(Rocky coastline)
A year and a day ago, on 18 August 2020 I did my longest sea swim so far, 4.5km from Paignton to Torquay, a distance I didn’t surpass until earlier this month, with a 5km swoosh on 7th August 2021 and a 7km adventure swim (LINK) last Sunday 15th. I barely had time to revel in these though before I found myself swimming 11km all the way round the bay today, from Brixham harbour to Torquay harbour! There is a nice symmetry in that I swam the direct route across the bay on Sunday, then the longer way hugging the coastline 4 days later – past Elberry cove, Broadsands, Goodrington, Paignton Sands, Preston Sands, Hollicombe, Livermead and Torre Abbey Sands.
This swim came about quite unexpectedly. I met a lovely bunch of swim/runners when I went to the Scilly isles in June, who were both welcoming and adventurous, and I liked them straight away. We have carried on the adventures since we got back, and I found myself invited on an annual swim-round-the-bay by Sue and Pauline – I didn’t need asking twice! In terms of physical effort I have been capable of swimming these distances for some time, I enjoyed distance swimming at a young age and I had kept up my stamina, but the sea has taken me a long time to get used to, and finding people to include me in their adventures is the eternal elusive element, so I was overjoyed to be partaking in this. It was billed as a fun day with café and chip stops, although not without a risk element, given the harbours and jet ski lanes. We would stop at Broadsands and Paignton Sands, breaking the swim into three roughly equal segments. The night beforehand I didn’t feel nervous at all, just excited to have the day off work doing something so epic, although a few nerves crept in once we were sitting in our wetsuits on the 10am ferry from Torquay to Brixham, with unknown sea wildlife imminent. We had an enjoyable wildlife moment on the ferry, with a pod of dolphins right off the bow.
(Dead man's rope)
We walked together round Brixham harbour to the final slipway that is clear of all the boats. This was a slipway that really lived up to its name, and we had to be careful walking down the carpet of bladderwrack and gutweek. The tide was fully out, with the aim that the incoming tide would help push us across to Torbay. The water was much calmer today than Sunday, both on the surface and underneath, and much clearer too, with the potential for seeing all sorts down below, and I was wary at first, but that quite quickly turned to enjoyment of the challenge, in fact it was such an apparent transition that I even clocked the time: 13 minutes! This is the life or wild adventures that I want to be living, 5 years ago I didn't even know it was possible. We were swimming close to the shore but it is all towering cliffs here and the sea is deep even close in, so there was an occasional glimpse of some yellowy rocks but mostly the water was a gorgeous, calm, deep blue. A wildlife cruise boat went pass, giving us a wide berth, and we paused for a moment to be tourist attractions and wave at the passengers as we heard the tannoy announce ‘and here you can see a paddleboard, and a pod of swimmers…’
(Checking for boats at Elberry) I was still feeling the after effects of Sunday, with a widely chafed neck and a sore left shoulder, so I had decided to swim breaststroke today, thankfully that is my strongest stroke and I can keep up with others doing crawl. I was keeping time with Pete and Sue, swimming behind them to utilise a draft effect and save my energy, but Pauline in her new wetsuit was super speedy and kept having to wait for us. We joked that she had channelled the spirit of Karen, another friend who had been due to join us but unfortunately couldn’t come. We would pause often to re-group, and every time we did I had another pee. There is something about open water swimmers that it seems to be a mark of honour to not only pee, but to announce it too. I managed 15 pees on that first leg, the winner by far.
(Relative safety)
The water intrigued us. The tidal flow was meant to be heading NNE, the wind was heading NE, the tide was coming in so should be pushing towards Torquay, so we expected the water to be heading across the bay the same as us (for the most part we would be heading NNE), yet if we paused it was evident we were getting pushed gently back the way we had come, and the occasional strands of seaweed were bending towards us too. On this first leg we were actually heading West, with the cliffs to our south against which the flood tide would be pushing, so it is understandable that here we wouldn’t get a full assist, but even further out the cruise ships were facing to the West.
(Urban coastline at Paignton) Approaching Elberry there were some large patches of Dead man’s rope seaweed. I was really pleased that during my week on the Scilly isles my new companions had spent some time providing me with aversion therapy for my fear of seaweek. Namely taking me on a swim/run tour of an island where the only option was to swim through many forests of it! I took the opportunity to look for seahorses hiding within it, as I know this is a known habitat for them, but they were too elusive. We stayed close to the shore, not cutting across Elberry cove until the last minute, as this is one of the two places locally with a jetski lane enabling them to come all the way into the shore with unrestricted speed, and we didn’t want to meet one of those. From there it was only about 1km round the rocks to Broadsands, where we had our first stop at the café, we’d swum roughly 3.5km on the first leg.
