not all 20?
Here’s a pub-quiz trivia question for you. How many lakes are there in the Lake District? Surprisingly, only one – Lake Windermere and all the others are either meres, waters, tarns and reservoirs.
Late summer 2009 found two of us, Dick George and myself, huddled in clandestine discussions about having a crack at swimming all 20 major waters (at their widest points) in the lakes in 24 hours. Yep, all 20 Lake District waters in 24 hours and yes, as I was still swimming one-armed from a mountain-bike accident some six months earlier, it sounded way too many for me as well. But Dick (another recent swimming convert who’s as mad as a box of frogs and far closer to his 60th birthday than he likes to admit) was keen to have a crack at it, as to the best of our knowledge it had never been attempted, and may even have got his name into the record books on the way. I would be his support swimmer and help out on the ones he wanted someone to swim with. That’d be about 10-12 lakes I reckoned but the major difference was I would get to wear a nice, warm wetsuit whereas Dick would have to swim it ‘clean’ with a quick rub of petroleum jelly being his only protection from the very chilly northern water.
As the plan took shape we recc’ed the course, dipped into a few of the proposed waters and whilst it was never going to sound sensible it was at least beginning to look feasible. A last-minute spanner in the works was thrown in by a major utility company who forbade us from swimming in a couple of the proposed reservoirs -‘elf & safety reasons as opposed to anything to do with Dick’s hygiene!
Here’s the planned route:
1. Bassenthwaite 2. Derwent Water 3. Lake Windermere 4. Coniston Water 5. Esthwaite Water 6. Elterwater 7. Grasmere 8. Rydal Water 9. Ullswater 10. Haweswater 11. Hayes Water 12. Blea Water 13. Brothers Water 14. Grizedale Tarn 15. Devoke Water 16. Wast Water 17. Ennerdale 18. Loweswater 19. Crummock Water 20. Buttermere.
Fast forward to the midnight full moon of Friday 4th September and the whole crew (two support vehicles, several ‘runners’, first aid, cook & pot-washer and kayak supporter) shivered and shook as Dick took to the ‘white-horsed’ water in bitter and biting conditions. Needless to say it bl**dy freezing and it certainly wasn’t going to get any warmer.
What followed was a pretty torrid 12 hours as Dick gradually became colder and colder. And with the cold came a higher level of fatigue and tiredness than we had anticipated. A bit of a vicious circle started to develop and upon strong counsel from his principal first-aider, Dick was advised to call it a day and throw in the towel. Something he reluctantly did, but not without putting up what politicians would call, a ‘robust defence of his position’. He’d completed 10 lakes in just 12 hours and whilst technically on course for completion it would not have been wise to have carried on. Getting cold, tired and cramped on land is one thing, getting it in the middle of a 1.5k swim across a 300ft lake is an entirely different kettle of fish.
Next year is going to see such a different outcome though!
Watch this space.
