At the start

At the start of November, John Battles, full of enthusiasm, confided that he had come up with a new challenge - we would swim the river Shannon from source to sea. Of course I said "Yes", who wouldn't? John's plan was to swim it non-stop with a team of ten each swimming 2 hours and then resting for 18 hours. After a discussion we decided that while the long rest was very attractive, two hours in cold water would be too long and reverted to the distance swimming standard of one hour in the water followed by nine hours recovery.