What is it?

A 10km river swim in South Devon, from Totnes to Dittisham.

The Prep

I could almost call it an unintentional 10km swim. My sister-in-law, also an avid swimmer, had arranged a private guided swim from Totnes to Dittisham, down the River Dart, with Loic and Matt from Coast to Coast Water Safety, and a few of her swimming friends, ‘Nat, come with us?’ This was in March when she first asked me to join their group for the planned 10 km swim in September. ‘No way’ I replied immediately. There was no way I was going to attempt to swim this distance with seriously strong GB iron men/women athletes, and there was no way I was going to spend my summer worrying about training schedules. I held the line for months as summer slipped by, until roughly 1 week before the swim, when they finally wore me down and in a moment of weakness I uttered the words ‘Ok, ok.’ After a few panic purchases for some essential swim items and one training swim at the pool, I was all set (kind of)!

The Nerves

After a bad night’s sleep, it was a 5am start and a short drive to the pretty market town of Totnes. A fair amount of faffing and procrastinaion ensued at the entrance point, (wear neoprene gloves, apply more vaseline, drink a bit more water, tighten the goggles), and then we were suddenly ready to enter the water. We were a group of 6, including a few hard core athletes (myself most definitely not included). Nerves were starting to get the better of me. I really didn’t want to slow anyone down. I kept reminding myself that we had two guides and support boat so I could hop out the water at any time if I got too tired and also that it was a full moon. Why did that matter? The full moon brings a Spring tide, which is a big tide - more water than normal in  the river. All of this water would rush out of the river into the ocean at the end of the Dart (in Dartmouth) on the outgoing tide. This huge amount of water leaving the river (with us in it) would be rather helpful for my swimming speed and momentum. For the first hour I held on to this hope. 

The Water 

The water took a bit of getting used to. The temperature (around 16/17 degrees) was no problem, it was September and we were all wearing swim wet suits, some of us gloves and boots. But the colour, and the taste? It was brown, and it tasted fresh. Being a sea swimmer I wasn’t accustomed to this, but after a while I decided it was a nice change from the salt of the ocean and decided perhaps it was better to not be able to see into the murky depths anyway.

The Solitude

We didn’t see one other swimmer on the entire route, unless you count the Seal - which was quite a surprise in the River. We saw a plethora of bird life, a few canoes, and some very light boat traffic as we approached Dittisham but otherwise it was just our solitary group of orange and neoprene. This was possibly the best aspect of the swim. Our group all agreed, when we stopped halfway for hot tea (yes, it was very civilised with our water safety team), that we most certainly wouldn’t fancy embarking on this swim on the official Dart 10k event. It would mean swimming in a river crowded with hundreds of people. The Dart is normally an incredibly quiet, beautiful, and peaceful river, teaming with wildlife, and we all wanted to experience it as nature intended. This level of solitude, combined with a full safety support team, meant we could all ‘get in the zone’ and swim without worrying about other swimmers, hazards, routes or getting lost. 

Swooshing to the end

After a couple hours we could feel the welcome tidal assist as the outgoing tide picked up pace. The speedy swimmers were long gone, probably in Dittisham, at the finish line, having a celebratory pint! The slower swimmers, including me, plodded along, following instructions from the safety crew as we approached the end. I learnt that my ‘sighting’ was rather woeful - one minute I was swimming towards the left of the river, the next being ushered to the right. My trusty Garmin Swim 2 told me I added a pretty significant amount of distance by zig zagging!! 

Diet Coke finish

It all seemed to be over so quickly! It took around 3 hours of swimming (front crawl all the way) and I felt strong and energetic as we hit dry land in the pretty Devon village of Dittisham. The elite group up front had already prepared the post swim drinks. I was hopeful for a double espresso, but it seemed that Diet Coke was the choice of those in the know. Apparently, after a river swim it helps to kill off any bacteria you may have inadvertently swallowed. The veggie pasties and hearty snacks followed and we sat on the banks of the river and felt smug. 

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Call Natalie to discuss the swims! 07500 032781