Swimming

[Borderer]

Tuesday lunchtimes swim was bloody cold, I came home and got some wetsuit gloves from Amazon!

Lomo have some wetsuit gloves for £4 just now. Only M or L and only in a fetching whitish colour but very cheap.

https://www.lomo.co.uk/acatalog/skin-co ... tml#SID=23

[Cheddar Man]

Tuesday lunchtimes swim was bloody cold, I came home and got some wetsuit gloves from Amazon!

Lomo have some wetsuit gloves for £4 just now. Only M or L and only in a fetching whitish colour but very cheap.

https://www.lomo.co.uk/acatalog/skin-co ... tml#SID=23

Hey, thanks for that I have just ordered some gloves and a balaclava thing, that is great

However, I will be coming after you for the cash if I get drunk tomorrow, when it's my birthday, and order one of these while pissed.....

https://www.lomo.co.uk/acatalog/skin-co ... ml#SID=111

[ScotRoutes]

If you're buying gloves and/or socks then the Lomo Tri-X ones are much warmer than the standard wetsuit gloves. I believe they may be out of stock at the moment though.

[Borderer]

However, I will be coming after you for the cash if I get drunk tomorrow, when it's my birthday, and order one of these while pissed.....

https://www.lomo.co.uk/acatalog/skin-co ... ml#SID=111

[Moder-dye]

Eek!

[ScotRoutes]

Made it a nice spot in the River Feshie for the first time today. Much easier than having to break the ice in a loch.

https://youtu.be/gC2k5IuyIuY

[Rasta]

What temps have you got up there now? Morlich was 3°C when I left last month. I'm swimming in 3-5°C. Getting really easy now. Just hot thumbs for a half hour after.

[ScotRoutes]

Water temps around 1-2C. Ice on the lochs is currently impermeable even to a sledgehammer, hence the move to a river spot. There wasn't any ice on the river itself today but there was a couple of days ago.

Air temp was 3C today (and no breeze at that spot). It's still dropping to -5/-6C overnight though so no thaw to speak of. In fact the river was remarkably low. In spate, I've seen it right up to the top of that arch

It's my toes that suffer most. It typically takes more than an hour for them to turn pink. Other than that I warm up pretty quick. I normally try to avoid getting my face/head wet due to "ice cream headache" but made an exception today as I wanted the underwater shots and it was fine (I'm wearing a neoprene cap).

[Rasta]

Okay. That is nippy. Loch Morlich was always about 5°C colder than other lochs I swam in, like Arkaig.
I now do a lot of squats and box jumps before getting undressed. Works a treat. Also bought Wim Hof's book, but it doesn't say much, other than the basics.
I'm amazed how my body has adapted. Walking up to a freezing lake or river and just walking in for a swim seems very normal now. Nothing tough or crazy. I reckon even my thumbs will stop bothering me soon.

[ScotRoutes]

Okay. That is nippy. Loch Morlich was always about 5°C colder than other lochs I swam in, like Arkaig.
I now do a lot of squats and box jumps before getting undressed. Works a treat. Also bought Wim Hof's book, but it doesn't say much, other than the basics.
I'm amazed how my body has adapted. Walking up to a freezing lake or river and just walking in for a swim seems very normal now. Nothing tough or crazy. I reckon even my thumbs will stop bothering me soon.

Yeah - I've only been doing it since the early summer up here. I'm sort of assured by the fact that water can't really get any colder than that we're experiencing already. My wife is on her second winter. Listening to her (and her mates) screams as they entered the water was, I think, putting me off. As you say, I don't really think much about it now. Having said that, I'm currently rocking neoprene shorts and vest, so I guess that adds a little, but once in the water I'm not sure they make a lot of difference other than for bouyancy. The socks and gloves help. We use the Lomo Tri-X as they seem to be the best sealed/tightest fit on wrist and ankle.