Arvicola terrestris of the Isis,
It's a New Year and resolutions made, such as swimming every month
of the year outside, are being called in. After an exploratory dip
on the 2nd January 2012 we are now ready to continue our quest to
the end of the Thames. Initial plans suggest we could be at
Maidenhead by the end of 2012, a 100km down stream. "A swim of a 100
klicks begins with a single stroke." Lao-tzu (604 BC -
531 BC).
We will make a easy start to the year with a swim of 0.85km, from
Donnington Bridge to Iffley Lock. Meet at 11.00am, Sunday 15th
January 2012, at this car park:
http://g.co/maps/s7v2s
off Meadow Lane, Oxford, second-left after the canoe club. Meadow
Lane is the last right turn off Donnington Bridge Road before the
bridge from the town side, or the first left from the Hinksey
side. The car park is an unkempt wee council number with plenty of
bushes for changing in. It was free in December but bring a couple
of squids just in case.
We'll jump in the Thames just next to the car park, swim to Iffley
Lock and, to warm up, walk back to the car park and get changed.
Afterwards, we propose a pub lunch at the Isis Farmhouse, just
before Iflley Lock - a must-visit on the pubs of the Thames tour
that we are also engaged in - the same one we visited in December.
If you listen hard enough, the river chatters, "a babbling
procession of the best stories in the world,
sent from the heart of the earth to be told at last to the
insatiable sea," as the great Mole once recounted in the days before
he learnt to swim, and twas in these waters that the Water Rat saved
the gaolbird Toad and fell asleep to the Piper at the Gates of Dawn.
Prizes for anyone who can retrieve the picnic basket.
Outdoor swimmers and romantic heroes, a river (The River)
is calling you for the First 'Swim the Thames' of the year 2012!
Yours
Sef & Jeremy and the Wind in the Willows of the Isis
PS. This swim is the third, and final, part of Swim 30 in Michael
Worthington's I ♥ the Thames.
PPS. Watch out for weasels.
e-mail: Oxford@outdoorswimmingsociety.com
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