Claire's Swim Adventure

Claire's Swim Adventure

By Karen Quartermain

September 27, 2020

Following a date confusion and fate playing its part, on Sunday 27th September we met Claire at Ambleside, smiling and raring to go. And what a day—the skies were bright blue and the sun was shining, it was going to be a stunner.

The water temperature was a perfect 16 degrees and Windermere was still and calm. Not a breeze to be felt as Claire started chipping away at the miles ahead. After 1 hour, Claire asked, "How far have we done?" We just laughed and did not get into that so early on in the swim.

The feeds came around fast but so did cramp. Within the first 2 and a half hours, Claire had halted in the water with calf cramp—not too severe as she relaxed allowing it to pass, but still a concern at this stage. As we approached the Ferry Crossing, Claire was looking less relaxed in the water.

At the next feed, we confirmed how far we had completed, that she was on track and the more times she stopped, the longer we would be. Claire just giggled and got her head back down. She definitely began to put more effort into her swim after this, but the wind had also decided to make an appearance; slight but onward, so making progress was slightly hindered.

At points, it was clear that Claire doubted completing this swim. The water temperature was not an issue, but her shoulders were niggling and she had naturally slowed a little. Her smiley demeanor disappeared, but only temporarily, and once the end was in sight Claire switched to the "let's do this" attitude.

Head down and off she went. 7 hours and 39 minutes later, Claire had completed her solo Windermere, very happy to see the jetty and the biggest smile ever. Well Done!