Last year when I was training for the English Channel I attended the Tusker swim camp in Porthcawl, Wales. It was a Bristol Channel swim camp which seemed odd to many but made sense to me as I knew my next swim was going to be Bristol. Plus, the Bristol Channel swim camp was much cheaper so I could actually afford it! You can read about my experiences here: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3
This year, I wanted to go back. I’ve stayed in touch with most of the swimmers from the 2023 camp and at least one of them is going to be on my Bristol Channel boat supporting me this year.
Sadly, the camp was cancelled, but it didn’t stop me and a couple of the other swimmers descending on Wales for lots of sea swimming and fun!
The journey for me to get to Wales is actually pretty easy and on this occasion, I ended up in first class from London to Wales, so I had zero complaints. It did still take a lot out of me though and I knew it was going to be a busy long weekend of swimming.
Tom met me at the train station as I was staying at his and we headed back to his where Bill was arriving in his camper van. We were greeted by Tom’s dogs; all 4 of them and to say they went utterly bananas was an understatement, id also been warned that Harry might bite. We were introduced to Pippa, Javis, Millie and Harry and all sat and had a bit of a catch up, which was lovely. After a bit of a rest we heading down to the slip at Porthcawl where we would be swimming from the following day and went to a lovely pub for dinner.
Day 1
Swims 2
Time approx. 1hr 45min
Distance approx. 4km
Thankfully, I got a bit of a lay in thanks to the tide times, which I desperately needed after travelling the previous day. At around 10am we set off down to the Porthcawl Slipway for our first swim; although Garmin tells me we went to Pen-Y-Bont Ar Ogwr…
We got in and putting in bluntly, it was bloody freezing! We estimated it was around 14 degrees which meant it was almost 5 degrees colder than the water I have been swimming in recently! It was a tad shock to the system, and it took a while for me to get used to and relax but once I did I felt at home, in my happy place and it took me back to certain moments in my English Channel Swim when I realised it was my first decent sea swim since my channel swim!
We all did 2 ‘laps’ across the bay, which was roughly 2.2km in the hour, after which we got out and changed. I was quite happy, a little cold so wore my ADAPT DryRobe to warm me up but Tom and Bill had the post swim dryrobe jig going on to try and get warm! We headed to a local café for a hot drink and some lunch as well as a chat and trying to come up with a plan for the following days of swimming. We were out of the water for around 2 hours before we went back to the slipway for swim number 2.
Swim 2 wasn’t as great for me. It started ok but I just couldn’t get into a rhythm or figure out a pattern in the waves. I felt like I was doing the one thing I always tell everyone and myself not to do – fighting the sea. I ended up feeling a little disorientated, which I have never experienced in the sea in daylight before, which was a little disconcerting. I just wasn’t feeling it and frankly felt miserable; especially when I got stung by a Jellyfish. I decided to stop at one lap so only swam about 1.6km, it was disappointing, but it was still exposure to the sea and salt, which was one of my main aims for when I was in Wales.
Day 2 (my birthday)
Swims. 2
Distance approx. 7300m
Time approx. 3hrs
Over dinner the previous night we had discussed doing a 6 hour sea swim. It’s the channel swim qualifier time, its long enough to practice feeding and have a decent exposure to the sea too.
Tom wanted to do his normal parkrun so we headed to the seafront where Bill and I watched some incredibly quick runners (including Tom). Afterwards we all went for breakfast as Ros, the other coach from last year was also running. We were all hoping to do 6 hours but got in and believe it or not the temperature had dropped even further and I think we all instantly knew we would not be swimming for 6 hours. I was a bit annoyed but since we all had our feeds made up we decided we might as well try to use them. Everyone was going to feed each hour, so once an hour was up everyone got out for feed number 1. However, I always have an hour and a half before my first feed so I did an extra lap before getting out and realising no one had got back in! I had my feed and ummed and erred about getting back in, even if just for an hour but, being honest; I couldn’t be bothered. Everyone else was shivering and doing the post swim DryRobe Jig. Bill was struggling mentally with the fact he hadn’t done his 6 hour qualifier, I was annoyed I hadn’t managed the 6 hour swim too, but my biggest issue was the jellyfish that caught my left (CRPS) leg and I felt miserable.
