GregInTheWater
CENTRAL SCOTLAND OPEN WATER SWIMMING COACH
Archives
Being summer time in Scotland with so many incredible places to swim, we needed a goal. So a group of us came up with the idea of swimming the length of Loch Lomond over three legs. Due to our busy schedules, we had planned to do the first two legs on consecutive weekends in July, and the third leg in September. Of course I had already done the third leg last… Read More
My 100th blog post. When I started this blog it was to record my various ocean swims races or open water swims as they call them in the UK. I just looked at my very first blog, and it talked about places to swim around the world that I might get to. Well I have swum at all of them and more. I started doing open water swim events in my former… Read More
One of the reasons why I went to Croatia was to get lots of swimming under my belt to prepare for my first 10 km swim race. The race was billed as the Highest Open Water Race in the UK, and was down the River Spey in the Scottish Highlands. Those of you with knowledge of whisky will know that this River is the source for a large number of producers of… Read More
After my week of swimming in Croatia, I had a couple of days to wait for my flight back to Scotland. I had thought of swimming around the island of Prvic Luka, which would be around 5km or so. However, I had not figured on the local knowledge of the guides. Water polo girl had heard about a swim event down the coast at Split, and had convinced the Guernsey lifeguard to… Read More
I had made arrangements to return to Prvic Luka for some more swimming in the Adriatic Sea. However, before going there, we decided to visit the city of Dubrovnik in southern Croatia. Dubrovnik is a city that still has its old town that draws visitors from around the globe. It is so stunning that it is used in movies such as the Star Wars series, as well as the setting for… Read More
The glorious weather continued after the Bardowie race, with sun from dawn to dusk for two weeks. At this time of year dawn is around 430am, with sunset about 10pm, and then the long twilight takes over, with complete darkness a mere dream of colder days. The local media were talking about the heat wave as the maximum temperature sat above 20c for days on days. Memories of the stunning summer of… Read More
A view of part of the swim course at Bardowie Loch on a warm Scottish morning in late spring The weather in Scotland had been up to its usual keep the weather forecasters busy form. In the last few days of April it snowed in Glasgow, and then a few weeks later the spring sunshine broke through the murky cloud to shine brightly on the spring flowers. All through April I had… Read More
I was determined to swim through the winter in Scotland; and by that I did not mean swimming in an indoor pool. I meant swimming in the lochs in the bracing water. This was coming from someone who grew up in Australia where the winter swimming clubs had to put ice cubes in the water to make them colder; a place where if the sea temperature dropped to 13c it was a… Read More
Each year I post a summary of my swim events, but this year it is different. I used to write it at the end of May each year, as that was the end of the open water swim season in Australia, and it would cover the 12 months to the end of May. Well, this year I am writing it at the end of May, but it is now covers a different… Read More
Suddenly the week of the big swim was upon me, something I had been training for since August. This was going to be the longest swim I had undertaken, and of course I wondered if I was ready for it. But first some background of Loch Rannoch. The loch is situated almost in the middle of Scotland, and is east of Glencoe, that infamous place where the Campbells are still not welcomed… Read More
GregInTheWater 