On Saturday last I went over to Harris to visit friends and attend the Community Land Conference hosted by The North Harris Trust www.north-harris.org on Tuesday and Wednesday. I took over 50 years to visit Harris for the first time but eventually made it 3 years ago on a John Muir Trust conservation (we call them work) party (that is more like it!) and have been going there ever since. The beautiful scenery is aided by the fact that a good mate (Cristina) moved to Abhain Suidhe, having met, fallen in love with and married Innes, the manager of the Castle. A welcome is always waiting and life at the Morrison's is full of excitement whether it be looking out for the elusive otter, eagle watching, puppy playing or rounding up the ducks. Lots of people stop by and their wee house which overlooks a sheltered bay is never empty. This weekend Iona (tea-maker and dish- washer extraordinaire) aged 9 was also visiting and when she heard I wanted to swim gamely chose to don wet suit and all. However we adults vetoed this as whilst the bay is sheltered the water depth is well over a 9 years old head and we didn't want to lose her!
Enough of that with many adverse comments about my mental health from onlookers and with Cristina (6 months pregnant) on camera and lifeguard duties I took to the water..... not quite like the ducks who had decided to stay onshore as the weather was turning a shade wet. I did intend to swim to a buoy about 50 meters out but I felt that it wouldn't be fair on Cristina if she had to rescue me ..... or truth be told it looked a lot further once I was in the water! However I did manage to swim front crawl breathing alternatively for about a few metres, overcoming my fear of sticcking my head in the water, not a problem in an indoor pool.

Cristina also captured some good pics so if SOS (bit of a worrying acronym in the circumstances) decide to do a feature on my swim we now have the requisite photos!










On Monday and Tuesday I managed to swim easily to the buoy and reckoned that in total in none session I covered about a 1/5 th the distance required for August. However the bay was very sheltered and I am very aware that swimming in the cold sea is so much more tiring than in a warm swimming pool so lots of work to do before August.
A word to my sponsors .. I have only enough to swim 30 metres of the 1100m swim. Come on the rest of yous. Next week I go on a John Muir Trust work (sorry, conservation) party to Knoydart. If I reach £100 in new
sponsorship before then I will swim from the long beach to the old pier, a distance of just under the 1000 m at high tide I reckon. It may take a while but it only takes a few minutes for you to sponsor me. See link to my sponsor site above. For more information about the John Muir Trust Conservation Activities check out the web site, again see the link at the top of this blog.

a great northern diver, a regular visitor.

On a grey day with an air temp of 5 • C my wet suit and I made it into the North Sea. Conditions weren't exactly perfect with the tide a fair way out and a bit of a surf onto Aberdeen beach but I decided to treat the commuters home to a bit of entertainment. I didn't stay long, about 5 minutes which is when I couldn't feel my feet any more. The surfers were out there before me and are still there as I write this (I did keep well away from them). not sure quite how they manage to walk when they come in. I didn't go for distance but wanted to see what it was like to swim on a wet suit....surprisingly cosy apart from the feet and hands. I also practised putting my face in until I got an ice-cream head. By this time last year I had already had one dip in the sea. There was snow on the ground and I lasted less than 10 seconds so it doesn't really count.
Over the next 3 months I have 4 trips to the West Coast; Harris in 10 days time, Knoydart in 3 weeks and again for the music festival on the May bank holiday weekend then Skye at the beginning of May. Hopefully I will really start to put in some wild water distance. The first trip to Knoydart is a John Muir Trust conservation work party. One of the other volunteers is a retired submarine commander who would swim the corryvreckan before breakfast!

That is it! I have now purchased my wet suit and even taken it down to the sea (at Collieston) to let it have a look but needless to say I found all sorts of very valid and serious reasons for not getting it wet. I daresay I could think of a few more today. However if I am serious about this I have to start to overcome some of my reservations. I am posting off my deposit to the guys at Coastal Connection (see link) who are providing my support boat and tomorrow I really intend to have my first sea swim.
Before that though (and anything to avoid the task ahead!) some FAQs (apologies for the poor phonetic Doric)
Fit ar yer doing?
Swimming from Jura to Scarba, a distance of 1.1 k, across the Gulf of the Corryvreckan
Fin like?
23 August 2011
Yir nae feart?
I'm no answering that
Fa the *!@? ar yer doing aat?
‘Cos it seemed like a good idea when I first read an account of it in the Scottish Mountaineer and I can also raise money for my favourite charity, The John Muir Trust. Besides what better way to go between the 2 islands. Also my name comes from the Gaelic Eilean nan Ron (Kyle of Tongue Sutherland) or Island of Seals which may be totally irrelevant.
Kin yer swim like?
A bit but I haven’t done much real sea swimming, certainly not since I was a kid, rather a long time ago. In the benign conditions of the local pool I can swim forever and regularly clock up 2-3km. Only problem is that unlike in the pool in the sea I have a problem putting my face in the water. I blame it on a near drowning experience when I was 3-4 but that’s probably just an excuse.
Dis it cost ME onything?
Aye, click on the sponsor tab at the top of my blog and hand over your money.
Ar ye nae cheating wirring one of thi yon suities?
Probably but it was good enough for the Mid Argyll Triathlon club. Anyways there is no telling on the day itself but it will help with the training. My suit is a 3-4-5 (that’s the thickness in mm in the arms, legs and body respectively)Body Glove Vibe. It is made of environmentally, non petroleum based stretchy stuff so its got to be good. The size is a bit confusing as it is LARGE.
I also have a hoodie which removes my ears each time I put it on and off
Fit aboot the jeelyfish?
Let’s not mention the jellyfish