TOASTIE WATER!

It seems incredible that the water temperature has actually risen this week to a fairly "comfortable" 8C.

Yesterday the gang had a great swim although the river was very high and fast. Tom Reed and I swam up to the gate, a 1400m swim which was very hard work up to the gate but rapid on the way back!

I am doing a couple of pool swims a week to keep the mileage up but nothing compares to the river which is just a blast!

With my Gibraltar Straits swim in October, I am in a pretty good place with my training at the moment and will build huge mileage during March when I am in New Zealand.

My touch screen music system in the car continues to erode my hearing as meat should be thick and music should be loud.

NEW WEBSITE

Dear reader my new website is up and running I hope that you enjoy!

http://www.davidcolemanswims.com/

I have had great fun continuing to swim in the river and on Saturday at Parliament Hill Lido for the PHISH event. A great day's swimming in 3C water.

The Nene is still pretty high but we are still getting some good swims in by jumping in and whooshing down with the flow.

2016 will see me return to Tarifa to swim the Straits of Gibraltar. Hoping the wind behaves this year as 2015 was a total blow out.

Sad to hear about Glenn Frey today. I saw the Eagles in Auckland at Carlaw Park. One of my all time favourite bands.

Happy 2016

Happy New Year y'all.

This will be my first full year being old and retired. Hurrah!

This year will see me return to beautiful Tarifa in Southern Spain ready to swim across the Straits of Gibraltar to North Africa. As most of you are aware I was unable to do this swim in 2015 as the weather presented a week of gale force winds.

I am still swimming in the lovely Nene although it has been incredibly high and fast this week. The water is now around 7-8C so it is still possible to swim fairly comfortably for 30 to 40 minutes.

2017 is a special birthday year so I have decided to treat myself to another paddle in the Channel. I have managed to get a slot with Suva and Neil Streeter thanks to the lovely Sarah.

My best news is that I have finally got a CD player fitted in my space age touch screen Peugeot. Rocking all the way to the river.

IT IS DEFINITELY WINTER!

Well it is official, summer is over. I have worked this out as the mighty Nene has dropped to 7C this week cutting the swims down to 30 minutes.

I have entered a couple of winter swimming events starting with the 3 Rivers swim next Saturday. I am looking forward to swimming in the Nene, Ouse and the Cam, eating lots of cake and a hearty dinner at the end.

Lizzie and I had a great time in Jersey last week for the JLDSC dinner. Photos on Facebook if you are interested.

My Gibraltar Straits swim has been rebooked for the last week in October 2016. Hopefully I
will have more luck with the weather.

My new car hasn't got a CD player! Ordered one from Peugeot 8 weeks ago, still not here, customer service at it's best. Can't believe how bad radio really is. ( Planet Rock excepted, no DAB either )

COOL BABY!

It is official. Summer is well and truly over and Autumn is rapidly sliding into the witching season.

I can tell this by the water temperature in the Nene. 4 weeks ago the water was still hovering around 15C but the cool nights and a bit of rain had seen the water drop to 11.8 yesterday.

It doesn't sound much of a drop but the water now has that sharp intake of breath feeling and it takes a bit to get into rhythm. I am still doing an hour in the water without any problem although the comedy shivers have made a couple of appearances in the Old Barn as I have my bacon and eggs!

Looking forward to winter swimming as I have entered a couple of events. I have swum right through the year so I should be ok!

Don't forget my Facebook page.

I'M STILL HERE!

Dear reader, don't fret. I am still alive and kicking!

The end of summer means that I haven't had much to talk about regarding exciting swims!
A couple of weeks ago I swam in The Tour de Nene, a series of swims over one weekend at various points along the river. I did the Friday and Sunday legs, 17K in all. Great fun and fantastic company.

At the moment I'm enjoying retirement from teaching and starting to rev up my motivational speaking business. I had an enjoyable day speaking at The Kettering Buccleuch Academy talking to all the year groups from Year 11 to Year 7. I don't think anyone fell asleep.

The Nene is magic at the moment, calm, clear and cooling down. This morning my swim started in thick fog but cleared to a fantastic clear sky.

I have entered a 5 river swim in December so I will continue to swim again throughout the winter.

Check out my Facebook page for more details.

Shame about England vs Wales. Tee hee.

10,510 THANK YOUS

Dear reader, as of 30 seconds ago 10,510 hits had been made on this blog.

I have no idea if this is a lot compared to others, but I think that it is amazing!

Slowly getting back to the real world after my Round Jersey swim. I have had 5 lovely swims back in the river and now I will work in maintaining my fitness levels.

Next year I am rebooking Gibraltar and will look at doing another swim as well.

Plenty of photos on my facebook site.