Sunny Torbay!

The beginning of July was a quick day trip to Torbay. The swim across the bay was from Meadfoot beach to Brixham (and back), 8 miles in glorious sunshine and pretty calm waters to boot! How unusual! I actually had to plaster myself in suncream! Mike was my crewman and having paddled with me last year, knew the drill! The rest of the Roberts clan and Matt surveyed the scene from the beach and cliffs (getting a sunbathe and dip in the sea too). It was a good continuous swim out. With the water being fairly calm, I got into a good stroke and kept it going. The only thing that I really remember, was the sporadic cold patches!! The water temp was only 14 degrees, and even colder every now and then. Just makes you swim faster! I amused Mike with the odd "cold patch" words being uttered throughout the swim! I got to the turnaround boat in good time - much faster than last year, and headed back strongly, encouraged by the time I saw on my watch. I was fueled every 45 mins with energy drink and Ambrosia rice pudding! This was great practice for my Channel feeding routine. The only really tough patch was the last mile in to the beach. I couldn't see the finish yellow buoy for what seemend like forever. But I remenber last year the tide was strong and not very forgiving at this point, and it took a long time to get through that last mile!! Got there in the end, after a little bit of swearing (sorry Mum!) and felt relieved. Mike did a fab job guiding me in. I was 5th lady overall (again the top two women beat the first man!!) in 3hours 47 mins (24 mins faster than my time last year).....can't be bad! On to Bala (Lynn Tegid, North Wales) next week end, and a couple of Lake swims to conquer!