River Usk, Monmouthshire - The October swim

Without a doubt, my least favourite swim! Hormonal, miserable, not in the mood, I set off to throw myself in a freezing Welsh river. Those delightful summer swims seemed a long time ago. We arrived at the spot where I was meant to go in, only to be surrounded by fishermen. And I bottled it.

Sulking in the car, my challenge had seemingly hit the skids. This was the last weekend I had free, and it was seemingly impossible. Thankfully, David saved the day. Telling me he was driving home, he was actually taking a longer route home along the river for another spot to get in. And luckily he found one. It was a tricky scramble in, too strong a current for a proper swim, and a miserable cold struggle back into my clothes afterwards. But a reminder that this WAS a challenge. And challenges are not meant to be easy. A bacon sandwich healed a bit of the pain afterwards, but I felt ill for the rest of the day.

I wasn't demoralised completely as I had done it, but was left worrying whether the November swim would be even harder...