Wild Women Swimming

W is for winter challenge swims
S is for Sub10 swims!
P is for penguin challenge

Today was the start of our winter challenges!
There are many winter swim challenges to consider. Last year was all about the ninja penguin challenge and Sara is signed up for that again this winter too and Clare and Di will be cheering her on. We also decided to sign up for the NOWCA Sub10 Club
challenge. To find out more here is the website... https://nowca.org/winter-swimming/
We're aiming for 10 swims over winter, our nearest nowca venue is Field Head Farm Staffordshire and today we got our first sub10 sticker!!!

W is for Weetmans Bridge to Wolseley Bridge
F is for forgetting! 🙈

Today was a river day! 2.36 km of the River Trent in Staffordshire. It is a beautiful stretch with plenty of wildlife, cows on the river back, 2 oyster catches, swans with babies (one on mums back), ducks, geese (Clare thought it was a swan 😆) swifts drinking from the river. Had a bit of a bee rescue mission with a very wet bee hitching a ride on Sara's face. Gently removed and relocated mid swim to the bank by Clare, thanks chuck 😘
At the end of the swim, Sara very cleverly had her towel and clothes in her tow float, however Clare was relying on her husband to be back at the riverside waiting with her towel and clothes, oh no! Despite the fact that there's the free Staffordshire Trust HQ Nature Reserve to explore at the pick up point the on shore supports went in the opposite direction down the canal and missed us - brilliant Winter supports but a bit wandery in summer when there's lots of interesting things like barges going through locks to enjoy 😉 next time we'll be more prepared. We also learned that 1mile away walking pace can be classed as very close. It's a perspective thing 😉 See last photo of how Clare was feeling at the time (all is forgiven!)
Overall it was a forgetting day today, forgot the post swim flapjacks, forgot a coat and the on shore supports forgot the swimmers 😱 - but overall a lot of laughs, some nature therapy a fab swim with 3 really good swooshy bits and the sun shone - Good times, good company what more could you ask for ❤️

F is for Field Head Farm.
We've been looking forward to Field Head Farm Staffordshire opening up since the McMillan coffee morning last September. We're so glad it's now open.
Open water swimming launched here a few weeks ago and we're pleased to say that is going well. Based near to Uttoxeter, Staffordshire it's not far away from us all. Anna and Mick are building something lovely here: it's a friendly, relaxed place to come to swim and rewind. Love the deck chairs btw! It's set within beautiful countryside with so much wildlife to watch and swim with. We swam with ducks, geese and cute coots! ♥️ Lots of birds to see! Including a kite! We can't wait to come back!

We also met the lovely Suzie Wheway who had been running an introduction to cold water swimming session. She is a mind of information and someone we hope to swim with in the future!

Here's all the info you need to know about FHF:

New timetable out soon (see pic 5)

Swims are £6.50 for a 60 minute session and 20 swimmers per session. You can also buy 10 sessions for £54 which we're all considering!

It is a NOWCA (National Open Water Coaching Association) affiliated venue operating in line with their safety standards and requirements.

All swimmers will need to become NOWCA member for £15 a year.

They work to the RLSS Promotion, Recognition, Rescue framework, the promotion of swim safety and swimmer education, recognition and subsequent reduction of risk and finally when required, safe efficient rescue.

All sessions are supervised by a Qualified Open Water Lifeguard as it matters to us that you are SAFE and ENJOY your swim.

This will provide you with a NOWCA safety wristband which is used to scan you in and out of the water. If you are a new NOWCA member, you will be able to collect this when you come to your first swim.

The lake is naturally spring fed and is not treated in any way, water quality is tested monthly and water
temperature always displayed. They also have a De-fib and First Aid kit on site and staff are in communication at all times via two way radios.

🏅 5 months of cold water challenge swims are over! We are all now Ninja Penguins! 🥷🐧

🏊‍♀️ ✔️ 3000m per month

🥶 ✔️ 10 challenge swims at under 9°, under 8°, under 7°, under 6° and under 5°

🥳 We celebrated in style today at the place we have completed most of our challenge swims... at Whitmore Lakes Our treat was a sauna and swim then a meal out.

💪👊 At times it wasn't an easy challenge but we pushed on together! Friendships were strengthened over this last 5 months.

💙 "Find a group of people who challenge and inspire you; spend a lot of time with them, and it will change your life" Amy Poehler.

📸 Here's some photos of our adventures.

