Last swim of 2023

A strange weather day, with one minute sunshine and the next dark clouds and a downpour. I decided to chance it and although the south westerly wind was a little stronger than I would have liked, the rain stayed away. I even saw a little sunshine poking through the large spaceship like cloud that was hovering over Mersea Island, which I headed towards on my return journey.

The other benefit of a south westerly wind is the assistance I receive on my cycle ride back home. After washing and drying all my kit and taking a quick shower I updated my official December total with the Polar Bear Challenge organiser; the incredible ‘Mama Bear’, Pauline Barker, without whom this challenge would not exist. Thank you Pauline.

So the last swim was just 500m due to the rough sea. However, it brings up a total of 7,250m in December, combined with November’s total that makes 14,350m or 8.92 miles. A nice symmetry as the amount I have raised for Winterfest so far is £892.35 - making it £100 per mile.

The warmest water of the challenge so far has been 12.4 degrees and the coldest 5.8 degrees. I am expecting this will be broken a few more times as we approach January and February.

Two months down…. three to go.

Desperately seeking Crocs…