I found out on Friday that a Henley to Marlow 'Bridge to Bridge' swim was taking place at nine on Sunday morning. As I enjoyed the change of scene yesterday so much I thought it would be a good idea to gatecrash this event for the first part of the swim.
This was another swim that I believe was the brainchild of Tom Kean (see earlier posts) and it now appears that Andrew Allum of Wycombe Masters Swimming Club has taken over the reigns in the organisation department. Andrew comes with a distinguished open water track record and is not one to blow his own trumpet but in my view he has achieved some of the most remarkable (and mad) things. Just to give you a flavour Andrew has, swum the length of the Thames, achieved at least two solo Channel crossings, swum in the open water cold swimming championships and countless others! Andrew's most recent achievement is completing the Arch to Arch triathlon event. If you haven't heard of this prepared to be amazed. Start from Marble Arch and run/walk to Dover. Swim the Channel to France then bike down to the Arc De Triomphe in Paris. Bonkers or what?? This makes an ironman challenge look easy. Check out Andrew's report here...
Anyway, I digress. Andrew was this morning leading a swim from Henley bridge to Marlow bridge with abut 8 swimmers (most in wetsuits) and Jezz and I who were gatecrashing for the first hour or so. Jezz and I were to swim from the bridge down to the Flower Pot pub leaving the others to get on with the rest of the c.13 mile swim.
We set off at a healthy pace and the water seemed even colder today than yesterday. Was it really colder or just the fact that everyone around me looked considerably warmer in their wet suits??
Andrew kept the pack together by stopping at around half hourly intervals and inserting some stage sprints into the mix a la Tour de France. Jezz and I were only around for the first sprint of about 200m and we featured in the top 3 for this one thanks to some confusion where the finishing point was. Everybody managed to stop 40m too early and Jezz and I quickly realised this and managed to gain a metre or two on the rest of the pack as we pushed on to cross the line. Much hilarity ensued but as they say 'If you snooze, you lose!'.
Shortly after the sprint section we came upon the first lock which we had to get out for and go around. This is the point where the cold morning air really started to decrease my temperature and I had to resort to some Bear Gryllsesque jogging on the spot to keep warm whilst waiting to get back in on the other side of the lock. Cue much amusement from passengers in a nearby boat who observed that it was much easier to navigate the river in a motor boat. No arguments there!
After the lock it was about 500m to our exit point but still loads of time for us to incur the wrath of the local fisherman. As we rounded the corner I can guarantee the last thing they were expecting to see was a shoal/swarm/pod (insert correct collective noun for group of open water swimmers) of swimmers who promptly managed to get tangled up in their fishing lines. I must admit it was quite funny to see their genuine anger and them lifting their rods high and reeling the lines in superfast as if a prize marlin was on the end of the line. One of us managed to get hooked but fortunately we eventually managed to get untangled and left the fisherman to it.
Our time was now up and we exited at the Flower Pot leaving the others to continue onto Marlow. Thanks to Andrew for organising and to the canoe club for supporting us during the swim. I think I'll try to do the whole swim next year as its a fantastic way to take in nature and annoy fisherman!!
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