Tadpole Round 2019

Wild Swimming. Not really something that I am totally comfortable with, so I've been working on gettting a little more happy with it recently. Having been invited to head up to the Lakes for an attempt at swimming the length of Coniston (which I accepted... more of that in a later blog), we realised that with a bit of work juggling, it would be possible to head up a couple of days earlier and have a go at the Tadpole round.

For the uninitiated, there is a Frog Graham- a version of the Bob Graham, but which involves swimming across 4 of the water courses in the Lakes as well as running a fair old distance. The Tadpole round is a significantly shorter and much more palatable introduction to run/swimming in the Lake district. It's billed as being ok for Kids, so Catherine and I thought it would probably suit us as an afternoon bimble.

The official route starts at the carpark on Crummock water, you swim across Crummock, run down the side to Buttermere water, swim across that, and then run back to the starting point. All good fun.

As we were staying in the campsite in Buttermere we decided to start the run from there and got all the ascent out of the way first. Up and around Low Bank and Rannerdale knots and down to the carpark at Hause point.
The wind was a fairly stiff north-westerly and was kicking up some quite considerable white horses on the lake. As we approached the Hause it was rather spectacularly crashing against the stones under the road and giving the impression of being the sea. The view across to Low Ling Crag was somewhat spectacular with a decent amount of swell on the water.

Having remembered the route from the website, we knew we needed to get in at Hause Point, which on the map is on the promontory into Crummock... so we went there, looked over the road where there was a semi-obvious entry point, down some fairly steep  earth and stone steppy bits with not a whole lot of space for changing. Thinking it would have been a lot easier to get in by the car park, we shrugged, and got on with the challenge of changing into wetsuits (well, I did- Catherine was in just a swim suit) and getting into some fairly exciting water.
(in hindsight we realise that yes, you are meant to get in at the carpark, not off the actual point, but hey, it gave a bit more of an adventurous flavour to the whole thing).

Everything packed into tow-float/bags and we slip-slid down into the water where we bobbed around for a short time getting used to the water before sighting on the crags and with the mantra "well, it's not the sea", cracked on.
With her in a swimsuit and me in a wetsuit we are about the same speed, so we swam side by side through what can only really be described as a bit of a washing machine for the 400m across Crummock water. I've Kayaked in worse, but certainly not swum! There were times when it felt like you were being lifted out of the water by the water, and times when breathing was optional through necessity, but we eventually got across and to Low ling crag.

Getting out onto the promontory it was really really windy and I had a minor scare when my kit nearly disappeared off into the water as I momentarily took a foot off the bag in order to put on some shorts.... A juducious use of speed work ensured that nothing ended up at the wrong end of the lake.
I decided that it really wasn't going to be pleasant to run in a wetsuit, so took the decision to change out of it for the second run, and then back into it for Buttermere. The wet wetsuit and float bag fitted nicely into my OMM rucksack and we bimbled off down the side of the lakes.

The run down Crummock was a little boggy with some slippy stoney bits - once down past Scale force and onto the path around Buttermere it turns into a flat and easy track that leads through the wood for a couple of kilometres or so before you briefly leave the wood and then enter a spinney at Horse Close.
I took a short time to put on the wetsuit again as we looked across the mere. Less wavy than the previous crossing, but certainly a long way from flat calm. A couple of haribo (tangfastics, what else?) A short wade in and then a splash across Buttermere, sighting towards the green field of Kirk Close. No where near the washing machine experience of Crummock, but still a lot more choppy than I've ever really swum in before.

A brief stop on the other side to change back into running gear, and a short jog back to Buttermere
campsite. 2 hours of great and social fun.
Thanks to Catherine for suggesting it, I can highly recommend it as a bit of an adventure. If you're going to stay at the campsite in Buttermere - be warned, the showers only take 50p coins!