6:25 pm. I repeat the same swim as reported last time, and more or less the time before that. We've had a cooler day, sort of overcast at times, so I wasn't expecting crowds of people on the bank.
Fresh earplugs in really tightly (don't want waterlogged ears any more than necessary), goggles on and wade in. Noticeably colder! I emit a sort of a hooff-hooff-hooff effect getting started, but there's no profanity. After five minutes the internal register goes from cold to cool, as I generate some heat.
There are a few ducks, which take off during the initial splashing. After that it's just me and the midges. There may be people on the bank, I don't know. Firstly I'm concentrating on the stroke (alternating breast stroke and crawl) and secondly my earplugs are too effective for chit chat.
Despite the slightly autumnal feel, it's a pleasant atmosphere. The sun tries to break out now and again, and illuminates the eastern bank with pale gold. Some of the trees have golden tinges anyway, rather than green. If there are fish, I can't see them. A few insects bother the water, but no birds are feeding on them tonight. Other birds get ready for bed. It's good to think about not much except flowing through water, the breath, and the passing of time. Daily thoughts from the inbox try and cling to my mind, but I'm adept at letting them float behind me.
Passing the Manor Inn beer garden slash play park, a gaggle of small kids laugh and wave. I wave back. I make Trowers bridge at 28:30. Back down to the start in 19 minutes or so. I wave, but not talk to quite a few joggers, some in large clumps (I think it's Waverley Harriers), plus a few other random walkers, runners and cyclists. All moving along at speed, going places, no Pokemon gathering, blackberry picking or loitering tonight.
I had the fish tied up on the side. 16 degrees C.
So that's another 1650 m, total now 7450 m. I might have to borrow a few days from September to make the August 10 km target! Busy work week coming up. The next swim might have to be the morning, or even closer to sunset.
As I pedal home, I have the lights on. Another sign of the season starting to turn.
Wednesday, August 31, 2016
Saturday, August 27, 2016
Swim to Space 5 data dump
Rather than a wordy post about the latest swim, here's some Big Data.
Date 27/08/2016, Time: 09:34
Grid Reference: SU 989453 to SU 983449 and back
Duration : Upstream : 30 minutes
Duration : Downstream : 21 minutes
Distance : 1650 m
Swimming Total to date : 4150 m
Cyclists : 8
Walkers (dog, blackberry picking, or generic) : 20
- talkative : 5 (other than hello/grunt)
- "amazing how delightful, may I take a picture?" : 1
Dogs (swimming) : 2
Canoes : 2
Narrow boats : 1 (approx 10 on board)
Other swimmers : 0
Fish : Unknown
Geese : 10
Ducks : 4
Heron : 2
?Swallows : 25
Feeding on : tiny little insects on the surface : 10^5
Sunshine : yes
Clouds : yes
Magic : yes
Date 27/08/2016, Time: 09:34
Grid Reference: SU 989453 to SU 983449 and back
Duration : Upstream : 30 minutes
Duration : Downstream : 21 minutes
Distance : 1650 m
Swimming Total to date : 4150 m
Cyclists : 8
Walkers (dog, blackberry picking, or generic) : 20
- talkative : 5 (other than hello/grunt)
- "amazing how delightful, may I take a picture?" : 1
Dogs (swimming) : 2
Canoes : 2
Narrow boats : 1 (approx 10 on board)
Other swimmers : 0
Fish : Unknown
Geese : 10
Ducks : 4
Heron : 2
?Swallows : 25
Feeding on : tiny little insects on the surface : 10^5
Sunshine : yes
Clouds : yes
Magic : yes
Friday, August 26, 2016
Swim to Space 4
River Wey 30 minutes, 18 C. 900 m.
Cycle via Broadwater Park and Lake (the former full of people enjoying the sun, the latter the usual fowl and blue-green algae), to the usual getting in spot, having left it late to avoid the gangs of Pokemon harvesters. Thankfully we seem to be past the peak on that one. But wait, there's an angler sitting there. Don't want to get involved with him, or experience any collision of tackle.
