OK so I expect that 2021 hasn’t exactly got off to the start we were all hoping for with a new lockdown that has closed pools, lidos and many outdoor swim venues, with no end date in sight and a legally enforceable instruction to ‘stay local’ and avoid unnecessary travel, it’s looking likely that many swimmers will be out of the water for some considerable time…. So for me it’s time to look for some positives and make the best we can of a new Lockdown. Here are some of my positive thoughts and ideas to feed the swimming love whilst we can’t get in the water 1. Enjoy those swimming related boo ..read more

I just love the photo ‘Woman in Blue Cap’ by Alice Zoo from her series ‘Swimmers’ – it shows a swimmer clad in swimsuit, blue hat, rubber washing up gloves tied with elastic bands around the wrists…. I saw it at the National Portrait Gallery and a postcard of it sits on my windowsill…. It beautifully raises the question of what kit you really need for Open Water Swimming? If we take a swimming costume and a swim cap as a bare minimum (OK… for those who take the term ‘bare’ minimum more literally I appreciate that in theory you don’t even need these two items but lets assume that we’re not ski ..read more

Back in March… as the world was watching events unravel in China and Italy with horror and dread…I was attempting the million metre challenge – to swim a million metres over the course of the year. To hit this target involves an average of over 83k a month… doable, or so it seemed back then. I was swimming 6 days a week, anything between 1 and 7K a day…. And then like so many of my swimming friends I had nearly 2 ½ months out of the water. During that time I rerouted my training and spent more time running, cycling, doing Pilates and HIIT in the living room with Jo Wickes, Tom Daley and at on ..read more

You may recall that last year I wrote a blog about Loch Bagging in Scotland.. mostly pondering how long it might take to ‘bag’ a swim the 350 lochs ‘of a notable size’ or a dip in one of the 31,000 freshwater lochs and lochans (any size!)… well, I’m pleased to report that following our trip back to the Highlands earlier this year, I can now add to the tally…. Loch Lochy and the genuine, kind and thoughtful swimmers form the Lochaber Loons welcomed me again like old friends, although this year on a wet and cloudy, atmospheric day very unlike the sunny swims I’ve enjoyed the previous 2 years! A ..read more

I’m not one for entering online competitions to be fair… mostly because historically I haven’t ever won very much. There were some InterRail tickets about 30 years ago which was a bit of a blast but no houses or cars to speak of! So with an expectation that nothing would come of it, I entered a competition through my favourite magazine – Outdooor Swimmer – to do some kit testing for Zone 3…. If chosen, the deal was that they send you the kit, you test it and write a review and get to keep the kit…. Well, who doesn’t love new swim kit? So I figured there was no harm in putting my name into the ..read more

What's replacing your swimming and everything that it brings to you and those around you during the Coronavirus Lockdown? So many of us have had to find alternative ways to work, to stay fit and well, to shop and to keep in touch with our friends and family. People are finding creative and inventive solutions to the fast changing situation as it evolves.... Some things seem to be common threads and everyone is finding their own way.... Here are some of my substitutes! The camaraderie.... I'm still keeping in touch with my Swimming Family. Our closest swimming friends - The Soggy Squad... have ..read more

If you’ve read previous blogs and posts you’ll know that I love Scotland and will always keep an eye out for a swim opportunity when I’m there…. What I haven’t spent a lot of time pondering in the past is the water colour and clarity and how that does (or doesn’t) affect a swim and the head space that goes with that swim…. Well, that all took an unexpected direction earlier this year! There are so many variables in the open water that it is no exaggeration to say that every single open water swim is different, even if it is at a location you’ve visited many times before. I am always stunned w ..read more

It goes without saying that I love swimming in the sea but it’s true to say I don’t comfortably call myself a ‘sea swimmer’. I haven’t ever lived close enough to the sea to spend a serious amount of time in and around it and to get to know and properly understand its nuances and mannerisms. Maybe one day that will change but for the moment I have to acknowledge that I always approach a sea swim in UK waters with a certain degree of trepidation. I’m not entirely sure where this has come from, but it isn’t necessarily a bad thing in my mind. I swam in the seas off the Italian coast as a child w ..read more

Many of you will have seen OWS back in the news again over recent weeks. Sadly this wasn’t for any of the reasons I would wish to see. Too many people have tragically lost their lives to the open water this month. With the warmer weather, the summer holidays upon us and after so many months of Lockdown restrictions, people have headed out into the water for various reasons and some have not made it back. Every life lost to the water is a life too many and a tragedy to the victims, to their friends and loved ones. My heart goes out to them all. The press have rightly reported these tragic inci ..read more

Ok… how many of us can truly say we’ve never been a swim snob? I confess that I had a monumental sulk upon returning from our trip to Scotland last year where I had been lucky enough to swim in some amazing lochs, with mountain backdrops and clear open skies, clear (albeit peaty brown) water and wide-eyed onlookers waving at me from passing boats and wondering if I was mad. Returning to the lakes at the water park was hard enough after that, let alone returning to the chlorine pit…. I was a proper Loch snob that week! Then just the other day, I found I needed to give myself a serious talking ..read more