Camas a´ Mhor-Bheòil

Skye is an amazing place, in many ways. The variety in the landscapes, the changeability of the weather, the amount of water there is to plop into. And there’s only about 10 roads for the whole island, so there’s little chance of “just noticing” everything when driving on the way to somewhere, so much of the island is simply not visible from the road. So, with OS landranger maps 23, 32 and 33 in hand, we had a beach in mind.

Leaving Portree, heading South for Broadford, there’s a left hand turn, marked as a dead end to The Braes, down the ubiquitous single track road with passing places. The track passes a church, and a recycling point (which seems odd to me at first, but why shouldn’t there be recycling on the island?), then the trees on the left give way to fields and the beach of Camas a´Mhor-Bheòil. One of the houses on the right has a (very) small car park in front of it; opposite that there is a gravel path the leads down to the beach. It’s a little bit narrow in places, but my 4 year old manages it with not issues. The beach is half pebble and half sand – that unusual sand on Skye that is a mixture of very dark and very light grains, leading to the appearance of grey sand.

The swim was lovely, of course. The sea was perhaps best described as ‘fresh’, but certainly easily swimmable in a wetsuit. The bay is North facing, away from the prevailing wind, and protected from the colder currents. At points, the sea was a still as mill pond, at others there was quite a wind, whipping grey sand at the bare legs of my children. The water is crystal clear – the grey sand is interspersed with small forests of seaweed, swaying in the gentle currents. The slope of the beach is very gentle, so I barely get out of my depth, despite swimming out a good 50 or 60 metres from the beach. If anything, the swim is nicest further out, as the seaweed gives way to more sand.

The bay is home to 10,000 jelly fish. Small ones, no bigger than a lime I would say. But thousands of them. I have only a handful of stings, mainly on my right hand – relaxed hand, straight into a big clump of them. I did not get anyone to pee onto it. The bay is only a couple of hundred metres wide, but as its so sheltered swimming out a couple of hundred metres is also safe enough as a solo swimmer; a circuit of about half a mile is certainly possible.

And how many people would miss it by sticking to the main roads?

Spain, Day 4 Swim

Cullera, Eastern Spain. It’s beautiful. And I’ve been swimming in the Med just off it.

A drive down from Valencia through the paddy fields to the sea, and we were ready for a giant pan of paella. And I mean giant. The traditional chicken and beans paella, rather than the seafood variant, and it was lovely. Straight after that, into the sea for a swim.

My pal Andy was keen to swim with me, but gave up after about 3 mins:

“I take twice as many strokes as you, and go slower” he said. Just smile and nod.

So here’s the route:

Across the smaller bay, as indicated, is 250m.

So it’s 500m per loop. 6 loops today. The water was so warm – at least 20 degrees, probably nearer 24. Apparently in the summer it gets up to about 30 degrees in the water in this sheltered bay.

I felt the glide today, and started to get my head down, making the chin follow the shoulder for breathing. There were a couple of intrigued locals, one came out to swim with me, but didn’t last long. The waves were still quite high, and the water breaking over onto me was a challenge towards the end. Great fun, mind you.

I’m going to miss swimming in the warm sea. Only 4 weeks until the Malta holiday, though, and it’ll be far warmer, and far clearer in the sea in Malta.

Spain, Day 2 Swim

A good, if long, day at the conference, so a quick trip to the Eastern beaches before heading off to Benifiao for dinner. Helen and Regina looked after my bits and pieces, whilst I swam parallel to the shore for about half a mile, and then came back. I was very sensible, and took sighting of a prominent landmark – a lifeguard tower lined up with a restaurant in the background. Little was I to know that there are identical restaurants behind every lifeguard tower on the beach, and there’s a lifeguard tower every 100 yards. Doh.

The swim was great – just 50 yards out from the beach, and swimming along to the North initially, then back to the South. The waves were breaking over onto my for the majority of the swim, which was tiring, but rewarding to get to the end. Highlights of the swim – swimming into a 2×4 piece of wood was interesting, but not as interesting as swimming into the dead, I think, seagull. The swim was difficult, particularly on the way back as the waves reached about 4 feet high – easily enough to surf on.

TI really does work out there – focusing on long, easy strokes, taking time, relaxing, and minimising effort throughout. I saw many people come out, swim along with me for about 2 minutes, then give up. A boost for me, for sure. Perhaps I’ll get out to the South beaches tomorrow.

Spain, Day 1 Swim

Valencia, home of the Orange. Well, actually, it’s the venue for the 2010 ECFS conference, so I’m in Valencia. Rules of these trips – always travel down a day early, and come back a day late, to maximise the learning opportunities.

I have brought my swimming gear, of course, so after finding the apartment, it was off to find some water. We took a wrong turn, despite John Cleese’s best directions (courtesy of Tom Tom inc), and ended up at a beach to the North of Valencia, rather than the East. But there was water, in a nice little harbour. Alison Dietician fancied a swim too, so she came with me, much to the amusement of J-Dub and Ali Physio. The swim was choppy, but lovely and warm. No wetsuit, of course. The water must be at least 26 degrees; it doesn’t feel much cooler than the pool at the gym.

Just did a couple of shuttles across the bay, which can’t have been much more than about 1/2 a mile, but Alison Dietician looked tired! It was nice just to get out in the sea without a wetsuit, and to taste the salty sea again.

Hopefully I’ll get the chance to swim a bit farther later in the week, but there is the small matter of the conference. And dinners that don’t start until 2100hrs….