11 June. Another fantastic day and 2 more swims down – into the double figures! The whole day was gloriously sunny and warm. Drove over to Keswick this morning with Arthur and Alice and met Katharine and Chris over there and we all went up to Watendlath Tarn. Alice and I walked round to the far side to swim across and Kat and Chris swam out to meet us half way while Arthur paddled at the edge. Getting in was a bit nerve-wracking (although we did see a fish) as after the first few shal…low feet there’s a sudden drop off, so we had to just throw ourselves in! It was cold at first but we soon got used to it and it was a really lovely swim. We got out near the café on a little pebbley beach among the water-lilies, great place to swim.
We dropped Kat and Chris in Keswick to get their bus back to London, met up with Rhys and Beinn and headed over to Buttermere. Arthur & Rhys walked along the northern shore while me and Alice walked along the southern shore and then swam across to meet them. We met a family having a picnic just as we were setting off who said they were just saying how great it would be to swim and that they were very jealous of our wetsuits! The water was incredibly clear (unlike Watendlath which Chris said was ‘like swimming in tea’) and the views from the middle of the lake were fantastic. We met up with Arthur, Rhys, Beinn and the towels and spent quite a while sitting on the lovely warm pebbles, throwing stones into the lake for Beinn and just enjoying the sunshine.
