It wasn’t one of the Great Lakes, but it still felt pretty good to me. I was swimming in Canada in Lake Kearney near Halifax, Nova Scotia.
I’ve been in Halifax for a few days on holiday and once I knew I was coming I wanted to see if I could find somewhere to swim. So with a bit if help from the ‘Did You Swim Today’ Facebook group, some Googling and a cheeky email or two I found a group of guys who swim every Sunday morning at the lake.
In a way that seemed to match both the Canadian attitude to this sort of thing, and the OW swimming community’s attitude I was immediately welcomed, made to feel part of the group, but not fussed over all at the same time.
The swim itself was a nice gentle 1km up the lake, waiting for the group to all catch up, then the 1km back to shore. In a way that also seemed typically Canadian (or Nova Scotian) the lake was free for all to enter and even had lifeguards on the small beach at peak times.
When we’d finished half of the group (there were only 6 of us) just melted away to get on with their lives without allowing me to thank them. I did get to go for a coffee (I had tea) with a couple of them, but even then I wasn’t allowed to buy the drinks.
So thanks to Mike and his group and I’ll look you up next time I’m in Halifax!
1000kmstowindermere 