Today was a positive day in many respects. The conditions at Bull Wall were exceptional. The sun was beaming in the sky and the breeze was gentle. The temperature at the marine buoy in Dublin Bay was over 8 and a half degrees.
At some point today the Taoiseach is going to announce a lightening of the COVID restrictions in some shape or form but judging by the pre release headlines, inter county travel is going to remain off the cards. I thought that in any event if I managed a distance of 2.4 K then I would have covered the distance of the first leg of the Summer (whenever I can get back to Cahore).
Thankfully in my full body layer of neoprene, sea temperature was not an issue and I covered the distance. It was my longest swim so far in 2021 and it felt invigorating. There was bad wetsuit scarring on my neck from last week’s swims but I worked out a clever way to wear the balaclava without it rubbing my neckline. Copious volumes of vaseline helped. There were a few dodgy mouthfuls of Liffey estuary as well !!! I took an extended lunch off work for the swim and made the time up later and all afternoon I was floating on endorphins as I attended meetings on Teams. I think if all my colleagues had gone swimming too there would be less of a general air of ambivalence.
I managed the 2.4 k so job done; I’m now ready for Cahore when restrictions are lifted. In covering the distance, I was left with a very optimistic view of the coming Summer with the opinion that the plan I have set out is not impossible. The other reason I am posting on the blog today after what seems a routine dip is that I want to keep the momentum going on the charitable aspect of this project. I am raising funds for immunotherapy cancer treatment for a close friend and every penny is graciously received with heart felt thanks, even if she cant thank you personally.
You can donate at the following link, and I will put you on the mailing list to be notified when blog posts get published.
Late edit: I heard the general synopsis from the Taoiseach and yesterday’s paper’s were correct. No inter county mingling. Having said that there seemed to be an intonation that this might be looked at in May otherwise I might have to look at some kind of legal loopholes. Mind you from where I’m sitting if a GAA player can travel the length and breath of the country, surely swimming over 150 KM in the sea in a number of months also qualifies as an elite sport?