Plunging pelagic pensioner Julian Wild recounts to our outdoor swimming correspondent Angus Young the joys and perils of an estuarine dip.
It’s big, brown and not exactly the first place that springs to mind if you fancy a paddle. But that didn’t stop Julian Wild doing what few people have managed to do – swim across the Humber estuary.
We asked the intrepid long-distance swimmer why he decided to take the plunge. “Every time I drive across the Humber Bridge, I have the annoying habit of saying to my passenger: ‘Do you know that I’ve swam across there?” My family always heave a long sigh, but it was one of the best things I have done in my life and I am proud to have completed it.
“This adventure started with my normal early morning swim at Albert Avenue Baths in Hull in 2013 when I was 60 years old. I had only been swimming regularly for about 10 years and had taught myself to swim freestyle. One day a fellow swimmer told me how he had swum the Humber the year before with well-known local physiotherapist and health club owner, Keith Warner. I was at the stage of entering for longer distance swims and swimming the Humber seemed like a great challenge.
“I contacted Keith and he agreed to include me in his next charity swim in support of the Humber Rescue on condition that I got to the required level of fitness so that I could keep up with the other eleven swimmers. He insisted that we train at Total Fitness and then in the North Sea at Mappleton, where the waves are almost as dangerous as the unexploded ordnance on the beach.
“Finally, the day came at the end of June when we congregated on the north bank of the Humber by the Humber Rescue station beneath the tower of the Humber Bridge. The River Humber is said to be the second most dangerous navigable waterway after the Orinoco. The current is so strong that anyone venturing into the river could be swept away to the North Sea. It is also a sludgy brown colour, not the clear blue water of a tropical sea. It was made clear that if any of us could not keep up with the others we would be taken out of the water by the accompanying Humber Rescue. I was the second oldest swimmer, so this warning was probably aimed at me.
“We were taken by one of the Humber Rescue lifeboats across to the Lincolnshire side of the river, close to the Waters’ Edge Country Park. The plan was to set off and swim with the current back up the river towards North Ferriby and then to tread water until the tide turned in our favour. The conditions were reasonably calm but it was still a test to do the crawl with your face in thick brown water where you could not see a thing.
“We had to swim almost as far as the riverside walkway at North Ferriby, gradually easing our way across until the current was with us and allowed us to swim more easily back to our assembly point underneath the bridge. In total we swam 4.2 miles in a time of one hour 48 minutes.
“Getting out of the river onto sharp rocks at Hessle with legs like jelly was the hardest part of the journey, but we all managed it and it made for a very memorable day, witnessed by friends and family. My wife and youngest son managed to get a place in one of the Humber Rescue boats, so they would have been close at hand if it had not ended well.
“Inspired by the Humber swim, I went on to complete most of the long distance swims in the UK and to do the world’s oldest swim from Europe to Asia across the Dardanelles. I am pleased to say that, at 72, I am still swimming every day but my marathon swims are over. Nevertheless, swimming the Humber will live long in the memory.”