First open water swim at Hever castle This weekend took me to Hever Castle. Nestled in the glorious countryside of Kent (known as the Garden of Britain – A name well earned), it has been host to the Hever Castle Triathlon for 9 years and is a weekend event with disciplines for all the family. […]

Jewel in the Country Rather than bother everyone with my personal experiences, I will separate this blog into two sections. As this is the first time that this swim has been done, I feel a part dedicated to the swim would be useful. Then, if you are not bored, you can read about my personal […]

Thames Marathon weekend. Well, the weekend has come and gone and on Sunday I took part in the 14km Thames marathon. It was an idyllic little swim down the Thames from Henley-upon-Thames to Marlow, taking in the beautiful scenery, starting in the county of Oxfordshire and finishing in the county of Buckinghamshire. As we swimmers […]

Back to reality before the summer disappears.   Time has marched on pretty swiftly over the last couple of weeks and LOTS has happened in my life, not a lot of swimming but a lot has gone on. Since the summer started in the northern hemisphere, I have been eagerly and jealously following people on […]

The call of the River again!!   We are now just under a month away from my next little challenge – OH BUGGER! That means we are just over a month away from the Hippo Hitchup. Where, the Slimhippo will hopefully NOT turn into the runaway bride and agree to be my wife. Best I […]

A different way to spent 24 hours On so many levels this was a truly enlightening and inspiring swim for swimmer and support folk alike! Going back a while, I noticed the entries to this event had opened and I was discussing doing it as a solo affair. Life got in the way, I was […]

Over training! Physical or mental? Part 2 Now that the Hippo Pod have started a new chapter by moving from the Idyllic river location and into the Forest for the foreseeable future. No I am not being put out to pasture just yet! I can do a follow up to the hugely popular post of […]

Over-training and the pitfalls of it with regards to Endurance events Recently and in the distant past I have come across a fair few English, and other Channel aspirants who, coming up to their year of opportunity to gain the coveted title of being a Channel swimmer, are getting very despondent with their efforts to […]

It has been an interesting start to the year and this year, I did things a bit differently and booked a challenge very early on in the year. Yes, I opted to swim at PHISH this year – in the endurance event. Ingredients needed for this: 1- 1 x 61 m pool with a steel […]

Coldest dip yet! An interesting week with a bit of swimming done, not as much as I would have liked but good all the same. Slowly eating away at my 430 km target for the year – now only 422 to go before the 1st December. So on a grey morning in West London, 5 […]