(Big buoy!) Typically the clouds lowered just as we arrived, bringing mist and rain, but we found a large umbrella to sit under, and enjoyed homemade lamb and pistachios patties along with shop-bought hot drinks, and laughed and joked and shivered. Where was the bright sunshine that the forecast had promised for today? It seemed that all the predictions had been wrong. We had all felt quite cold on the last stretch. The mist lifted a little and we watched the cruise ships re-appear out in the bay, and somebody noticed that they had now swung round and were now facing the way we expected. That boded well for speeding us along but didn’t make us any warmer. We walked along the stretch of beach to warm up before re-entering, but I was really struggling with the motivation to get back in. The thing that drove me on was that I hadn’t swum the next section before, whereas I had previously swum the third leg. Plus the fact that the other were neck deep now and about to swim off, so I swum on to follow them, but kept my head out until the warm blood started pumping again. My neck had started to ache from swimming breaststroke so I invented a hybrid leg kick where I could do the breaststroke kick followed by a bit of a futter kick, to keep my head in for longer. This section was really pretty. There was a low, rocky coastline to our left, and interesting seaweed in the shallows below us. There was a rock fin with a notch that we swum through, gliding over rocks and weed that were just inches below our faces. Somehow Pete managed to miss the gap and swim headfirst into the rock to the left, but maybe hopefully some sense back in!
(Drippy in the chippy) So far I hadn’t seen a single jellyfish, but on the second leg I counted 5 compasses and 3 crystals. And had 5 more pees. And a steam train chugging out of Paignton. We spotted the marker than identified the exit of Paignton harbour, then from there it was another careful, speedy dash over to the large red buoy for a photo opportunity. Then it was just a short distance in to Paignton pier. I had actually been warm enough for this whole leg, right up to now, but the chill was starting to set in again and I was keen to exit the water and enjoy some chips. Peter, never having swum this far, was ready for another break too, forgetting about his sighting and deviating off in leftwards zig before a returning zag. In the chippy on the pier we sat straight down at a conveniently empty table, then got prompty evicted to an outdoor table as we were dripping on the seats.
(Secret door at the Redcliff) It was easier to get back in for the last leg. We were tired but our spirits were still high. We passed a cool little door set into the sea wall at the top of some steps, under the Redcliffe hotel. Something weird had happened to the sea though! It was calm still until after Paignton sands, then all of a sudden we passed some caves and two sizable waves came past in quick succession, like the wake of a boat, or splashback off a cliff. There was no boat in sight though. There was a brief pause, then suddenly the whole sea was like it, waves coming from the open bay, and coming back at us off the cliffs, at least a foot high with a 1 second repeat. I’ve swum in waves plenty of times but these were quite unusual, a wake-without-a-cause, rather than surf or swell. There were a lot more jellyfish here too, on this section I counted 18 compasses, 9 crystals. And I had 4 more pees. Front crawl was more effective in this sea, so I tried a bit of that. I could avoid chafing my neck by doing a whole body roll, which can be an effective stroke anyway. I could only go so far though before my left shoulder would twinge, and I would have to switch back to breaststroke, then I would do that until my knees or neck hurt, and switch back. It got to the point I was in pain on every stroke, but the neck was worst, it felt like my spinal discs were about to pop. Here it might sound like I wasn’t enjoying myself, but it was still feeling great. This was always going to be a big swim, but we were doing it, and it was manageable.
(Compass jelly) We were taking a direct line to Torquay harbour here rather than following the coast, being tossed and turned by the sea, we hadn't bothered stopping to explore the caves either. A high performance rib went pass, fast and noisy, and jet black, and we kept our ears keenly turned to the air inbetween strokes to listen for its return. We figured it was probably on a 30 minute tourist trip so we should have time to reach the 5 knot buoy and be safe beyond it, but just in case we stuck close together ready to raise out towfloats to increase our visibility, and we made it without mishap.
(Finished!) Then it was all over! We had made it, all four of us as a wonderful unit, 11km total, although my strava had to go one better and say 14km. 6:38 elapsed time, and 5 hours of that in the water. There was only time for a quick hug before we had to rush off, as three of us had committed to be in Plymouth for the firework championships. This would mean yet another swim to watch the fireworks from a prime spot in Tinside East bay, with about 40 other swimmers and a floating bar, for which Peter was one of the two barman. I definitely won’t have another day like this in a hurry, one for the memory banks!
(GPS track)
(The floating bar at the fireworks)
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