Went to Dover on Sunday and when I left London, the weather was great so I tried to convince my wife that it would be a good trip down, this was to no avail as she opted to stay at home and i think that it was a wise decision as the weather in Dover was very windy, the waves were a lot bigger than the weekend before and the Tide was in.
As I am Glad to report, swimming in cold water does not bother me and neither does the salt, considering it is kept out of my mouth and lungs and Stomach. I did However get a few pretty big mouthfulls leaving me dry wretching in the water, not fun!!! The other thing that I experienced was my cap nearly disappeared a couple of times by riding up my head so I had to stop and rearrange it in the harbour and with waves, this is interesting accomplishment. I did it anyway as I did not want to feel the wrath of the General if I appeared out of the water without my cap. I must admit I do hate the things but I am told they are essential.
One thing that I did learn was, how IMPORTANT IT IS TO TRAIN IN THE CONDITIONS THAT YOU MAY END UP SWIMMING IN. It was a tough session and I think we swam about 6 km. I swam a similar distance the day before in a lake and it was so easy compared to swiming in rough seas.
Instructions from the general
I'm the confused one scratching my chin
The Channel Swim "WHY?"
The 1st reason
Last year in September my brother must have been bored at work and got hold of me at the office and asked,
“Hey Graeme, how about doing something interesting next year?”
I said
“okay what is it”
Spencer
“How about we swim the channel!!”
Me
“Are you nuts, what drugs have you been on?”
That was the beginning of a conversation that was to change the way my summer for 2008 panned out, much to the disgust of a few friends and much to the detriment of my socialising but hey looking at the summer so far, I suppose it is not a bad thing.
After this conversation, I started to think about where I was in life and that I was a bit overweight: clinically obese according to my doctors. At that time I was training about 10 km a week and the nurse didn’t quite know how to break the news to me about the above fact.
I was also suffering from lower back trouble and it was really annoying me, thanks to the desk job!!!!!
I am the sort of person who cannot just go to the gym so I figured that if I wanted to tone up a bit and strengthen my body in general, this might be a good plan.
The 2nd reason
The other reason I am doing this is the fact that I will be able to raise some money for the desperate people of a country that has been torn apart by a dictator. With unemployment at about 90% and life expectancy in the mid-thirties, the country has gone from being one of the fastest growing economies in Africa in the 1990s, to having the highest inflation of any country in the world, currently sitting at 1 400 000%.
From breadbasket to basket case all in the space of 10 short years.
This country is
Even for the extremely wealthy, the everyday things like going to the shop to buy milk, bread, meat, eggs, butter, vegetables, fuel. Being able to have a romantic dinner with electric lights as opposed to candles, or just have electricity for more than about 2 hours a day is only a distant memory
Butterfly training
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