Swimming to France - carpe diem!

Slightly different post today, as this curious physicist recently had a new type of adventure- swimming to France from Dover! Last autumn I signed up to the Cambridge University bi-annual channel relay swim team and more or less forgot about it, until March rolled around and suddenly it was time to train for our 2h trial swim in <16 degree water to prove we had the strength to survive swimming the channel. Many sessions at the unheated lido ensued, and eventually I was able to tolerate the 2h in a chilly 15 degrees and got my qualifying channel certificate! This was then followed by lake swims (lots of reeds and fish!) and even a trip to Felixstowe beach to get used to the waves and salt, which as a hardcore pool swimmer came as a bit of a shock! As summer approached, the water got noticeably more pleasant.

Glorious morning swim towards France

The big day for our channel swim arrived in July: 6 crazy swimmers from Cambridge going head to head with 6 equally crazy swimmers from Oxford to see who could reach France first. Our fabulous team set off around midnight, swimming an hour each in a relay until we arrived. I was assigned the 2-3am swim, and then again 8-9am. The midnight swim has got to be one of the most insane things I have ever done, plunging into the dark abyss from the edge of the boat miles away from any land. The assault on the senses was unlike anything I have ever experienced: the waves crashing around my ears completely drowned out the sound of music from the boat speakers and my cheering team mates, and given it was the middle of the night with no buildings nearby, all I could see was the blinding light of the boat, which I tried to swim in parallel with, although you'd be amazed how hard it is to swim in a straight line without a stationary reference point. My head was spinning, and I passed the time swimming by imagining I was joining Oasis on stage on their current tour, which was a hoot. The adrenaline rush was so intense, that combined with the fact I couldn't see the timing boards on the boat, I had no idea how much time had passed, and eventually resorted to shouting to ask my team mates. "Fifteen minutes!" replied one of them, but this didn't really help as I wasn't sure if that meant 15 done, or 15 to go, but before I knew it, my hour was up and the next lunatic was jumping in. As I dizzily climbed up the boat's ladder to the sound of Noel Gallagher's dulcet tones (Don't Look Back in Anger was playing, cracking tune), the insanity of what I had just done really hit me. There were a few jellyfish I'd seen lurking in ghostly figures just below the surface, I think I might have accidentally smacked one or two while swimming, but thankfully I didn't get stung. The Oxford team said they saw a porpoise at one point. It did at one point occur to me that this was the deepest, darkest water I had ever swum in, and I had no idea where the floor was, or where any land was either. Some of the other swimmers said they experienced something similar, it was utterly bizarre.

Once on the boat there was no time for faffing about, and I flopped under a pile of towels to sleep, waking up a few hours later to find it was broad daylight, the sun had risen and the sea now looked an enticing shade of green as we approached France under a brilliant blue sky. It was time for the 2nd swim, which didn't feel quite as bonkers since I could actually see the boat and people on it this time. I was lucky enough to be given the portions of the relay with really strong currents pushing me along, which by my crude calculations probably increased my speed by about 40%, so I was zooming along with extra help from the waves. Racing ahead of the boat and watching it accelerate to catch up was jolly good fun. The sun was shining, the sea was a beautiful shade of green and a toasty 18 Celcius, it was so peaceful and lovely. As some might say, it was a glorious morning, so naturally I had the Oasis song Morning Glory looping around my brain throughout the hour. It is amazing the effect nature can have, especially with our busy lives nowadays it is so important to enjoy these moments and absorb the beauty of the natural world from time to time. On a more philosophical note, when a crazy opportunity comes your way you just need to take the plunge (in this case literally) and grab it, because life is short and you never know what might happen. Getting out for the second time I was astonished to find we could now actually see the French coast, and were very close! The swimmer after me would not even need to swim a full hour to touch the French rocks, and we all cheered her on as she charged towards France. The atmosphere was incredible and we all basked in the glory of our incredible achievement, to swim a route that most sane people would undertake by ferry. Or train. Or even plane. We made the whole crossing in a speedy 9h29 minutes, the fastest time a Cambridge swim team has done since 2014. Once back in Dover, we wrote our names on the channel swimmer wall of fame at a local pub. We all slept for about 11h the next day, and for a few days after that. Big shoutout to everyone on the Cambridge team, especially our amazing captain for making this adventure happen, and our cheerleader-in-chief who gave us support to keep pushing on through! Utterly absurd experience? Yes. Challenging at times? Yes. Do it all again? Without a shadow of a doubt, where do I sign up?

Carpe Diem.

The Cambridge Varsity channel relay team of 2025!

Wall of fame on the White Horse pub in Dover!

Our route to England to France! Legs 2-3 and 8-9 done by me :)