Almanac Swimming: 65 swims to celebrate a 65th birthday!

 

On a golden morning, the years’ adventure approached. The Oxfordshire stone-work of the bridge at Eynsham Lock shone honey-bright, its reflection on the Upper Thames water dabbed thickly like a Monet-impression, then trickled down to nothing. Stroke upon stroke I had swum toward it, the honey-bridge of this first day of July morning, heads up against the current, soon after day-break. Anticipating my 65th birthday and a year of swimming ahead – where would I go, how would I swim? The adventure in mind was to swim 65 swims at the age of 65 years, starting on the 3rd of July, my birthday. This book tells Stanley Ulijaszek’s year-long open water swimming adventure.

 

 

I never cease to be amazed by the achievements some people accomplish in their chosen sporting/leisure fields.

 

One such person is Stanley Ulijaszek,  the brother-in-law of my friend Tony Forbes, and like Tony and myself, Stanley is a keen swimmer – in fact, more than a keen swimmer!

 

Stanley and his wife Pauline, who also joins Stanley on many of his swims.

 

Stanley is a Professor of Anthropology at Oxford University and he lives in the small village of Eynsham 10 kilometres from Oxford located by the Thames River.  (I was fortunate to do a ‘house swap’ with Stanley and his family for six months in 2004 – beautiful village.) On occassions Stanley swims the 10 kilometres to work from Eynsham to Oxford – as you do!

 

His research has taken him to all parts of the globe providing him the opportunity to indulge in his favourite pastime of swimming, mainly open water. Stanley has swum in every conceivable type of water –  from oceans, lakes, rivers, pools, dams, lidos, you name it, he has most likely swum in one of them. 

 

As Stanley’s eyesight is not the best requires him to swim with his glasses on – firmly attached of course. Consequently Stanley uses breaststroke as his swimming stroke of choice in order to maintain his head above water.

 

Sometimes I feel lucky to be short-sighted. I do not swim with goggles, which means on some outdoor swims I can look up and see all of nature around me in an impressionistic blur.

 

Photo of Tony and Col taken by Stanley outside the Colac pool.

 

Tony and I have swum with Stanley during his visits to Australia, most recently just before Christmas when he joined us for a couple of our usual morning swims at the Bluewater Centre in Colac. He later interviewed us for his blog and podcast he produces about his swimming activities. Stanley also swam the Rip View ocean swim at Point Lonsdale some years ago.

 

Turning 65, Stanley set himself the challenge of swimming 65 swims in 65 locations over twelve months to celebrate his birthday. A report of each swim was ultimately written up and included in the publication of his book, Memories Like Water: Sixty Five Swims At Sixty Five Years Of Age. 

 

Time is deceitful-a moment can seem like forever, and forever can be a simple moment, floating in the stream of life. Memories are like water, flowing, flickering in the light, impossible to scoop up and hold in the hand, to capture for all time, emptying out through the small gaps between the fingers. Memories, like water, are changing, darting right and left in the stream of time, disappearing and reappearing, transforming. So this is a book about a swimming project, but more importantly, about time.

 

It is a fantastic and enlightening read about the trials and tribulations of swimming in all types of water and conditions, and one certainly admires Stanley for his courage and determination to carry out and complete the challenge he set for himself and  the wonderful stories that emanated from his swims.

 

Streams of consciousness and memories flowing like water, no two swims the same.

 

As the loose change tumbled in the tumble-drier of my mind.

 

Many of Stanley’s swims occured in Oxfordshire where he lives, and throughout the UK. many were overseas. Some of the 65 swims include;

 

• #8 Swimming with a Seal in the Shadow of James Joyce’s Martello Tower, Sandycove, Dublin Swim
• #12 Swimming and Other Passions at Piscina Sterlino, Bologna
• #16 Swim to Work by the Thames from Eynsham to Oxford Swim
• #17 Swimming in Doctor Schreber’s Bath in Leipzig Swim
• #18 Bernardo Bellotto and Swimming in the Elbe in Dresden Swim
• #19 Sunrise and Sunset in the Thames at Oxford and at Hammersmith, London Swim
• #20 From the Magna Carta to Singing Under the M25 while Swimming from Runnymede to Truss’s Island in the Thames Swim
• #28 Lake Zurich at Seebad Enge, and Swiss Rules of Sauna Swim
• #29 Ribersborgs Kallbadhus in Malm?, Sweden, and the Ghost of the Bathhouse Swim
• #30 Swimming at Louisiana Art Museum, Humlebæk, Denmark Swim
• #31 Modernist Swimming at Klampenborg, Denmark Swim
• #42 Lake Bled, Slovenia, and the Winter Swimming World Championships Swim
• #43 Swimming While it Snows, at Lake Bohinj, Slovenia Swim
• #44 The Serpentine Swimming Club, Hyde Park, London Swim
• #45 Swimming Copenhagen-Style at Vinterbad Bryggen Swim #46 Refshaleoen and the Café Sauna at La Banchina, Copenhagen Swim #47 Swimming at Night at Kastrup Sea Bath, Copenhagen Swim
• #48 Saturday Night Out at Allas Sea Pools, Helsinki Swim
• #49 Swimming to Eternity at Kulttuurisauna, Helsinki Swim
• #51 A Secluded Brook by an Old Ruin at Minster Lovell, Oxfordshire Swim
• #52 The River Thames at Day’s Lock, Oxfordshire Time Dangles Oxford Time A Note in Time Tea Time May Time Time in the Deep Freeze Time Out Full Moon Time Time Bubble Swim
• #53 Midsummer Madness Swim by a Henge Swim

 

As you can see Stanley has donned his togs in many amazing places, his accompanying accounts of each swim are a delight.

 

Check out an episode from one of Stanley’s podcasts describing his swim to work, swimming from Eynsham to Oxford University, along the Thames River, a matter of  10 kilometres. It is a brilliant and colourful account and wonderfully recounted in the podcast. 

 

Check out Stanley’s website for a comprehensive and detailed account of his swimming activities.

 

 

 

 

Stanley’s book can be purchased Here.

 

 

More from Col Ritchie can be read Here

 

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