The diary of a Greek Odyssey

Is there anything more poetic than swimming 100km to save a museum?

In the heart of London, the Garden Museum celebrates the art, history, design, and importance of gardens. As part of an ambitious plan to create new gardens, its director, Christopher Woodward, took on the suitably ambitious challenge of swimming 100km from Spetses to Aegina. It’s as much a story of community as an epic adventure. Supported by a team of friends, colleagues and patrons, it not only shows how a community can unite but also represents the journey and challenge of bringing about change for good. Add the significance of the swim’s location, and you have a modern-day Odyssey.

Beating challenges

Like any epic journey, Christopher’s faltered before it began when he had a bike accident. “For six months, I had been training every day, often the last parent at the nursery gates,” he says. “Lying in the road, you think: all dashed.” But, with the encouragement of his team (“a gentle swim will loosen it up”), his challenge began. For that first leg, 14 other swimmers joined him including Rosemary Campbell-Preston, founder of The Plant School. As she swam, she gave an aquatic botanical master class, pointing out the tree species growing wild on the cliffs. “As pink and green hats bubble the water, I think: how many other museums have supporters like ours?” says Christopher.

Appetite of the gods

From day two onwards, Christopher was supported by his dedicated team in a rib boat who looked after his physical and mental wellbeing: co-founder of SwimQuest John Conningham-Rolls, SwimQuest guide Paul Parrish, and Charles Hood, who had skippered Christopher’s previous Tresco swim challenge.

He describes gazing through the beautiful clear Mediterranean water “like gazing into a bottomless blue sky” as he contemplated his training. “You never feel that you have trained enough and this is the test,” he says.

On day three, it was thoughts of his family that spurred him on.

“When I left for Tresco, Max was a few months old. This time, baby Caspar is four months old,” he says. “I have promised Geraldine, my wife, to be home by Sunday. Max has a doctor’s appointment on Monday. So, we raise the target from 12 to 17km a day.”

Unless you swim long distances, it’s hard to imagine what 17km of swimming feels like. Christopher explains that it’s about 15,000 strokes of crawling, which uses every single joint and muscle.

At the end of each day, it’s important to ease those muscles and refuel properly. So, JCR books Christopher a massage before they tuck into mezze to satisfy “the hunger of the Gods.”

Landscapes and moods

The following day, the undersea landscape changed – and so did Christopher’s mood.

“The sea floor is suddenly dirty and dreary with pipes,” says Christopher. “What you see changes your mood and your mood affects your speed. Paul swims with me for the last two of seven hours. That’s a lift. And it saves mental energy not to sight but just follow Paul’s feet.”

By the time he reached the fast-flowing gorge at the end of the swim, Christopher had clocked 19.5km in 7 hours and 20 minutes. More importantly, it marked 50km – the halfway point. His reward was an incredible sunset, another massage and sleep.

Christopher describes how the Greeks of The Iliad chose between ‘kleos’ (glory) and ‘nostos’ (home). At the gates of Troy, Achilles chose kleos, while Odysseus wanted to go home.

“Now, at halfway, swimming to Aegina feels like swimming home,” he says. “Where our new Bosch fridge has broken, Geraldine texts.”

On day five, he sighted Poros where strawberry trees grow wild in the valleys, and thought about how garden designer Dan Pearson was planning one for the Lambeth Green community garden.

On the morning of day six, Christopher awoke feeling like he’d been run over by a truck – twice. After dreamy, still, smooth waters, he was about to encounter choppy seas.

“Lifting your head to breathe and sight hurts your neck,” he says. “This is where the mind must take over. You swim faster when you are happy. In my mind, I reconstruct the perfect road trip my son Luca and I did in California – each campsite, river, diner and motel.”

The finish line

On the seventh morning, Christopher ate a breakfast of boiled eggs, cakes, bacon, granola, seven espressos, more cake – and then an eighth espresso. The final adrenalin shot is music. The team blasted out ‘Peaches’ by The Stranglers feeling jubilant as they pointed towards the final island, Aegina.

The course Charles plotted meant finishing the 100km swim on a long, sandy beach. Here, the team would celebrate seven days and 39 hours of swimming. But how did those final few hundred metres feel?

“For a long time, the shore refuses to get closer,” says Christopher. “Then cars, then people, become apparent. And suddenly, the water is shallow, and you are upright.”

Having the backing of an amazing community at home and the support of a safety team is what makes a challenge like this possible.

“You know that Charles has picked the perfect course, JCR shows you how to adjust your stroke and Paul varies the menu at each feed according to his reading of your stroke,” says Christopher. “But the second part – more elusive, more important – is the formula for the right emotional chemistry. The team manages your spirits.”

The swim raised a total of £162,052, plus a pledge for the 15 trees that will be planted next spring.

Find out more and read Christopher’s full account of the swim: gardenmuseum.org.uk