Create your own challenges

Not all challenges are to enter, or to follow, some are created ourselves. Alison Gilchrist set herself a series of challenges to mark her 65th birthday. She shares her story.

I teetered on high rocks above a deep and narrow gorge in Langstrath Beck, Borrowdale, trying to pluck up courage for the plunge into the depths of Black Moss Pot. After several attempts, goaded on by friends and bystanders, I jumped! The feeling of triumph as I surfaced was immense. What motivated me to take this massive leap well beyond my comfort zone?

I have always relished a challenge and like most readers of Outdoor Swimmer, I love being in water and am a confident swimmer in most situations. So, to mark my 65th birthday last summer, I set myself a series of slightly wacky watery adventures to stretch my boundaries and have fun with friends. I wanted to confront some fears but also to tick off several long-intended ambitions.

My list included things I feared or thought I couldn’t accomplish, and a few were suggested by others or arose through serendipity.

Island life

I had celebrated my 60th birthday by dipping in 60 different mountain tarns with 60 different people. How could I build on that? To get started, I decided to visit all 38 of the named islands in the Lake District. I therefore spent June through to August poring over maps to plan optimal routes. Then swimming out to, and, wherever possible, clambering across each of them. It was a great little project, providing a chance to view the lakes from a different perspective and explore some less-familiar shores.

Fairy pools

I find the juxtaposition of rocks and strong currents unnerving so ‘coasteering’ and swimming through the famous submerged arch in the Fairy Pools on Skye became an irresistible challenge. However, due to the buoyancy of my wetsuit, I nearly didn’t achieve this as it was hard to dive deep enough but eventually a few determined strokes pulled me through!

Cave swimming

Another rather whimsical challenge was inspired by encountering some young people in Rydal Cave last February. They donned wetsuits to swim in what I’d always assumed was a shallow puddle at the entrance to an old slate quarry under Loughrigg. Despite having visited this cave on numerous occasions, I had no idea you could swim here so, of course, it got added to the list. It turned out that the pool was more than deep enough, with old shafts dropping down from the furthest wall where I could neither see nor touch the bottom.

River swim

A river swim was also on my agenda, so one beautiful day in July my long-time swim buddy, Penny and I parked at Newby Bridge and caught the steam train to Lakeside. Leaving a stash of clothes on the lake shore, we swam from the end of Windermere downstream along the Leven back to the Swan Inn, where we enjoyed lunch. The ‘swoosh’ itself was pleasant and easy, with the river surprisingly shallow. The biggest challenge was working out the trip logistics – where to leave the car, clothes and keys!

Birthday dip

Next up, and to celebrate my actual birthday, Penny and my brother Martin, found ourselves on the shores of Wastwater looking across the deepest part of England’s deepest lake to the famous screes. A one-way swim wasn’t an option, so our goal was to swim there and back; a delightful, if slightly intimidating, experience, with sunlight shafting down through the silky turquoise water against a backdrop of iconic mountain scenery.

Some of the other water challenges were less daunting, including a moonlit North Sea bathe at the summer solstice, spontaneously skinny dipping in a freezing Scottish lochan, snorkelling in Buttermere and a desperately cold plunge into Semerwater, the inspiration for a poem about a flooded village.

Perhaps the most entertaining challenge was putting on a tail and fin to play at being ‘mermaids’, albeit in a lovely warm indoor pool.

Healthier and happier

I undertook a few of challenges alone, using ‘self-coaching’ to stay calm and overcome practical obstacles. Mostly they involved support from others: for camaraderie, for safety and to share the joy. I had a fabulous summer, devising the challenges and spending time in open water in ways that have changed how I think about myself and my capabilities.

I became bolder and more confident in managing positive risks and this transferred to other aspects of my life. Research indicates that experiences that help you move out of, or expand, your comfort zone can make you healthier and happier, as well as boosting personal resilience and ‘ageing well’.

I discovered many different watery ways to challenge myself but it is hard to choose my favourite or the scariest.

Perhaps readers of Outdoor Swimmer can suggest zany new ideas for me and my friends to try this coming summer?

As the poet T.S. Eliot wrote, “Only those who will risk going too far, can possibly find out how far they can go.”

This article is from the February issue of Outdoor Swimmer. Click here to subscribe to the magazine.