Just over a year ago I was looking for another relay team swim challenge and the 3 Lakes cropped up in conversation. Dave was training for the SuperSix Challenge which involves climbing the 3 highest mountains and swimming the 3 longest Lakes in Scotland, England and Wales continuously. Not fancying the walks in between I decided the 3 Lakes was the one and set about inviting swim friends along. An evening of texts later and before you know it arrangements were being made and our team was formed.

The team consisted of myself , Erica Gelyczak, Kim Comer , Sue Haines and Phil Hoyland. All of these I have either swam in a team with or guided on swims. Strength, reliability and fun factor were the only qualifying requirements. Collectively we have successfully swum Loch Ness, Loch Lomond Relays and Solo, English Channel Relays and Solo along with too many Lakes to mention. There would never be any doubt of its success.

Logistics were easy and with the joy of a whatsapp group everyone had their role and their job whether that was accommodation or boat hire.

At 0800 on Sunday 6th August what became known as "The Beast" pulled up outside my house driven by Sues husband Steve who had kindly offered to be our chauffeur for the adventure. A crucial member of our team along with Dave who took on the role of guide and boat driver. The minibus was soon filled and at 0900 a rather giddy group set off the journey to Loch Awe, the start of our amazing adventure.

The minibus journey went fast and before we knew it we were at Loch Awe Boat Hire . Dave had arranged collection of "Mrs Lovely" our small but perfectly formed boat for our 41 km swim. Following local advice from the boat owner with regards to navigating what could be a tricky end to the swim we waved Dave off. He then took the boat to our swim start at Ford, ready for the next morning. I could not resist taking a water temperature and a perfect 14.2 was recorded.

After a warm evening meal and an early night we set off from our Hotel who kindly left us a packed lunch and headed to the swim start.

As a team we discussed whether we wanted to consider the swim to be ratified by a recognised association, however as we all wanted to swim in the 3 Lakes, we quickly worked out that using for example Channel Swimming Association Rules would mean it was likely not all swimmers would enjoy Lake Bala. We chose to adhere to the obvious rules of swimwear only and a hat and also keeping the same order of swimmer, but we chose 45 minute relays for Loch Awe, 30 for Lake Windermere and 15 minutes in Lake Bala , ensuring we all enjoyed the Lakes. Swim order was also irrelevant and Dave literally just called names out randomly. The order was Sue, Phil, Kim, Erica ,Karen.

Loch Awe is 41 kilometres long and is the largest freshwater Loch located in Argyll and Bute, the Scottish Highlands. It also has a village called Lochawe on it banks and has various islands within the Loch such as Innis Chonnell and Inishall. Whilst this Loch is dark, cool and mysterious and seemingly an open water swimmers dream, few people have swam this solo or indeed in a relay team making it even more appealing.

At 0700 the tracker was set and we were off. The Loch was stunning and whilst it was overcast it was not raining so we were definately not complaining. Water temperature was 14.2 and air temperature 11 degrees. The first swim is always the best with all the nervous energy just bursting to get out. During swims we like to ask swimmers as soon as they are out of the water to describe their swim with 1 word. Sue's time was up before you knew it her word was simply "WOW". I had swam a 2 way Ullswater and a Channel Relay Swim with Sue in 2015 along with an overnight 36km event and I was looking forward to spending more time with her. Sue is training for a Windermere Solo with myself and Dave this year and has an English Channel Solo booked for 2018. Cant wait to track that.

Next in the Loch was Phil. He was also in the same team as Sue and I and in 2016 successfully swam the English Channel Solo guided by myself and Dave. He has such strength in the water and has a real calming influence out of the water. His swim word was "beautiful". Phil is already planning his next Marathon swim.

Kim was next in and blasting down the Loch . Kim loves the cool refreshing Lochs and is no stranger to the challenges of the Scottish Lochs having successfully completing a Loch Ness Relay in 2015 and a Loch Lomond Relay this year, both guided by myself and Dave. Kim didnt want to get out and her swim word was "golden".

Erica followed Kim in and again another Loch lover she was no stranger to the dark cool peaty waters. Erica and I swam Loch Ness in 2015 and Loch Lomond this year with Erica taking on a Solo Lomond only a month ago and smashing it. Erica's swim word was "fun". Then there was me and just for a change the sun was trying to come out . Clear skies, a very light rain and water temperature at 14.7. My swim word was "magical".

We made amazing progress and we were all falling in love with this Loch. It didnt take long before Dave couldnt resist any longer and he jumped in alongside Phil for a swim leaving the girls in charge of the boat. The wind started to pick up but it did not cause any issues, swim rhythm was difficult at times with the waves going over our heads but we had all been in these conditions before and simply embraced them.

We were approximately 10 hours into our swim when Kilmartin Castle came into view. This stunning piece of history looked so eerie yet mystical as we approached it. I was in for what would be my last swim in the Loch when there was a sudden drop in water temperature, it was actually like swimming through ice- cream, I loved it. I knew from this that we were near where the river flowed into the Loch.

The tricky part of this swim was certainly the end. Knowing that the depth of the Loch was getting shallower and shallower we followed the advice of the local boat man , however it wasnt long before Sue was on her hands and knees and we were grounded. Very amusing as we just kept shouting for Sue to touch the bridge. She managed to find a channel of water deep enough to allow a kind of swim in and 11 hours 28 minutes we had conquered Loch Awe.

We never anticipated the paddling at the end to get to the banking or the need for Phil to jump back in and push us into deeper channels but it was all highly entertaining especially when the boat owner took a splash himself. With Steve awaiting , the boat was collected and off we went back to the minibus. Windermere bound with a quick fuel stop on route.

Lucky enough to have our own boat Gemini Warrior it was a slick transition to the Lake as she was already waiting for us. We limited ourselves to 1 plastic box for all our food, drink and gear in and this proved to be great practice. Lake Windermere is 18 km long and extremely popular for tourists and open water swimmers. At least at this time of the night we would not have boat traffic to contend with as this is also a very busy boating lake.

We started the swim at Lakeside at 0245 with Phil in first continuing the relay order. Water temperature would not be an issue here with the temperature being 16.2 degrees. However the conditions were not great as visibility due to fog was down to around a metre . Dave knows this Lake inside out ,and we were in very safe hands. I sat on the front of the boat keeping a close eye on the Lake ahead and the team kept their eyes on the swimmer. As sun came out visibility improved but didnt fully clear until the end of the swim.

All swimmers did 2 x 30 minute swims in Lake Windermere. As we began to tire a couple of swimmers had started to feel cold despite the Lake feeling like bath water. Lucky enough to have the cabin they huddled inside making advantage of its cosiness. Social media had also been updated now and messages of support were coming through.

The smallest of the 3 Lakes (4.8km) was the most fun. We decided to hire a couple of sit on canoes and support each other down the Lake. This had to be the funniest part of our adventure with tiredness well and truly setting in. Kim started this swim off and after a few minutes of gently walking on the painful pebbles she was off. It did take a while to get used to the canoes but it worked really well. Our main focus here was to ensure continuous swimming so as 1 canoe went to the side to retrieve the swimmer ending their 15 minutes the other canoe had got the next swimmer in ready.

Bala was shallow and warm and slightly bitty with algae although towards the end the Lake cleared . Met by Steve we completed this Lake in 1 hour and 24 minutes.

Total swim time was 18 hours and 35 minutes. Spending an additional 20 hours and 8 minutes on the road inclusive of the odd refuel and comfort break.

An awesome swim challenge for all Lake lovers. This could not have been done without the amazing support from Dave Quartermain and Steve Haines.