Pedal up and down for a bit to see what the rest of the bank is like. Limited choice, due to the many reedy clumps (of which I approve - more shelter for wild things). Also, survey the stream connecting the lake and the river. It looks a teeny bit grimy and green, but not too algae-ridden. A bunch of little black fry (young fish) are busy gobbling up the nutrients from there, so that's some algae taken care of. Mental note to steer to the opposite bank when passing this outflow.
Having picked a spot, wade in. Wow it's really warm, compared to the last few times. Fix googles and ears, and paddle across. Tie the thermometer to hanging branch.
Plan is to go upstream for 20 minutes, and down for 10, and to see where that takes me. Back here hopefully.
This section is a series of bends, all roughly the same geometry. It could be natural, I don't know, but it's also part of the Wey navigation. There are some houses on the town side, but it's all fields to the south-east. Elsewhere on the Wey, there are distinct canal sections cutting corners and leaving the natural river to meander behind the cuts. See blogs passim.
The flow is not arduous today, so upstream work is quite acceptable. The sun glows on certain patches, and hides behind the taller trees. I'm facing it so when I'm sunlit I can just see lens flare. Floating leaves try and cover my face. There are occasional clouds of insects, but they are all little harmless ones. I don't notice any birds or big fish. I have to dodge one pleasure craft. As suspected it's too late in the day for hire boats from the Boat House.
Talk to a pair of passers-by (muggles?). Mum is amazed that there's someone actually in there. Wow! You're swimming? Is it clean? Do you do triathlons? (Me: Yes I am, yes I think it is, no just free range things). [To 15 y-o daughter] you should do this maybe. (Yes you should).
As sort of predicted, I make it as far as the beer garden of the Manor Inn, where they have a mooring place. Too many people, quick turn around. And the time is getting on. Much easier on the way back, because of the current obviously, but also swimming stroke is more organised. Lose count of the bends, it seems they've put an extra chicane in since I came up. Ah there's the orange rubber fish on my thermometer, I'm nearly there. Untie it, holding the string in my teeth as I swim back across to the left bank. Get out on schedule.
There are not too many days left in August to build up 10 km! This swim : 900 m (with a liberal application of trig to work out the distance). Total to date 1800. I'd better include Swim to Space 3 : umpteen laps of a tiny pool at our holiday apartment in Crete. For which I will book in a very generous 700 m (30 C!) for the whole week. 2500 m total.
I need two swims like this per day to reach the target.
Cycle via Broadwater Park and Lake (the former full of people enjoying the sun, the latter the usual fowl and blue-green algae), to the usual getting in spot, having left it late to avoid the gangs of Pokemon harvesters. Thankfully we seem to be past the peak on that one. But wait, there's an angler sitting there. Don't want to get involved with him, or experience any collision of tackle.
Pedal up and down for a bit to see what the rest of the bank is like. Limited choice, due to the many reedy clumps (of which I approve - more shelter for wild things). Also, survey the stream connecting the lake and the river. It looks a teeny bit grimy and green, but not too algae-ridden. A bunch of little black fry (young fish) are busy gobbling up the nutrients from there, so that's some algae taken care of. Mental note to steer to the opposite bank when passing this outflow.
Having picked a spot, wade in. Wow it's really warm, compared to the last few times. Fix googles and ears, and paddle across. Tie the thermometer to hanging branch.
Plan is to go upstream for 20 minutes, and down for 10, and to see where that takes me. Back here hopefully.
This section is a series of bends, all roughly the same geometry. It could be natural, I don't know, but it's also part of the Wey navigation. There are some houses on the town side, but it's all fields to the south-east. Elsewhere on the Wey, there are distinct canal sections cutting corners and leaving the natural river to meander behind the cuts. See blogs passim.
