The pool at Doha airport looked amazing, what are your top 3 spots around the world to swim?
My golden rule is always have your swim togs in you, you never know. The airport pool in Doha is a nice one. Top 3 places is a tough one as certain swims can mean a lot even if the location isn’t Instagram perfect, such as swimming across the Channel or the times I swum down the Tyne under all the bridges or a 25km race in Madeira, across the Gibraltar Strait with dolphins. But it’s hard to beat walking down from my house for a sunrise swim in Ullswater!
We saw you with Jo Wiley and Richie Anderson, can you tell us a bit more about that?
You can add Radio 2’s Rev Kate Bottley to that list. I was took Rev Kate for a swim in the Serpentine this morning. The trio are taking part in a Sports Relief challenge which includes a winter swim. I was asked to assist with the winter swim training. These are always great fun although can be tough for the celebs if it is something that they haven’t done before. I also trained up Radzi when he was at Blue Peter for a winter swim challenge for Sports Relief a few years ago. But Jo, Richie and Rev Kate will be doing a three day challenge and I will be with them for all the swim sections.
We are just finishing up the cold season swims, any advice for anyone hoping to visit the hotel before the end of April?
I think some of Another Place hotel staff have been pleasantly surprised as to not only how popular the Winter Swim sessions I‘be been taking all through the winter have been, but how much complete first timers have loved the experience. For me winter swimming is all about enjoying the experience and I love passing on top tips as we go along. There is lots of talk around the well-being aspect of winter swimming and it’s also great fun. So if you are here before April why not sign up for a winter swim before it’s too warm.
Full moon swims have been an exciting new addition to our calendar; what are the best things about a night swim and how can guests prepare?
The experience of swimming in a lake In itself can be incredible, but the full moon swims adds an extra dimension to this. It’s a real life experience to wander down to the lake with a bunch of like-minded adventures and go into the lake in the dark. We will all have an illuminated ‘tow-float’ (this is a bag which doesn’t impede your swimming, but you can hold onto for a rest). This is more of a potter around than a swim and we’ll all be wearing wetsuits. If we are lucky we will be swimming under the moon and stars and in a calm night it can hard to see the line between the lake and space. On a cloudy and windy night it’s an experience to be immersed in the elements and experience swimming when most other people wouldn’t dream of doing so.
