Dear Jubilee Junebugs,
On the Spring/Jubilee bank holidays, we will have two swims, on Monday and Tuesday, with an overnight stay near Wallingford on Monday night. All are welcome, to one, both and/or the camp. Please let me know re: camping so I have an idea of numbers. We will be barbecuing on Monday night, so do bring food and drink for yourselves and/or to share.
At this stage, I am not sure of facilities - the campsite is not a commercial campsite but one just for us that Jeremy has staked out so, although not 'wild' per se, it may well be 'wild' when it comes to some of the finer comforts. Be prepared! The campsite is on the river and we hope - weather and access permitting - to have an evening dip/midnight swim.
Adam has heroically staked out this swim - no mean feat as there will be a few tricksy road closures over the weekend which will require your full attention. Adam's skeleton plan for the whole weekend is below and he will supply us with faff and shuttle details on arrival. There is likely to be some walking. The river may also still be fast flowing and there are likely to be many boatists out and about, so extreme 'elf 'n' safety rules may still apply.
If you are unable to come for the swim on Monday but would like to camp, let me know and I will send details of time and directions to meet us as we go to pitch camp, or come along later...
Can I emphasise at this point that the Clifton Hampden bridge will be closed, so parking is in the village on the left/north bank, NOT in the carpark by the Barley Mow.
Swim 25: Culham Lock to Clifton Lock (approx. 4.4km)
Swim 26: Clifton Lock to Day's Lock (approx 4.9km)
The bad news: they're both quite long.
The good news: that's more or less one Dart 10km over a weekend to burn off any Jubilee cupcakes.
These swims are equivalent to Michael Worthington's swim 35 Culham Lock to Clifton Lock and swim 36 Clifton Lock to Day's Lock, in I ♥ the Thames.
We have missed a few old friends of late, so it would be lovely to have you back this weekend dear chums. Also if anyone needs lifts etc. beyond the normal, do let me know as we can bear it in mind in the planning stages....
Many thanks Adam for your footwork and council highways department wrangling.
Jeremy & Sef and the Climbing Perch of Clifton Hampden