Isca Outdoor Blog

On the 15th of August, Becky completed the Topsham to Turf swim in 1 hour 3minutes, raising £120 for local charity The Estuary League of Friends.

Becky arriving at the Turf Locks jetty.

The water was warm (although foul-tasting!) and the event was extremely well run with plenty of canoes to guide the swimmers along the course and a cup of hot chocolate proided on the Turf Locks side.  Becky had used one of the aquapacs to take an emergency £5 note with her on the swim, but it was not needed.

Becky was mildly annoyed that her training buddy, Andy finished 4 minutes ahead of her.  Apparently, he cheated by doing extra training in the outdoor pool in Topsham!

If you are inspired to have a go yourself, the Topsham to Turf swim takes place every year and is organised by Mike, the ferryman.  If you’re not native to the Exe estuary, the Outdoor Swimming Society have a website full of suggestions for wild swimming locations across Britain.

        

Becky has entered this year’s Topsham to Turf swim together with another local caver, Andy Rumming.  She hopes to raise at least £100 for local charity, The Estuary League of Friends by swimming a 1.5 mile stretch of the river Exe.

This has meant quite a lot of training as neither of them is used to swimming so far in open water with the cold and the currents.  Every Monday the pair have been to Exmouth Beach to practice – and they still confidently expect to be the last to finish!

In Exmouth for a training swim...

The event will be on Saturday 15^th of August, check back here to see how they got on…