Just me and my new mascot!

The fog had started to descend when I arrived at the beach hut this afternoon. The air temperature, which had been -1 throughout most of the day rallied to 0 degrees by the time I arrived ready for the second swim of December.

My support today was provided by my lovely new mascot given to me the day before by Anne Fitzgerald from Winterfest and the Brightwords writing group - thank you Anne! Otherwise a fairly deserted prom and yet another drop in temperature to 7.2 degrees. It was also my first experience this winter of what I like to call the razor blade effect. There was a moment, well a few moments really, during the first two hundred metres when I experienced a sensation that feels like razor blades being stroked down my thighs. It’s a strange experience.

When I turned at the halfway stage to swim back the visibility for pretty poor as the fog started to thicken up. It’s great having the buoys in the sea to be able to use as markers. Over the course of the challenge I get to know them fairly well! Just 500m today and now a darkness imposed break until it’s safe to swim again. I’m planning an early one on Friday morning at 7.57 although the ‘high’ tide is only 3.96m which brings with it other challenges when swimming in Brightlingsea. If I make it Friday, I will elaborate. Until then I will be taking a bit of swimming rest and will keep up my fitness with some extra karate classes.