1 August 2008 – Styhead Tarn
The climb to Styhead Tarn had been a reminder of the physical demands of climbing/walking up mountains for 1000+ feet. The coming down was even harder with legs failing almost completely by the time we approached the car.
I had waded through the river that flows from the tarn, getting footwear and legs soaked only to change from these wet clothes into a dry wetsuit in order to get completely wet in the tarn. The rain that was persistent that day, held off for half an hour as we swam the length and back, watched by a solitary angler on the far bank.
Beneath the surface in the shallows, banks of weed thickened yet held channels through which I swam Deliberately observing the weeds helped dismiss fantasies about their destructive, gripping power that had been sowed in my head by others’ fearful panicky tales. Confront the fantasy and dismiss the cognitive distortions. Having swam through the weed channels felt good.
Back to the bank, back on ‘dry’ land – it had started raining again – pulling on wet clothes. The only regret that day was not swimming to the point where the river flows from the tarn down the mountain.
