Winter Swimming

The cold water hits different in the winter! The shorter days means morning swimming always coincides with sunrise and it’s such a delight.

Thursday mornings are my favourite of the week. I don’t work on a Thursday so I can have a day in the week to have a slower morning and do things I enjoy doing. It also breaks up my week nicely if I am working at the weekend.

I wake up an hour later at 6am, roll out of bed and put on my swimming costume and lots of warm layers. I boil the kettle and make a cup of tea in my flask, put on my crocs and head to Firestone Bay.

As I am walking from the carpark, I can see the light coming from the horizon, twinkling on the sea, the tide is high and the water looks calm. I know its going to be a good swim. I get to the beach, find a flat spot and take all my warm layers off (the hardest part, honestly!). I put on my sea shoes and gloves and walk into the water. The initial shock doesn’t hit me until I am waist deep and the cold water hits my belly button, then it’s time to go for it. The longer I stand there, the harder it’ll be to get in. So I plunge myself into the cold and begin to swim to the bouy. I can’t stop until I have settled my breathing, which takes about 30seconds. Then I am peacefully gliding through the water.

The sun is beginning to rise as I reach the bouy, so I float around and watch it come up. I can already feel it’s warmth on my face, which is good because I can now feel the cold in my toes! So I swim back to shore and hurriedly get changed before I lose all feeling in my fingers.

Wrapped up warm, I sit on the beach and watch the suns glow across the water, sipping my tea, feeling refreshed. That feeling will last for the rest of the morning, if not the day :)

A wholesome start to any day.