The river is always cold…
Author Archives: words and signs
Lyme Regis: Dorset: South coast England
The wetsuit was definitely on today, since it has been eight months since I went wild swimming.
Lyme Regis is a pleasant small beach, which today had a powerful swell and strong under-tow. Walking over the stony beach, was the hardest and most painful part, and my swimming socks were no protection against the large stones.
The water looked good though an overcast day, but the wind had calmed down from earlier in the week. The wetsuit provided insulation and two short, enjoyable swims out in to the waves. The water was not very cold, but felt bearable against my face and hands, but not really enough to dispense with the wetsuit.
Swimming was quite a challenge with the restrictions of the suit and the swell of the waves as they rushed to the beach. Getting back onto land was a hands and knees exercise on the stony ground and the relentless drag back into the deeper water.
There is some kind of pull towards the ocean, that over-rides cold and danger, and beckons the human person into the abiogenesis depths of a seeming boundless abyss of water. We are mostly water, we depend on water and without it all life ends, and to be suspended in it’s cradle-like embrace, gives a feeling of support, safety and a point of origin.
Port Moguer: Evening swim
Earlier in the day, the tide was out, so we sat in the bay for “underwater lunch” on the stones and we watched the retreating sea far out.
Amazed at the difference between the tides, we watched the change and the waves turning and rolling into the gap once more, over the sand and making a trap, by quickly filling the narrow place of the cove, now covered with a watery space.
No sign of lunch, as the ocean invades and rushes over the spot that would have covered our heads.
A dark night swim- the sunshine all gone and the triumph of nature over mankind’s invention.
The light is fading and the sky resonates with the days glory as the sun slowly sinks over the headland and beyond the world. The ocean is full up, full of dark green water that covers over the sand, the stones and even the orange and black tide mark. It is full and high.
The water is deep immediately, as the stones bank steeply into the water. The tide rolls in gently and the easy swell bears the body up and suspends it in every direction and dimension.
A slow turn in the sea reveals the heavens – the whole vista of the evening sky and the deep sea in all its beauty. As I swim into the centre of the cove, I am reminded that I had lunch here a few hours ago – quite a few feet of water down below.
It seems the sea has expanded to fit the space and somehow got larger, but someone in another place has less…
I swim on to the edge of the cove where everything is buoyant and all has grown into a bountiful place, and thankfulness wells up in me that I should be here…
Plage des Godeline: Côte d’Armour: Brittany
A bright and joyous morning, a stiff breeze and the tide a long way out. Walking out across the glistening sand, a small hermit crab scuttled across the way, but when I touched him he retracted back into his shell. I plopped him back in the shallows and he dug his way out of sight.
The water was the same as yesterday, but it felt a little warmer because of the wind. As I wadded out, quite a way, I was finally able to emerse myself in swimming-depth sea. I satisfied myself with swimming about four hundred meters across the length of the strand, and headed into the morning sun. This direction was fairly easy as the waves were against my back, but the return journey was not so relaxed, as the waves hit me face on.
It was hard to keep on a level track, as the waves are also unpredictable. I gulped a couple of mouthfuls of brine, which wasn’t pleasant. Heading into land, I quickly realised the water was very shallow and ended up swimming in fifteen centimeters of water.
I visited in the evening, and the sight was breathtaking. The weather unfolded it’s magnificent drama, as I watched it move along the far landmass and the sky. This is no accident…
Martin Plage: Côte d’Armour: Brittany
A small island, set off from the beach, inhabited by cormorants and a white cross of Christ, sticking up to warn of the dangers lurking below the surface.
I set out for the island, about four hundred meters away from the shore, in calm, clear quiet seawater, just perfect for a swim. Unfortunately I didn’t quite make it to the island, but I intend to return again, when the tide if fully in.
The water is very placid and draws the swimmer into the jade-like depths.
Port Moguer: Côte d’Armour: Brittany
Overcast, cool, wet day perfect for swimming. With only a few people in the cove and three pole-fishermen, hoping to catch something in the dim light. The sea is so still, utterly tranquil and no other person is there in the water.
Reaching out and cutting through the surface skin is like the beginning of time, and the slow dripping of a tap, not quite turned off.
The excitement of being almost alone in the cove is very motivating. To strike out for the cove-entrance brought a mixture of delight and slight dread. The water is nearly green, and velvety to the touch. A few breakers crash apologetically against the end rocks, a half-hearted attempt to break out and be free.
I swam three times in and out of the space, just to savour the moment and the luxury of the deserted water, like the pools between worlds in a deserted forest. This huge Aslan’s pool pulls me in and I can hardly let go. Perhaps I don’t want to…
Plage du Rosaires: Côte d’Armour: Brittany
This large stretch of sand is for sunbathing and relaxing on holiday with all the family. The water is clear blue and involves a walk to get to the water’s edge and into deeper water. Swimming is restricted between the floats in the sea but it is perfectly safe anywhere along the shore.
Striking out into deeper water is a rewarding swim, in salt, to bathe away all tension from the heat.
The width of the bay brings rather choppy waves, which rush in against a rapidly retreating tide, so it is a challenge to find a rhythm in swimming strokes. There are some rocks in small groups along the beach, but it is mostly sand and shells.
I find refreshment for a hot day, in the beauty of God’s saltshaker.
Le Palus: Côte d’Armour: Brittany
Is the darkness the shadows of the rocks under the water, or the rocks over the water?
Dapples of incandescent blue shimmer and pool on the moving water, each an infinite system of particles that mirror the whole creation. Water patterns that echo the stones on the beach, the sand, and the high clouds in the huge sky, even the Universe, has the unerring pattern and structure, whether we recognize it or not.
Colours so bright, no paint could imitate them, and so transient that it could never be captured as a timeless moment. The depth of the water, the sand underneath, the sailing clouds above, all contribute to the unpredictability of what is happening all around.
Perspectives change once the body is in the massive vat of liquid, and judgments are almost always wrong. Distances seem closer than they really are, and it is easy to go quite far out without realizing it. Without the orientation of the water markers, of the headlands and the stony strand, the swimmer is lost.
Plage Boneparte: Côte d’Armour: Brittany
This long, flat, sandy beach stretches along a large cove, with magnificent edifices of rock and huge stone intrusions in of 45° angle into the beach surface. The rocks are very ragged, yet the water is flat and even.
The incoming tide covers the sand and reaches the stones at the base of the over-hanging cliffs.
It is easy to swim out deep and across the mouth of the cove, and at one point twelve headlands could be seen – all jutting out into the blue ocean and clutching to themselves their own beaches and shoreline.
The pools of light on the water ripple like quicksilver, and seem to be drawn land-ward by the huge magnet of the cliffs, but the waves are gentle and massage the swimmer as the easy tide passes by. As the day passes, courage and strength grow…
Pors Pin: Côte d’Armour: Brittany
An almost unsurpassable scene set up as a small cove, flanked by rocky headlands on either side and deep sea green water, as a reflection of the sky, and the mirror of the rocks below.
A stiff breeze makes it chilly and the inlet has been commandeered by two weeks worth of yachts that bob about across the entire vista.
There is a greyness, a darkness about the semi-circular shore, that is somehow deep and brooding. The glimmers of sunlight lift the ethos, but it doesn’t last today. The spell of sunlight was the best time to strike out, as the sea was clear and deep green and the rocks were just perceptible on the bottom.
Swimming here is very special in these dark rocky pools, and the incoming wind brought choppy water at the mouth of the cove. This place is for weary souls to drown the hungry demands of life and the never-satisfied cravings of the modern world.
cold selkie 