Hope is such a small word, but it has huge potential and infinite possibilities. In February, I attended the Dover Channel Swimming Conference. As I am swimming the English Channel Solo in August, I figured it would be good to arm myself with as much knowledge as possible and I thought it would be great to meet other people that are planning and training to do the same thing. It is all very well having swim buddies that swim once a week and enjoy dipping in the river but, it is VERY different to be regularly swimming 5km upwards and to be in training to swim across the world’s busiest shipping lane with nothing more than a small boat for protection against tankers!