The flow is not arduous today, so upstream work is quite acceptable. The sun glows on certain patches, and hides behind the taller trees. I'm facing it so when I'm sunlit I can just see lens flare. Floating leaves try and cover my face. There are occasional clouds of insects, but they are all little harmless ones. I don't notice any birds or big fish. I have to dodge one pleasure craft. As suspected it's too late in the day for hire boats from the Boat House.
Talk to a pair of passers-by (muggles?). Mum is amazed that there's someone actually in there. Wow! You're swimming? Is it clean? Do you do triathlons? (Me: Yes I am, yes I think it is, no just free range things). [To 15 y-o daughter] you should do this maybe. (Yes you should).
As sort of predicted, I make it as far as the beer garden of the Manor Inn, where they have a mooring place. Too many people, quick turn around. And the time is getting on. Much easier on the way back, because of the current obviously, but also swimming stroke is more organised. Lose count of the bends, it seems they've put an extra chicane in since I came up. Ah there's the orange rubber fish on my thermometer, I'm nearly there. Untie it, holding the string in my teeth as I swim back across to the left bank. Get out on schedule.
There are not too many days left in August to build up 10 km! This swim : 900 m (with a liberal application of trig to work out the distance). Total to date 1800. I'd better include Swim to Space 3 : umpteen laps of a tiny pool at our holiday apartment in Crete. For which I will book in a very generous 700 m (30 C!) for the whole week. 2500 m total.
I need two swims like this per day to reach the target.
Wednesday, August 03, 2016
Swimming to Space 1 and 2
v2
I volunteered myself to be part of a group at work running, cycling, swimming and other forms of effort to raise money for Surrey Air Ambulance. Please head over to our money-gathering page to demonstrate support. The basic idea is that as a group we can build up 400 km, which just happens to be the distance to the ISS (when vertically overhead of course). The money goes to SAA because they lifted one of our colleagues out of trouble having sustained a big cycling injury.Here's our Race To Space entry on the main Race to Space site.
Swim 1
To a Secret Spot in Godalming with book-group friend Liz (who once mentioned the idea of wild swimming and got me for an answer). Regular readers of this blog will know that I've dabbled, more than dabbled, in the outdoor swimming lark in the past. Sadly, all my Godalming swimmer friends have swum off elsewhere, so glad to have company again.Monday night. Overcast, slight drizzle. Having locked the bikes, down to the river. It's got a tendency to look overgrown and deserted on this bit of the meadow (quite near Peperharow Road) but it's quite well used. Students from Charterhouse traipse through here all the time, and it's a good jogging and dogwalking route.
At the nose of a meander, there's a little sandy beach, wide enough for one. Once prepared, we wade in, pausing to tie the thermometer to a bramble. It shelves steeply, so there's no standing up allowed. We go upstream. Hands get quite chilly for a couple of minutes. No swearing necessary, but I wish I could stand to wave them about. The flow is reasonably quick. Water is sandy, but generally free of debris.
There are various weirs and ditches along the Wey to control the flow. At the point where the ditch draws off some water there's a concrete construction. Good enough for smallish group of teenagers to sit on, while they smoke their, um, smoking materials.
Is it cold in there?
Chilly I would say.
I would never do that!!On we go, dodging submerged branches occasionally. Breast stroke hardly gets one anywhere, so I try a few blasts of crawl. We eventually make it to another obvious corner, where's there's another copy of the sandy nose, walk out and peek around. We can see a meadow and some farm vehicles.
Going back the other way is much easier. We go sideways round the bends as the current carries us. Clamber out, and check the temperature. 16 or 17 degrees C it says.
Google maps measurement : 560 m.
Swim 2
Wednesday Lunchtime. Bright and breezy. Cycle along the towpath to check water conditions.Past a usual entry spot opposite the weir, and onwards. I'm curious about the twisty natural path of the Wey, as opposed to the Navigation which is straight and orderly. The section I'm talking about is 1.5 km downstream of Farncombe boat house. It's a bit impractical to get to the natural section at thw weir itself, so I keep going to where the two streams merge, near Broadford Bridge. After a bit of scouting I pick an entry spot.
