The big day had finally come for my musician Lavender!
A planned first wild swim for them.
All prepped with a wetsuits, gloves, and socks, we were lucky enough to river swim following short walk from our touring accommodation in the wilderness of the Eden valley.
I could sense Lavender’s anxiety as we clambered over stiles and ambled through woods to find a plunge pool in the bend of the river which we’d been recommended.
Giving up trying to find it, I picked a spot which was easy for us to climb down the bank of the river and enter the water. Lavender got into their loaned load of neoprene and followed me into the water, not making too much of a fuss at the start and then hollering and swearing at me for ‘making’ them do it 😆 but before long, Lavender was fully immersed and floating alongside me down this short stretch of flat-sitting river. I pointed out the noises and view down the centre of the river (my favourite thing is river swimming), but I think this was overkill for Lavender who was just trying to come to terms with the temperature change!
I climbed out as I started to lose feeling to my hands and our stage manager was on camera capturing the moment, grinning her head off.
Lavender climbs out and, before they started the tedious effort of getting out of their wetsuit, exclaims “I’m black, queer and come from the city…but I’d do that again!” Result! Then they cursed getting all the neoprene off.
Once dressed we headed back and off to do the get in for the show in Shap, and Lavender said they felt really tired, and I’m thinking it’s a combination of the adrenaline and the energy expelled to warm up, but hoping it’s a good tired and they sleep well tonight (not during the show) having experienced the incredible powers of being in cold water.
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