We managed a kid free morning, and the weather, winds and tide were perfect so we went for it! The Swoosh - 5km from river to estuary, as you get pulled out of the river you get a real sense of swooshing!
Jumping in at Averton Gifford about 30 minutes after high tide we slowly made our way downstream, part swimming, part bobbing and part wading. The start was a bit murkier and as you get closer to the sea the water gets clearer, faster and sandier bottomed.
It was a chilly 9 degrees in the water and 6 in the air, but a few mm of neoprene kept us warm. We finished in about 90 minutes averaging a pace of 1:50/100m which is awesome for the amount of exploring and faffing we did!
A few pointers: - Its a strange sensation starting in fresh water and it getting saltier as the trip goes on.
- Its also strange getting more buoyant in the salt water as time goes on
- When the salt and fresh water start mixing you get these crazy hazy whirlpools where the salinity is changing.
- Our high tide was 4.88m and I wouldn't do on any tide much lower than that
- You can escape and walk back up the tidal road for the first 1km or so, after that its pretty inescapable
- There are lots of mooring buoys as you get towards Bantham and the swoosh gets stronger so have your wits about you for buoy ropes and other water users. - The carpark in AG is free, but Bantham only takes cash and its £7
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