Friday 29th Aug – Stickle Tarn
Paul and I discuss some film of a dawn swim at Potter Tarn shot in July and then toy with images/quotes from an ancient Taoist text – ‘Lake beneath mountain’ – ‘It furthers one to cross the great water’ –which we half joke about whilst still feeling their relevance – drive off to Langdale at 2pm.
Up into cloud – to Pavey Ark and Stickle Tarn – late afternoon – we change and enter the water, past ‘floating’ islands of bonsai trees, the atmosphere is close, the water calm, the cloud low, the mountain hidden – ‘lake beneath mountain’ – we swim across the expanse of water to where sky meets water – arrive at the far shore – a moments rest – start back – Paul is swimming well but I am aware of feeling the cold round my shoulders – we swim on steadily and before long I can tell that I am drawing on reserves that I haven’t had to draw on before – Paul knows I am struggling – ‘it furthers one to cross the great water’ – my mental buoyancy aid – gradually we pull to the shore – Paul stays close and together we stagger out – later on– an unanswered, tongue-in-cheek, quip – in ‘crossing the great water’ which shores did we actually reach?
