Dover

I arrived into Dover yesterday and haven't done much today but wake up to a full English breakfast and go for a morning swim. I met with our pilot yesterday, Andy King, a jolly good chap, who will guide us across this body of water. It's looking like I'll be swimming on July 12th at the earliest and the 15th at the latest - but it all depends on the weather. The three swimmers before me are fellows from New Zealand, the US, and a Brit. I had a good chat with them last night at the White Horse Pub. We were all happy to meet other people just at crazy as ourselves.

Our current B & B is real sketchy (smoky and the karaoke bar below played the Grease sound track over and over last night). Restaurants are too expensive - so we've been subsiding on bread, peanut butter, bananas, scones, and digestive biscuits. The water is cold; however, after my digits and face are numb it isn't a problem. I also don't think I'll ever salt my food again - based on the amount of NaCl that I've already consumed. I've gone on a few strong 2 hour swims with Thomas pacing the beach as I get battered by the waves (waves were rough on the windward side of the Folkestone beach but not as bad in Dover Harbor - but a lot more boats). I just finished a 4 hour swim in Dover Harbor and feel fine. I plan to start backing off now for the next week.

We are going to London tomorrow to meet up with some Oxford mates and then have dinner at Magdalen College with my old biochemistry tutor on the 4th. We'll then come back to Dover to splash around some more and get serious for the swim. Cheerio.