So we did it! Thank you for all of you who sponsored us in aid of WWF.

Horary, what a sense of achievement, now we can just sit back, relax and.......... actually there is no relaxing at all, the next swim is lined up for September in the Lakes!

The training for the blue mile started in about April, ouch, it was freezing, but for me that was only part of the battle; hot drinks and my down jacket helped me thaw out afterwards; the real battle were the mind games. For those of you, who read my regular updates from my Kenyan sabbatical, will know the murky depth of oceans play havoc with my imagination! ..... I was once frightened by a floating plastic bag!

Cat and Sarah were excellent; on the first two or so swims they swam close by and waited at each buoy. I was OK as long as A) I didn't see how the buoys attach themselves to the lake bed - did you know that buoys are like floating daleks?!!? B) nothing touched me – pond weed, a duck, a fellow swimmer, obviously their sole purpose of being in the water would be to drag me to the bottom or C) the murky water wasn’t hiding any bodies!..... Thankfully and also obviously for every sane person out there nothing has come of any of my fears!!

So when I wasn’t fighting with my imagination, I loved it, being outside and exercising early in the morning is exhilarating. Much nicer than doing laps in the pool and good for you too.

A week off from the 5.30am starts and then I will be back swimming before work twice a week. I’m keen to beat my time and raise some good money for RNLI. Two months to go.