The bottom is rocky, and I'm glad of my Crocs. This time I carry the thermometer, and tie it to a branch once I've made it across the width of the canal. The flow is strong, and the river is not that wide (certainly no wider than a canal) so I have to pump to keep ahead.
Although it's not really natural, it's a lot more nature-like than the canalised river. Quite a bit of debris on the water, but all harmless: bits of tree and grass, and quite a few downy feathers. Quick list of detectable fauna: cows, dragonflies, geese, a kingfisher (or at least a glistening green missile, so must have been) and a heron or two. There's almost nowhere to get back up the bank, since the trees have colonised the margin.
I push along until I think I've had enough, and also not wanting to get too close to the geese, who are having a flapping session on the water. It also starts to smell/taste a bit, well, ducky.
Swoosh back to the start point, effortlessly.
Then clamber out, eroding the bank slightly, oops!
The NT, owners of this stretch of towpath, have been beefing up the banks, leaving wires exposed in some cases. Thereby perversely encouraging more erosion on the parts they haven't staked and braced.
Swimming time about 20 minutes altogether. Thermometer reads 17 ºC. 400 m on the map (which also shows I have so much more to explore).
Total so far 960 m.
_ Swimming to Space 1 and 2
I volunteered myself to be part of a group at work running, cycling, swimming and other forms of effort to raise money for Surrey Air Ambulance. Please head over to our money-gathering page to demonstrate support. The basic idea is that as a group we can build up 400 km, which just happens to be the distance to the ISS (when vertically overhead of course). The money goes to SAA because they lifted one of our colleagues out of trouble having sustained a big cycling injury.
Here's our Race To Space entry on the main Race to Space site.
Monday night. Overcast, slight drizzle. Having locked the bikes, down to the river. It's got a tendency to look overgrown and deserted on this bit of the meadow (quite near Peperharow Road) but it's quite well used. Students from Charterhouse traipse through here all the time, and it's a good jogging and dogwalking route.
At the nose of a meander, there's a little sandy beach, wide enough for one. Once prepared, we wade in, pausing to tie the thermometer to a bramble. It shelves steeply, so there's no standing up allowed. We go upstream. Hands get quite chilly for a couple of minutes. No swearing necessary, but I wish I could stand to wave them about. The flow is reasonably quick. Water is sandy, but generally free of debris.
There are various weirs and ditches along the Wey to control the flow. At the point where the ditch draws off some water there's a concrete construction. Good enough for smallish group of teenagers to sit on, while they smoke their, um smoking materials.
Going back the other way is much easier. We go sideways round the bends as the current carries us. Clamber out, and check the temperature. 16 or 17 degrees C it says.
Google maps measurement : 560 m.
Past a usual entry spot opposite the weir, and onwards. I'm curious about the twisty natural path of the Wey, as opposed to the Navigation which is straight and orderly. The section I'm talking about is 1.5 km downstream of Farncombe boat house. It's a bit impractical to get to the natural section at thw weir itself, so I keep going to where the two streams merge, near Broadford Bridge. After a bit of scouting I pick an entry spot.
The bottom is rocky, and I'm glad of my Crocs. This time I carry the thermometer, and tie it to a branch once I've made it across the width of the canal. The flow is strong, and the river is not that wide (certainly no wider than a canal) so I have to pump to keep ahead.
Although it's not really natural, it's a lot more nature-like than the canalised river. Quite a bit of debris on the water, but all harmless: bits of tree and grass, and quite a few downy feathers. Quick list of detectable fauna: cows, dragonflies, geese, a kingfisher (or at least a glistening green missile, so must have been) and a heron or two. There's almost nowhere to get back up the bank, since the trees have colonised the margin.
