With today's swim cancelled, Jess (one of the OSS people I know) and I decided to attempt our own alternative mile by swimming the length of Buttermere (approx 1 mile).
We set off, full of enthusiasm and determination. The water wasn't too cold, and quite clear. All was going well, and then the wind picked up. The water began to get quite choppy, with white crests on the waves, and the cross wind made it hard to breathe. I decided to swim on my back for a bit (one advantage of being the only two swimmers in the whole lake - I wasn't about to bump into anyone!). I'd not done many stokes when I heard Jess shouting me. The wind was blowing me off course, and I was heading straight for some trees on the bank!
Back on my front, I corrected my position and got back to where Jess was, but by now the going was really getting tough, and I was getting tired. I knew that at this rate I wouldn't be able to get far, and it looked as though conditions were worse around the headland.
We heard shouts from the shore, and I looked up to see a group of my friends and neighbours who'd come up to the lakes to support me on my swim. I waved, but couldn't shout to them, the wind was sucking the breath out of me.
I swam a bit more, concious that I was holding Jess back (I'm not a quick swimmer, especially after the big break in training) and realised that I wasn't going to be able to swim the length of the lake. I decided that discretion was definitely the better part of valour, and suggested to Jess that we called it a day, before we got into trouble (with only a shore buddy and no boat, this was possible if we got round the headland and into really rough water). Jess didn't seem to mind, so we swam to shore, letting the swell carry us to the beach.
Jess said that it was like swimming in the sea, with the strong swell, and that it was the hardest outdoor swim she'd done. So I didn't feel quite so bad about stopping. We trudged back to the car in our wet wetsuits, and went in search of a nice hot cuppa.
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