TALES FROM UP NORTH
Pete Kelly
Our masters group were shocked when they closed the pool at Troutbeck, but I was ecstatic… now we simply had to swim in the lake as there was nowhere else to go. With winter approaching I was keen to form a polar bear club but I wondered how this would be received by our swimmers. I need not have worried. Anne, one of the more senior members of our group said to me: “I only have one rule about winter swimming: I never swim when it’s below three degrees”. Ten years on they still never miss a Friday morning swim during the winter.
WE ARE ALWAYS IN EXCELLENT SPIRITS AND GLOW FROM THE INSIDE OUT
We like to think of ourselves as wild swimming pioneers, the first to discover all that is exciting about swimming. It’s all been done before of course, and I love swimming with people like Anne who remind me of this. They come from a time when swimming was…well… just swimming, and I’m proud of the ingrained eccentricity of our island nation towards bathing, swimming and dipping outdoors. We are influenced by the same siren call of the water.