I push along until I think I've had enough, and also not wanting to get to close to the geese, who are having a flapping session on the water. It also starts to smell/taste a bit, well, ducky.
Swoosh back to the start point, effortlessly.
Then clamber out, eroding the bank slightly, oops!
The NT, owners of this stretch of towpath, have been beefing up the banks, leaving wires exposed in some cases. Thereby perversely encouraging more erosion on the parts they haven't staked and braced.
Swimming time about 20 minutes altogether. Thermometer reads 17 ºC. 400 m on the map (which also shows I have so much more to explore).
Total so far 960 m.
Here's our Race To Space entry on the main Race to Space site.
Swim 1
To a Secret Spot in Godalming with book-group friend Liz (who once mentioned the idea of wild swimming and got me for an answer). Regular readers of this blog will know that I've dabbled, more than dabbled, in the outdoor swimming lark in the past. Sadly, all my Godalming swimmer friends have swum off elsewhere, so glad to have company again.Monday night. Overcast, slight drizzle. Having locked the bikes, down to the river. It's got a tendency to look overgrown and deserted on this bit of the meadow (quite near Peperharow Road) but it's quite well used. Students from Charterhouse traipse through here all the time, and it's a good jogging and dogwalking route.
At the nose of a meander, there's a little sandy beach, wide enough for one. Once prepared, we wade in, pausing to tie the thermometer to a bramble. It shelves steeply, so there's no standing up allowed. We go upstream. Hands get quite chilly for a couple of minutes. No swearing necessary, but I wish I could stand to wave them about. The flow is reasonably quick. Water is sandy, but generally free of debris.
There are various weirs and ditches along the Wey to control the flow. At the point where the ditch draws off some water there's a concrete construction. Good enough for smallish group of teenagers to sit on, while they smoke their, um smoking materials.
Is it cold in there?
Chilly I would say.
I would never do that!!On we go, dodging submerged branches occasionally. Breast stroke hardly gets one anywhere, so I try a few blasts of crawl. We eventually make it to another obvious corner, where's there's another copy of the sandy nose, walk out and peek around. We can see a meadow and some farm vehicles.
Going back the other way is much easier. We go sideways round the bends as the current carries us. Clamber out, and check the temperature. 16 or 17 degrees C it says.
Google maps measurement : 560 m.
Swim 2
Wednesday Lunchtime. Bright and breezy. Cycle along the towpath to check water conditions.Past a usual entry spot opposite the weir, and onwards. I'm curious about the twisty natural path of the Wey, as opposed to the Navigation which is straight and orderly. The section I'm talking about is 1.5 km downstream of Farncombe boat house. It's a bit impractical to get to the natural section at thw weir itself, so I keep going to where the two streams merge, near Broadford Bridge. After a bit of scouting I pick an entry spot.
The bottom is rocky, and I'm glad of my Crocs. This time I carry the thermometer, and tie it to a branch once I've made it across the width of the canal. The flow is strong, and the river is not that wide (certainly no wider than a canal) so I have to pump to keep ahead.
Although it's not really natural, it's a lot more nature-like than the canalised river. Quite a bit of debris on the water, but all harmless: bits of tree and grass, and quite a few downy feathers. Quick list of detectable fauna: cows, dragonflies, geese, a kingfisher (or at least a glistening green missile, so must have been) and a heron or two. There's almost nowhere to get back up the bank, since the trees have colonised the margin.
I push along until I think I've had enough, and also not wanting to get to close to the geese, who are having a flapping session on the water. It also starts to smell/taste a bit, well, ducky.
Swoosh back to the start point, effortlessly.
Then clamber out, eroding the bank slightly, oops!
The NT, owners of this stretch of towpath, have been beefing up the banks, leaving wires exposed in some cases. Thereby perversely encouraging more erosion on the parts they haven't staked and braced.
Swimming time about 20 minutes altogether. Thermometer reads 17 ºC. 400 m on the map (which also shows I have so much more to explore).
Total so far 960 m.
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