Catherine Collin chose to spend her Birthday swimming the length of Lake Windermere. Cath was very anxious at the start of the swim but had a job to finish. She had previously done an organised End to End but the course was cut short so this had been playing on her mind.

After the first 3 hours conditions changed and the wind was now blowing across the Lake making this more challenging than Cath had anticipated for. We always recommend swimmers train in the sea, even for Lakes because they can be choppy too. Windermere is a long old swim and from before the half way point, Cath was struggling. Not physically but mentally and there was several points at which Cath wanted to get out. We paused for a few minutes and gave Cath the opportunity to make a decision. As guides we could see that physically she remained strong but when a Swimmer asks for the map and is stopping every few minutes it is a sign they are not enjoying it anymore. A pause for reflection and off we went again. The last 5 km it is fair to say took forever, with Cath really struggling. I jumped in to spur her on which worked temporarily.

After 8 hours and 24 minutes Cath reached the end, met by her husband and a yummy bag of chips for the Crew.