Kicking off the New Year with a ninja penguin challenge swim at Whitmore Lakes 🥷🏻🐧 and feeling amazing 🤩 Check out the little cutie Di met following the swim 🐕🐾❤️
Happy New Year everyone 🥳

Merry Christmas from the Wild Women swimmers! 🎄❤️
Boxing Day at Whitmore Lakes was the perfect time to tick off another Penguin Challenge swim. 🥷🏻🐧☑️

Happy New Year to all our fellow wild swimmers! 💙

P is for the Penguin Challenge (for some the Polar Bear challenge!)

The Wild Women have started their Ninja Penguin Challenge this weekend. Getting in a good proportion of their 3000 meters required for the month. Temperatures are too high at the moment to start the challenge swims but more of that to come when the things get colder. We have until the end of March to get all 10 challenge swims completed.

Has anyone else entered into a winter challenge? If so, we'd love to hear from you and share stories. 🧜

If you're not sure what it is then here is some information....

The Polar Bear Challenges and Penguin Challenges run from 1 November to 31 March and the aim is to complete a set number of cold dips or cold swims and distances outdoors in the sea, river, lake or unheated lido during this period over the winter. All successful finishers will receive a certificate, a sew on badge and a medal.
The Polar Bear Challenge is run under similar clothing rules to the International Ice Swimming Association and the Channel Swimming & Piloting Federation which means that the only attire allowed is one standard swimsuit ( which may not extend over the shoulders or below the knees ), a single standard silicone or latex swimhat ( no bubble or fancy hats), goggles, noseclips and earplugs if required.

For the Penguin Challenge there are no clothing rules - you can wear whatever you like including wetsuit. gloves, boots etc..
Extreme Penguin is a sub section of the Penguin Challenge - to qualify as Extreme Penguin you have to follow the same clothing rules as Polar Bear BUT you ARE allowed to wear anything you like on your extremities ONLY. That means you can wear anything you like on your head, hands and feet ONLY. Nothing other than a normal swimsuit which does not cover your shoulders or extend beyond your knees may be worn on your torso. Extreme Penguins receive the same medal and badge as standard Penguin but are recognised as Extreme on the swim lists and on the certificate

F is for 📍 Field Head Farm, Staffordshire

What a cracking day we've had at Field Head Farm's first Open water swimming day and Coffee Morning raising money for Macmillan Cancer Support. 🩷

Lots of swimmers came along to try out this beautiful venue. We were able to test out the lake. It was 11.5° today and we were able to get in a 1k swim. What we loved the most were the amazing swallows diving all around us (apparently there are lots of dragonflies in the summer as well 😍) The ducks were very cute too!

The circuit around the lake is about 200m if you take the centre route. Parking was really close by in the yard and there were convenient conveniences 😁 the loos were close by too.

After the swim there was a fantastic swimbly get together in the barn meeting new swimbly friends in a really cosy environment with hot drinks and delicious cakes. The hosts were warm and welcoming they created a real sense of community today even though many of us were meeting for the first time. There were even marshmallows to roast outside on the fire pit 🔥🍡

It was a delight to meet host Anna who is a qualified open water lifeguard, her enthusiasm for OWS was infectious and we can't wait to start swimming here in spring as Anna & Mick have lots of exciting plans for the venue and first want to create changing room spaces next to the lake. Field Head Farm is now affiliated with Nowca so all bookings will go through them when they open in April 2025. 🌟

Go visit their page and give them a follow and look out for their updates, you don't want to miss out, we can't wait to support them in their new venture:

↪️ Field Head Farm Staffordshire

M is for Mapleton

O is for Okeover Bridge

S is for S'camping 🧜🏼‍♀️🏕️

We spent the weekend on our first s'camping (swimming & camp) adventure. We stayed at the and travelled to Mapleton to park by the beautiful okeover bridge. Its a popular place for walkers, at one point we couldn't see the end of a group that was coming across a field and through the tiny gate in a wall that we were waiting to go through on our way to the river. Luckily we weren't in any rush and happy to wait in this lovely spot for the almost never ending stream of walkers.

Great location for a dip, big enough to swim in circles. We explored upstream first (very rocky and shallow) but a good little swoosh back. Almost as soon as we entered the river we had some lovely kingfisher sightings, a real treat. We explored further downstream. (There are places to get out on the left side)

We felt this would be a great dipping spot in winter. Temperatures were on the cooler side for this time of year but it was nice to feel the cold water after some higher temp swims lately.

Rue hill campsite had the best showers to warm up when back at camp and a great fire pit to sit around later in the evening.

We had planned to swim the next day but the great British weather put pay to that idea. We were planning to go to our favourite spot on the river dove but that'll be another post for another day. ☺️


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