the decision to head back on the road in the dark (it seemed reckless to head further on to the moors, up hill, and on a sheep track when it looked like fog was forming, the temperature was dropping and I was low on energy)

So 3.5km down a narrow country road, surrounded by high trees and bushes in the dark. Luckily my head torch is very bright and the three cars I passed all slowed to a crawl to pass me (all three were electric cars curiously) I could have chosen the wooded path I ususally use, but I figured an accident on the road was likely to be attended by people, whereas one on the path would not be.

Thankfully nothing happened. but I won't be doing that walk after work again (this time for real! Aye!) until the end of March beginning of April.

Oh, this is supposed to be about the swim?

I did three lengths (really didn't want to stay any longer than that) it was brisk (in all senses of the word I think) and I banged my head and scrapped my chest on a rock that I couldn't see)


I was going to post a selfie showing how dark it was, but apparently it didn't take as it's not in my reel, so I can't do that.

Bloody hell Malc. Maybe you should find a nice swimming pool?

Where's the fun in that? (For an hour or so it was type 2 fun admittedly, but the rest was type 1 fun)

Didn't realise that hitting my head on the rock left a mark

35) Mothecombe Beach


I thought I would take advantage of the Clocks Going Back so that I could get up "Early" without it being too Early for my body.

So, up just before 6, left at about 06:40, and headed out to the beach (13.5km away) It was very foggy which led to a mysterious feel to it (and actually a little worrying as this was the third time I was doing this, and the two previous times I had attempted this, I had taken a wrong turn, and that was with clear visibility) But all was fine, It was too hot for my hoodie, but my arms were cold without it, however, after an hour or so it was warming up.





I got to the beach on the estuary of the Erme and it was packed with dog walkers (last time I went there we saw 2 or 3).

As an aside, I actually needed a few things to align perfectly for this, I needed not to be on call, the weather needed to be nice, and then the tide needed to be low so that I could walk from the Estuary round to the actually beach. Luckily they all did align.

When I got to the beach itself it was equally as busy and got it even busier over the hour or so that I was there (I think the car park opened at 09:00 so that makes sense).

I was there on my own, so I have no footage of me in the Sea, but here I am just before the swim:



And then just after:



The water was nice, waves about 1-2m high, not sure on the temp, but it was fine, much warmer than the river would have been, but not quite as warm as I would have liked (and as I said plenty of people agreed and were in the sea enjoying it)

On The walk home, the fog had lifted, and it was very sunny, combining that with the fact that I was walking up hill, meant very a very sweaty Malc,



I really struggled with the last 2-3 km which was made worse as I took a wrong turn at a confusing double gate following the obvious path wide enough for a tractor, but nice and easy to walk down, rather than muddy, swampy stream that I was supposed to walk down.

I finally made it to my street, and I went to check my phone which then shut down, and for a while I was panicking that my strava tracking would be lost, but fear not they've thought of that, and it recovered my walk (barring the last 500m or so)

Bloody Hell I'm knackered and wearing t-shirt 4 for the day!

36) Long Timber Woods

36) Long Timber Woods


Well hello Wild Swim fans and forum 100%ers, I wonder if you were worried that I would miss my November Swim, hands up if you were! Come on, raise your hands. I can't see any hands, but that's mainly because it's not 1984 and I am not Big Brother (well I am *a* big brother, but not *the* big brother)

This is the 4th (and last) weekend of November, and one that I am working/oncall for, I had hoped to have had at least one wild swim in the bag from the previous 3 weekends, but for various reasons this was my last chance to get a swim in November

I had planed another walk to Mothecombe Beach on each of the previous weekends, but the first one, I was still not quite recovered from the previous one the weekend before, the second one is when I should've gone, but I felt overwhelmed at thought of a 6 hour round trip (I'd also dismissed going swimming in my usual spot on the River Erme for reasons I wasn't aware of) so did nothing. Then last weekend the Storm hit, and that continued until about Tuesday this week.

I really thought I had messed up and had ruined my run of at least one swim each month. I decided I had 3 options, either take an extended lunch break on Thursday/Friday or go before work on Saturday.

I had a realisation that maybe the reason I had not gone to my spot on the moors, was that maybe I was scared about a repeat of what happened back in April, the water is probably colder now than it was then, and despite not thinking about that on a conscious level, maybe subconsciously I didn't want to risk it, which is something I need to put a stop to as soon as I can in December, as I can't be letting that side of me win, I'll never hear the end of it if I do.

Any way, with fewer than 8 hours of daylight left in November, I headed to Long Timber Woods for a swim in the spot where last time I got attacked by a leech (maybe).

I took a slightly longer route there than I normally take as I wanted to get to the river to see how fast it was flowing to see if it was worth my time, when I got there, I could see that it was borderline, and I would have to get to the swim spot before making my mind up.

I got to the mini car park by one of the entrances to the woods, and a man with a rather large Bullmastiff was getting ready to go for a walk, and whilst the man was changing out of his shoes into some boots, the dog was loose and decided to confront me, now I'm fine with dogs, some dogs really seem to like me, but some dogs get quite aggressive around me, most of them, do this from a distance, this one however, came so close to me and even bumped into my leg and was snarling, growling and baring it's teeth at me, and only reluctantly came to heel after a good 20 seconds of the owner calling it back (it's name was Loki)



So off I march to the my spot where I notice the water is much higher than it usually is, making getting in and out of the water that much harder and the water was really flowing quite fast:



As I was getting changed the Bullmastiff turned up again, without it's owner, it
got to within about 5m of me and started barking again, eventually it backed away and ran back to its owner (presumably).

I decided that I would go for a swim as it was manageable speed, I was actually really warm after walking there (it's only about 2k from my house and all downhill), because I was wearing long trousers and a hoodie, however, I didn't realise that it was about 15/16 degrees outside which is shorts weather for me.

The water, however, was freezing, painfully so, I managed to get into the main flow of the river, and tried swimming upstream, but the flow was far too fast to make any reasonable progress, and I wasn't in the water very long (fewer than 2 minutes).

I made my way to a picnic area to get changed (where the floor is less slippery, rocky and further from the river and there is also a bench to sit on to make it easier to get changed) the dog and it's owner turned up again. The dog was very much in face again, and the owner was doing it's best to call it away, apologising, and explained that he was only doing it because I was so tall. He told me to look away and ignore it, which I was loathe to do, I wanted to be ready to defend myself if it did decide to go one step further and attack. But it wasn't backing down as I was looking at it, so I gave it a go, and it did indeed go back to its owner's heel.

As I was getting dressed I somehow managed to pull the muscle in my left shoulder blade, which has got progressively more painful as the morning has gone on. The price of getting old I guess.

Anyway, I just about managed to get a swim in, keeping at least one of this year's resolutions on the table (I'm not getting to 52 wild swims, 1000km walked or weighing less than 100kg, but I just need a swim in December to make it at least 1 swim every month)

yay me!?