9th March 2022
I was visiting my daughter this week so I booked an open water swim at Lake 32, at the Cotswold Water Park, near Cirencester. This made a really nice change from my regular sea swims and is my coldest wild swim so far, at 6.02ºC, but it was still very enjoyable.
I paid £7.00 to swim, prebooking is required. There is a strict safety policy in place here and you must swim with a tow float and a bright coloured hat, so you can be seen by the staff, who were all friendly and welcoming. On-site, warm changing facilities and toilets were a luxury! Whilst swimming in the freshwater lake, I noticed that my body was a little lower in the water than in the salty sea! I could feel the cold water lapping at the back of my neck a little more than I normally do. The sun came out but quite a strong breeze was blowing across the water.
I was sharing the lake with Canadian geese and moorhens, which made a nice change from seagulls! As the water was so cold I only swam for 10 minutes as I have not got a wetsuit.