Hembury Woods beckons the Dipper(s)

Saturday 6th November and Dani (The Dipper) and Steve were certainly up for joining us for a chilly dip in the delightful Dart. Unlike our last dip in Hembury Woods it was quite hard to submerge our toasty warm bodies into the icy waters and ice-cream headaches were par for the course.

A startlingly refreshing swim, which my now fairly rotund middle seemed to enjoy (31 weeks pregnant) and thankfully my extra coating seems to keep me warmer for longer so whilst my trusty companions talked of 'still chilly buttocks' and 'ever so cold toes' I felt warm as toast as we wandered through the lovely woods after our dip.

I look forward to my next trip here, it's becoming one of my best loved pools on the Dart.

It's getting cold again

It's late September, I'm 6 months pregnant and the dipping is getting cold again, Hooray!

I used to love Autumn for the turning leaves, the refreshing breezes and the atmospheric rain. Now I love it because it signals the beginning of another magical winter of freezing cold dips.

This morning steam was coming off the millpond and the water hasn't looked that enticing in a long time. We swam from the quay in Stoke Gabriel with Freda watching and once the ice-cream headache had passed I swam bravely out into the River Dart and just watched. The water was still, the surroundings were beautiful and my fingers were going a bit numb. Just perfect.

Swimming back towards Stoke Gabriel I realised that I should probably keep my bump a bit warmer from now on but I also realised that I have really missed the chilling waters of winter. I feel very excited about this winter. A new home, a new baby on the way and our lovely little girl Freda turning one year old on the 30th September.

Much to my husbands despair I am already excited about Christmas and ofcourse we will be gracing the River Dart with our presence for our traditional Christmas Day dip. High water is at 8.45am....what perfect timing, Father Christmas will have been and lunch will be warming in the oven. A dip has never been so well timed. ;-)

Rowcroft Swim

A gorgeous sunny day in September so what better way to spend it than swimming a mile at Teignmouth Beach with 130 others?

Margy (aka Pocket Rocket) rallied the South London troops and we all went, old and new to swim our mile along the Devon coast. Alex, Ann, Margy, Tricky, Stu and I all got ready to run into the water together while Egg looked after little Freda and fed both her and himself a fair few blueberry rice cakes.

The only strange things about the swim was that out of 130 swimmers there were only 10 of us swimming as God intended (well with our vitals covered!) what a shame. All the rest were in wetsuits! What on earth? It was boiling hot and the sea was warm, why were so many people wearing rubber? I won't go on about that because I had a lovely swim but I simply don't understand why people put rubber clothes on to swim when it's so hot outside?

The swim started in waves of 25 and we were in the 3rd wave. We ran into the water, 5 month bump and all and swam off. I was worried that I'd be surrounded by people and get a boot in the tummy so I was a bit nervous to start with but it wasn't like that at all. Stuart and I swam out wide and kept clear of the crowds. We spent the whole swim passing people and basked in the sunshine, it was just lovely lovely lovely and an excellent way to round off the weekend.

Thank you Stuart from swimming with me, I followed him as fast as my arms would carry me but he still did butterfly in places and held back in others so that I wasn't swimming alone, that's just lovely.

The 1st Palmer Dart

11th September 2010 marked the day of our first ever organised Totnes to Stoke Gabriel swim, named temporarily by our friends as 'The Palmer Dart'. We had 30 swimmers and over 30 support boats. The Stoke Gabriel Boating Association provided us with astonishing support and it was a day to top most other Saturdays this year (for me).

Surrounded by lovely local swimmers, my fondest friends from South London Swimming Club and swimming next to my gorgeous husband I had one of the best swims I've had in the River ever ever! The water was flat calm and silky smooth and it was easy to swim through, astonishingly so.

Two astonishings already - you see that is what the day was like from start to finish.

The day was slightly grey and drizzly but the weather front was passing and the water was in perfect condition.

We set off in 3 waves, the more relaxed swimmers first, I call them the watchers, they like to drift down the river watching the scenery taking it all in, they really make the most of every swim. The 2nd group to go was the slightly faster group, they entered the water with some descriptions of the water temperature, mostly polite and lots of smiles. We were then left with the speedy ones, the channel swimmers, the 2-way windermere swimmers and quite simply the down right nifty ones.

I followed them in my support boat deftly navigated by Roger and meandered my way through half of the swimmers before finding Stuart who was swimming at an impressive pace. Just before Sharpham I slid daintily from the boat (that's not quite how it happened but it's my blog so I'll describe it how I like!) and joined Stuart to swim the rest of the way back to Stoke Gabriel.

I smiled the whole way, I felt so good in the water, what a buzz to have organised this local event and to actually be able to take part in it.

We ended the swim at the River Shack in Stoke Gabriel where Tim and Lexi had put on some delicious bacon and sausage baps for us and served 65 of us in under an hour, whilst I know it's good for business they really pulled the stops out to help us out and we all sat eating and drinking in the glorious sunshine for a good few hours.

Once again I find myself dangerously close to going totally over the top in describing just how wonderfully lucky I feel to know and be associated with so many kind and caring people all up for being in and on the river early on a September morning.

I am really very lucky! Bring on the Palmer-Dart 2011. I'm looking forward to it already.

Hembury Woods: An inspiring swimming spot

We have come across a secret weapon, a local lady who is inspired by finding new places to swim and dip and finds even more pleasure in sharing these gems with fellow swimmers, like us.

Today our secret weapon directed us towards, what can only be described as a magical pool in the River Dart. So deep in places that it was pitch black and shallow enough in others to see the peaty rock that formed the river bed. Situated in the heart of the woodland it is covered by trees allowing shards of sunlight to sparkle through onto the water making it even more magical. I felt like I was part of some lovely secret and surrounded by nature in it's purest form. My words aren't doing it justice but I feel totally inspired.

There is nothing more wonderful than submersing oneself in cold river water and swimming upstream towards a waterfall challenging you to swim into it's bubbles. Oh magic magic magic magic magic.

Today I remembered why I love swimming so much, when you find a secluded dipping spot where you can be totally alone or surrounded by like minded friends whilst also being colder than you are used, life takes a sudden up-turn for no explainable reason.

I will return to this spot, without a doubt and I am now on a mission to explore every inch of our gorgeous River Dart. What an honour to live right by it and to have discovered others who want to know and swim in every bit of it!

It's been too long...

Well it has been a long time since I posted.

My daughter is now 7 months (almost) and swimming weekly.

The water outside is warm enough to be swimming good distances, not long now and the indoor pool will become redundant again until the Autumn.

But what excites me most is that we've found a nearby swimming spot that can be used daily and is truly beautiful (well seaweed aside). It's on the River Dart and it's only ever been us there pre-during and after swim....lovely lovely lovely. I'll take a picture and post it soon as I've resolved to write more regularly now! Hmmmm, we'll see. Fingers crossed....

Freda Frog practises her diving technique

The youngest Devonshire Dipper has now had her first two swimming lessons in Dartington. She 'Swims with Sally' who has already had her totally submerged....I was more scared than Freda but she was fine! Here she is looking hot to trot, practising her diving technique, in her neoprene swimsuit, lucky little frog.

Her second swim was with her best friend Eva.....Eva took to swimming exceptionally well, she's a bright spark. Picture to follow.