Fancy a dip in the deep freeze?
It’s snow joke: swimming in icy water leaves you feeling brrrrilliant, says SUSANNAH CONSTANTINE ...but be warned, you’ll need an axe with your armbands
an ice swim, however? If you’re not an open-water swimmer you may not know but it’s much easier to get into the sea than fresh water because the latter gets a lot colder than the former. It famously takes the far northern hemisphere to freeze the sea.
Knowing this meant the event was looming over me like an icy sword of Damocles in the four days it took for the chosen lake, in West
Sussex, to freeze. On the morning itself, I was hoping a mixture of adrenaline and the need to show off would kick in so I’d take the plunge.
It’s tricky removing clothes in a cold wind but I’ve had months of experience now trying to get undressed in a dignified way in an exposed situation.
Clothes off, I make my way to the edge of the lake, praying not to slip. Crouching on the edge, I bring down my axe with force, making a first crack in the inchthick ice, before clearing a space big enough to stand in. A deep breath and . . . in I go.
When the water hits my legs my body knows how cold it is but my brain, thankfully, refuses to admit it. I plough on, cutting a causeway ahead to swim through. When I submerge myself into the deep water and pick my feet off the bottom it is glorious. Elemental. My body burns with life and strength. I am invincible.
Despite my fears in the lead up to this, I realise that my months of swimming have paid off.
Whilst the notion of wading into an iced lake would have seemed preposterous back in September, my mind and body have been acclimatising to this imperceptibly all the while in the background. I am capable of more than I thought.
A minute later, back on dry land, I feel serene. More than anything, the experience has taught me that if you are able to let go of preconceptions you are capable of anything you set your mind to.