We decided that we wanted to do a 2nd swim and as it was my birthday we decided to drive to England and head to Clevedon Marine Lake. We swam there last year on the final day and I really enjoyed it, but what I really wanted was to swim in the lake whilst the sun was setting! We went to the nearby pub for dinner and then headed to the lake for our swim. It was beautiful. I stayed in the water the longest until it got as dark as I dare swim in a manmade lake with concrete sides and no lights…After the sun had gone down we headed back to Wales; Bill fell asleep in the car so Tom and I had a chat and tried to work out what we wanted to do the following day that would not only be useful to me but that would hopefully also help Bill with his confidence.
Day 3
Swims: 1 and a half
Distance approx. 3700m
Time approx. 1hr 30min
After a much needed lay in, we headed out for an adventure point to point swim. Before then we hadn’t figured out how we would be able to do one due to getting my crutches from A to B and because the tide was out quite a long way when we started so that it worked for us at the slipway in Porthcawl after the swim.
We left one car in Porthcawl near the slipway and then drove to Rest Bay. It was quite a walk to the water, so I did it in stages, walking a little way, sitting and resting, walking a little further, sitting and resting; all the way down to the water. Tom then took the chair I had been using back up to the car and met me in the sea. Tom had come up with a genius way for me to tow my crutches using a Spear Fishing Tow float of all things! Being honest I didn’t care what it was, as long as it worked and my crutches wouldn’t come off the float whilst in the sea.
We set off on our swim and as we headed out to sea it went from flat to a little bumpy in terms of waves but I was in my element and loved it. The only thing I didn’t like about the swim was that it ended too soon!
Our second swim was honestly, a load of crap. After we had eaten lunch we decided to head to Port Talbot for our second swim of the day. Again, another long walk, but doable with rests. We got changed, walked down the beach and headed into the water; as always, once deep enough I began doing doggy paddle and it was at this point I started to notice clumps of brown squishy stuff. There were plenty of people swimming head down but we weren’t sure if it was ‘normal’ brown stuff due to being near the exit of a river to the sea, if it was plankton or if it was sewage. Myself, Tom and Bill looked at each other, all desperate for a swim because it was another hot day and I had made the exhausting effort to get to the water, but we just couldn’t bring ourselves to put our faces in so we could swim properly. Honestly, this frustrated me SO much; I desperately wanted that second swim but by this point the walk from the water to the top of the beach was just getting too far for me. I tried to remind myself that with a sport like open water swimming, you never know what the next swim and bit of water will be like and that’s just the risk we take with our sport!
Day 4 (final day in Wales)
Swims: 1
Distance approx. 2500m
Time approx. 1hr
I didn’t sleep well, I had done too much walking the previous day and was in a lot of pain, but we planned an early start so that we could get one final swim in before heading home. That meant being out of the house by 6am and driving to Newton Beach. This was the first beach people swam at on the first evening of the Tusker Swim Camp last year, and the beach that I had been unable to swim at due to the walk; however, this time we planned with the tide being in.
The sun was still coming up and as we headed to the edge of the water it felt rather fresh, aka, bloody cold! We attached my crutches to the spearfishing tow float again and after a bit of swearing and a few “oh sh*t, its cold” we headed out to sea, past the rocks; our destination; Porthcawl Slipway. Once we were in, it was beautiful. The sun was starting to break through the clouds and the sky was pink, I had managed to get both a sunset and sunrise swim whilst in Wales and counted myself incredibly fortunate that it worked with the tides.
We had to swim quite a way out from the shore to avoid the rocks and to get into the right bit of the current which would push us straight towards the slipway, I was loving it! Once we were in the current you could feel it straight away but that was also when the Jellies appeared; they were suddenly everywhere, and I actually had a small freak out. However, I do find them fascinating to watch and once I realised, they were moon jellies, which don’t hurt I kept myself entertained by poking the top of them to see what would happen! There is a chance I will do part of this swim at the end of my Bristol Channel Swim, so it was great to get a feel for it!
We reached the slipway at around 7am after a stunning 2.5km swim. Bill drove Tom back to his car before we went for our cooked breakfast, after which we set off as Bill had agreed to take me to Bognor, where I was going to meet up with my parents for a few days.
One thought on “Wales Training May/June 2024”