Night swimming
Swimming early on a Friday morning in the sea at Penarth this year has felt like I was stealing a little piece of joy back from the season. I first began to swim in Penarth in 2020 around August, steadily increasing my time. I went for my last swim around late September just as the days began to get darker. I felt okay to park the swimming until the changing of the season as I started a new job, but as the months went on and I read up more about wild swimming and realised that if I bought a wet suit that I might be able to be cheeky and sneak in some swimming in before the weather improved. I had tentative plans to swim in December but the weather was just too awful.
I began New Year’s day 2021 with my traditional hangover. Sian and I cycled into Penarth , I was determined to have a dip, and a dip was what it was. I got in, splashed about a bit then staggered out. In those few seconds in the freezing sea I went from being in a foggy hangover to being Road Runner awake. It would be two weeks before the weather was - well not good per say - but ‘better than shit’ enough for me to go in. I’ve managed to get down there most Fridays to have a swim, and each time I’ve been pushing my self to swim a little longer. I’m not the only one who goes swimming down by the Pier, there’s about a dozen people. Around two weeks ago I saw two women bobbing up and down in the water and had a bit of an epiphany, instead of diving straight in maybe I should get use to the temperature? After the initial shock I’ve started to get acclimatised , and actually found myself swimming as opposed to splashing about. I said to myself that when I started to get out the first time that I’d turn around and jump back, which I’ve managed to do over the last two weeks. Last week I swam for over 7 minutes and yesterday I swam for over 10 which felt like a huge achievement.
“Maybe the most amazing thing about my swimming is…I can go three hours without needing a slash…”
It feels some how clandestine and odd open air swimming in the winter months. When I stumble shivering from the sea I find myself giggling at the sheer idiocy of what I’ve done and ecstatic to be able to do it. The swim seems to give my body a pleasant jolt and reboot. I’ve found that I have less aches and pains immediately after a swim and I’m amazingly productive on a Friday. I cycled into Penarth one morning and saw around 18 people by the pier looking out to sea, I stopped to take a look at what they were looking at. It was a stunning sunrise across the water, a moment of absolute shared bliss.
Maybe the most amazing thing about my swimming is not so much that I do it, it’s that when I’m zipped up in the wet suit, I’m pretty much committed. I can - well have to - go three hours without needing a slash, However there comes a point when I get back home when I’m doing the hoping back and fore dance as I desperately try and peel the wet suit off “Get it off me! GET IT OFF ME!’ so that I can pee.
I do quite like the look of incredulity I get from people when I tell them about the swimming but the reason I do it is because it makes me feel alive, startlingly, wide eyed, giggly alive.