Clyde Swim

When I woke up to the sound of wind and rain this morning, I wasn't hopeful. But the weather improved as each hour passed. So today was the day to see how this year's focus on swimming has turned out. The view from the high road over from Kilmacolm to Greenock was stunning. A huge cruise ship in the terminal, the Waverley passing along side and the sun shining on the far away hills.

I left the wetsuit in the changing rooms. I was worried that I might need the assistance of my colleague who was manning one of the safety boats. The guy taking us across the water certainly put the foot down and our only slowing was to rescue people from one of the other boats which had stopped in the middle of the channel.

We left Kilcreggan a bit late due to an oil tanker making its way down from Glasgow. Don't want to meet that in the middle! Off we went. I had a bit of a struggle to get my breathing settled down at the start, but a minute or so of breaststroke and I was ready to follow Morven, my fantastic kayaker, back across to the boat club. Withe the changing tide we took a curved route which meant I approached from entirly the other direction than on my last swim across.

Really pleased with how it went. Nowhere near the winners, but without my wetsuit and the longer route I was only 4 minutes slower than last time. 1 hour 16; not exactly speedy but other than the first few minutes all comfortable. No problems with the cold, no problems with the waves, no problems with jellyfish, no need to be rescued.

Thanks to everyone who gives their time to support it. It was a fantastic day with a great friendly atmospshere. I decided to use a photo that I took rather than one of the swimmers taken by JT.