Low Tide 03:59 (0.60m)
High Tide 10:31 (2.40m)
Low Tide 16:19 (0.80m)
High Tide 22:34 (2.40m
Sea temperature: 11.7
Sea conditions: deep and calm, a bit murky
Weather: cloudy, cooler with the sun trying to break through
Joined by: The Usual Suspects (full team)
Topics of conversation:
We hadn't all been together for a while so there was catching up to do. Although I'd been in London last week and not swum at all I'd had Andrew Fusek Peters's book Dip: Wild Swims from the Borderlands with me and had dipped vicariously as I read the monthly chapters, finding myself floating in unknown waters of the west. The book had me by the heart from the first page and it became clear, as I made my way through his year, that the author is a kindred spirit. So much resonated with me, his sense of  a profound connection with nature upon submerging oneself and the urge and compulsion to swim outdoors rather than in a chlorinated pool in particular. His daughter's photographs of his swims, along with those he's taken of the local inhabitants of riverbanks and lakesides all add to the accessibility of his story, although the Kindle probably doesn't do them justice. I haven't swum in rivers much since I was kid and the book also served to remind me how very different and deliciously terrifying it is. I have very clear memories of swimming in rivers and lakes in the grounds of a stately pile in North Suffolk with friends and being totally relaxed and carefree till that moment when we all suddenly realised we couldn't see the bottom and the reeds below the surface were at least 6 ft long. As I travelled home with my river swimming memories refreshed I became so much more aware of the seductive silvery veins of water that criss-cross the straight route I so often take through East Anglia, noting clear water and nettle free banks for weekend adventures with my towel. My first plan is to start exploring the River Deben in June, if it's good enough for shellfish to thrive in it's good enough for me.
The sea was welcoming today though, as if to say "don't be unfaithful, I'm always here for you", but the draw of freshwater is strong in me now. The sea had warmed to a very delightful 11.7 and the tide was just right, allowing us to get up to our necks quickly and then levelling out; perfect for swimming and walking against the current.

The others encountered a photo shoot on the way down to the beach and there was much speculation about what it was all about, was she famous, was it a model showing a collection? etc. but as she only seemed to change once, in full view but the boys missed it, we decided it must be an actress. The Pirate said she looked familiar, but then that didn't mean much, everyone pretty and blond looked famous to him. The Poet told us about his son's classmate, Lily Cole, earning millions modelling during her time at school and everyone agreed she was somewhat more than a model these days, having such a successful cultural career. She also supports World Land Trust Indian Elephant Corridor appeal, so she's got to be OK. 

The LE and TBC were off on a practice walk today, I hope they made it home safely and without blisters...

High Tide 00:22 (2.50m)
Low Tide 06:31 (0.50m)
High Tide 12:45 (2.50m)
Low Tide 18:49 (0.50m)
Sea temperature: not taken
Sea conditions: glassy calm, very low
Weather: sun burning through the mist, heavy dew
Joined by: No one
Topics of conversation: None - see above
Yesterday The LE and I had discussed a book, Dip: Wild Swims from the Borderlands which was published today and now sits patiently waiting on my Kindle. She'd seen the author interviewed on TV and passed on an article about Andrew Fusek Peters's battle with depression and the importance of swimming in his recovery:

The idea of escaping what wild swimmers describe as ‘chlorinated captivity’ is not new – the Swallows and Amazons did it before breakfast, the Bloomsbury set did it after tea and Andrew has been doing it since childhood. Some of his happiest memories in an often troubled upbringing are centred on the days when he and his elder brother Marc leapt into a river, lake or hidden pool. ‘We didn’t call it wild swimming back then – to us it was just swimming,’ he says. ‘But wild water has often been balm to my overloaded mind.’

‘Swimming is about feeling alive – whatever fear is in my head, as soon as I am in the water, it has gone, slam-splash-dunked. So my children got to see me very ill, but they’ve also seen me get better. I didn’t do what my dad did. I broke the pattern.’
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/you/article-2611489/I-saved-wild-water.html#ixzz30Sc9LCsq 

My Guardian Angel on the shore (far right)

As it is the first of May I reminded TBC, as we passed on the car park, that washing your face in the dew is essential to maintain one's youth, I hope she passed this on to the other swimmers. The dew was hanging off the webs, waiting for them.

Here's a question for the Swimmers who read this - what's this?

In other news I have just received an update from The LE, it sounds as if they were on form this morning:

ON THE BEACH

Very, very lovely this morn and sorry we missed you. As TBC said, you told her it was warmer further out and so it proved.

The Pirate and I ventured out and wallowed. TBC and DK swam in the rapidly rising shallows. 

Jagger nearly got caught like The Artist, by lolloping into what he thought was shallow water and then finding it up to his chest. Fortunately The Poet isn't here. Can imagine his reaction to a request to carry Jagger on his shoulders.

 Jagger got out on his own. Largely because I walked off.

Talk on the beach was of Cliff Richard's height. 

TBC said she met him at an airport and wasn't he short?

DK insisted that he was at least 5'10'.

'Everybody looks tall to you', didn't go down too well.

DK insisted he knew him because of course he had met him and also 'I met him after Jackie Irving went out with him.. 

The Pirate (on form) said 'I didn't know you went out with Cliff Richard.'

And if so, (I queried) surely you could measure him, when he was lying down....'

And on and on....