Ok, its time to confess….as well as being in love with Silversmithing….I’m addicted to Wild swimming. I grew up by the Sea and every holiday I have ever had since, has revolved around places to Wild Swim. Applecross- Scotland check; Lake Como-Italy check; Martinique -The Antilles check. You get my drift. I was born in Jamaica and one of the earliest pictures of me is bobbing about in the waves aged 10 months having been chucked in by my parents to teach me how to swim! I don’t know whether it was that or being an Aquarius that is to blame. But water is in my blood. It feeds my soul. It’s my happy place.
Now, I’ve lived in Hertford for 22 years. Long years during which I confess sometimes I felt landlocked. I yearned for the Sea. I always intended to move to Devon, Cornwall or Applecross. Then along came Covid and an amazing person. I saw her swimming in the River one day….I had no idea you could swim in the River. I had no idea there was anywhere in Hertford to Wild swim. I started going with my daughter . We fell into a routine-an every-day swim.
I have fallen in love. I have fallen completely in love with Hertford. The beauty I see in and on the River every day is magical. I have watched baby Coots (crazy looking-google them) grow into adults. I’ve watched swans raise their families and boot them unceremoniously out of the nest. We have seen Cormorants, Kingfishers and Herons. I’ve swum alongside a water vole (endangered-who knew) and encountered all sorts of fish. I now swim with two amazing friends. We swim, we laugh, we put the world to rights. There’s a lot of love and support that goes on in the wild swimming community.
It’s as if my brain has been reset. I know so many truly lovely Hertford People. It’s the people who really make a place and I’m really blessed to have some amazing ones in my life. The lovely Courtyard Arts, the gorgeous Secret Garden Cafe, the beautiful Frankie and Olive, the incredible Mudlarks. I thank these people from the bottom of my heart for supporting me and promoting me, a fledgling business. Someone who doesn’t have much self confidence (it’s growing with every swim and solder!) Covid has done terrible things but it’s also brought out the very best in people. Is it the Dunkirk spirit? Who knows, but I’m proud to be a small part of it all.
I swim in the sunshine, in the rain….and today my coldest swim to date- 9 degrees. If I don’t swim I feel out of sorts. I spring out of bed at 7 every morning….I cannot wait to get in the water. The colder it gets the more exhilarating the rush. We swim in skins rather than wetsuits….all the better to feel the burn! But perhaps we’ll go down the wetsuit route when there’s snow on the ground?!
I can’t begin to explain the love affair that has overwhelmed me. its a compulsion, an addiction…. a must do-every day. Wild swimming is good for the soul.
Since the lockdown and the closure of the Hampstead ponds we have had hundreds of Kenwood Ladies Pond members come to swim in our beautiful river. The community is growing. The sense of Sisterhood is growing. I bloody love it.
