16th September – Kentmere Reservoir
Paul writes:
Today we drove to Kentmere and walked on a level to the reservoir in humid drizzle that left us soaked. We donned wetsuits amid a cloud of midges and entered the water that danced with pin pricks of light rain – small circles for each impact with a central bounce-back point. For all the wet summer weather this was the first swim in rain.
This swim, the 11th and penultimate of the project, was glorious. The surrounding mountains and hills stood in low cloud and we savoured the moment.
The reservoir is fed from higher ground by an already decisive river – the origin of the River Kent starts much higher and deeper into the fells. From the reservoir, the water falls away through a sluice and continues down to Kendal, giving the town its name. It carries on to the estuary (where Richard and I are about to stage our second installation in October as part of the final FRED art invasion) and onwards into Morecambe Bay, the Irish Sea and the Atlantic Ocean.
The power of this flow of water is considerable, rising as a trickling spring and finally reaching its ocean home.
As we walk slowly back to the car we are already anticipating our next, final swim of the project.
