Day 260 - Wednesday 25th May

Last Brighton swim of the week for me as tomorrow it's off to Sorrento for a 3 day break for our 10th anniversary. Getting to the beach at around 6.30am today it was odd to see four different groups of teenagers sitting around as if it were midday on a Saturday summers afternoon. One group, Mohicans amongst them, were sitting around a fire as if ready to start singing kumbyar, another 2 groups were huddling near to each other as if planning a council of war and the final group, made up of just 3 boys in grungy clothes, were leaning back to back fast asleep like praying monks. I wish I'd had my camera with me; Brighton certainly is eclectic!

Ignoring my prediction of a rough one today the sea was very restful; seems I don't know what I'm talking about after all!! The air was quite chilly, but the sea was a decent 14.2 degrees and it was completely flat, it really couldn't have been more different from yesterday if it had tried. It constantly amazes me how two consecutive days can be so very very different. I swear that before taking up sea swimming I never really took the time to consider weather conditions other than it is raining or dry. In the sea whether it's raining or dry is immaterial to a great degree, it's all about the wind, the tide and the moon.

I left the Arch at about 6.45 and swam solo around the 4 buoys, then anti-clockwise around the pier to the buoy on the other side and bathe around the pier, tracing my original path back around the buoys to the beach. The sea was so flat with zero wind that you would be forgiven for thinking that the sea itself was stationary, it certainly looked that way. In truth the tide was pulling very hard to the West, so as I was swimming around the pier to the East I had to work really hard to get around; coming back around to the West of course was a doddle. Watching from the beach you would have thought it was effortless, but those of us in the sea would challenge that fiercely. Total swim about 46 minutes, so a decent one again.

Off to London now for 5 meetings, feeling physically good at the moment, apart from a small ache in my collar bone; I think a remnant of the goggleless swim on Saturday. Ash cloud permitting (yes that darn icelandic volcano at it again) I will be speaking with an Italian twang this time tomorrow.