15th June Moss Eccles Tarn
We crossed Windermere on the ferry and set off from Sawry up to Moss Eccles tarn. Hail and thunder-and-lightning on the way up so we sat for a good while under a tree wondering what had become of all the sunny weather. Actually we could see it sitting over Coniston – our next swim. Meanwhile we began to accept that the circle might be begun in the rain, Paul put in a post and we gathered some water and sediment from the lake.
After searching the skies for a sunny gap we gave up and decided to get on with it – as we started to swim to the west the sun came out from somewhere – it flashed and played on the weed below us on the bed of the relatively shallow lake – it waved in slow motion in the slightly merky water. The tarn teemed with life compared to Blea Tarn which was much higher. Vegetation, birds, insects, even the consistency of the water, taken as a whole, seemed to witness the fact that we were swimming through a complex living being – the lake had an existence as a single entity.
Richard
