Starting swimming, any advice?

[bainbridge]

Looe looks like a nice venue, overnight stay ?

you don't have any nearby sea venues with some degree of lifeguard supervision for summer time temp swims ?
I keep eyeing up sherringham in norfolk where you could swim about 100m in a supervised groin section, swimming in the sea in UK always feels more risky than (millpond) Med say,
not to mention pollution issues.

Sorry I missed this post. Yes gf and I are making a weekend of it, and as it's a 3:30pm start I can have a big meal the night before

I'm in Bristol and sod swimming in the Channel, I'd be genuinely worried about getting swept out to sea.

I'm lucky because West Country Water Park is half a mile from home and though it is freshwater, it's a fairly large lake with a lifeguard keeping watch.

 

[BUDFORCE]

Looe looks like a nice venue, overnight stay ?

you don't have any nearby sea venues with some degree of lifeguard supervision for summer time temp swims ?
I keep eyeing up sherringham in norfolk where you could swim about 100m in a supervised groin section, swimming in the sea in UK always feels more risky than (millpond) Med say,
not to mention pollution issues.

I go swimming from Wells in North Norfolk now and then, not far from Sherringham at all.

Technically I go about midway between Wells beach and Holkam beach.

You can swim out about half a mile and still touch the bottom most of the time although you obviously don't want to be relying on that, but personally I think that's the best place to swim in the sea.

I swam the English Channel a bit earlier in the year and not so much of a fan, but it is noticeably warmer.

Obviously in life there are no guarantees and it depends how confident you are but I used to be a lifeguard and did the open water/sea qualification as well, so I'm not concerned about going swimming in the sea on my own.

Edit; just to clarify I swam in the English Channel, no I didn't swim to France lol

 

[jpaul]

There's quite a parallel tide in Sherringham whenever I've been eyeing it up, so would need to do some homework, also may need a wet-suit.

no lack of experience from regular sunday morning swim along 150m boat line in Med, nothing better than an endless pool, jellyfish excepted, but, not enough insulation for the North sea I suspect.
(some may call the Med a bath though)

 

[AyeAyeAhoy!]

Sorry I missed this post. Yes gf and I are making a weekend of it, and as it's a 3:30pm start I can have a big meal the night before

I'm in Bristol and sod swimming in the Channel, I'd be genuinely worried about getting swept out to sea.

I'm lucky because West Country Water Park is half a mile from home and though it is freshwater, it's a fairly large lake with a lifeguard keeping watch.

It's the wrong side of Bristol for you, but there's the Marine Lake in Clevedon you could try. It's clearly a lot smaller than a lake, but might make a nice change one time.