How to have an adventurous year without leaving London

January 5, 2020January 5, 2020Leave a comment

What do you want this year to be? To kick off the new year I want to share with you a London outdoors and sport calendar, or 12 ideas (one for each month of the year) to have an adventurous year without leaving the British capital city.

It may seem counter intuitive but it’s during my 4 years spend in London, one of the biggest cities in Europe that I became really addicted to the outdoors and developed a passion for sports events. From swimming to cycling to paddling or climbing, living in a big city offers so many opportunities to try out new things and participate in epic events.

*Dash for the Splash, a local cross run in the Wimbledon Park and one of the thousands of events held in London every year*

I have put together a collection of events, challenges or micro adventure that I have tried myself, loved and which I can highly recommend. For most of these you don’t need any specific equipment, just a dose of adventure and a bit of motivation to get out of your comfort zone and try something new.

January – Get back in shape with Parkrun

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Red Bull Neptune Steps: why sign up and how to prepare

November 13, 2019October 22, 2021Leave a comment

In March 2019, I participated in the Red Bull Neptune Steps event in Glasgow. Along with 600 participants, I dived in in the dark and cold waters of the Forth and Clyde canal, swam 420 meters up the canal and climb over 7 obstacles, one at each of the lock gates. I had my eyes on this event for 2 years, and in 2019, I took the icy plunge.

This is why you should sign-up for the 2020 edition and tips to not only survive it but enjoy this truly epic event…

Toughest swimming race Red Bull Neptune Steps — Fighting an icy waterfall to climb over the lock gate.
Credit: Red Bull

Red Bull Neptune Steps, the toughest swim event

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River Adur swim (UK), the fastest 5k you will ever swim!

September 4, 2019September 4, 2019Leave a comment

If you ever envied Baloo from The Jungle Book, floating downstream a river effortlessly, the River Adur swim in England is for you! The swim is a wetsuit legal (even mandatory!), tide assisted, salty 5km event, making it one of your fastest 5km you will ever swim. It makes it also a perfect first event for those you have swum a few times outdoors but are looking to cover a bit more distance.

The perfect conditions for a great swim

It is always more fun to swim with friends. To celebrate the end of the season, we were a few members of our swim club to join that day in Shoreham-by-Sea, on the south coast of the UK. Our group represented mix experiences and abilities in term of swimming. Though we were all confident swimmers or triathletes, several did their first river swim that day while some others were open water swimming veterans. For me, it was the occasion to come back to river swim after my fantastic experience at the Dart 10km Marathon Swim.

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My first swimrun: the Authieman sprint (France)

August 10, 2019September 4, 2019Leave a comment

“Excuse me, can I ask what is going on here? You all have very strange outfits?” enquired an old lady walking her dog. She was right: hundreds of people, wearing trainers, neoprene shorty wetsuits, swim caps and googles was a disturbing sight at 8.00am on a Sunday morning. We were all getting ready to start the Authieman swimrun. Originally from Sweden, swimrun is one of the fastest growing outdoor endurance sports. Participants complete a course alternating running and open water swimming section. As a person who loves both sports I had to give it a go. And who better to do it with me than with my sister?

first swimrun outfit — With Sister, ready to run, swim, run and repeat!

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Why I love cold water swimming

February 17, 2019September 4, 2019Leave a comment

When it is still dark outside, frost covers the ground and the air temperature is a mere 2C, I get on my bike to reach Tooting Bec Lido. I strip down to my swimming costume and slowly descend the stairs to immerse myself into the cold waters of the unheated outdoor pool. Across the country and even across the globes, there are hundreds of thousands doing the same, in pools, rivers, lakes or in the ocean.

Ice dipping in the forest in Sweden on a glorious winter day.

Who would voluntary swim into waters as cold as 2C/35F when your whole body screams to get out, only to emerge a few minutes later with the biggest smile on their face? Surely they must be nuts?

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Swimming 10km in the river Dart (UK)

October 1, 2017September 4, 20191 Comment

The Dart 10k is an open water swim in the Dart river in South Devon (United Kingdom). It is usually hosted in the beginning of September and gathers more than a thousand of swimmers of all ages and abilities, who aim to reach the village of Dittisham starting from the town of Totnes.

As I walk towards the start line of my 10k swim in the river Dart on an early morning of September, I think about the dozen of messages of encouragement I woke up to that morning: from colleagues, triathletes, family and friends… If many people run a marathon, not so many have swam one, elevating those who would even consider signing up to the status of super humans. I look around but the only thing I see is a bench of weirdos in highly unsexy rubber one pieces, ready to dip in a muddy cold water on a Sunday afternoon while the smart ones of this world have not even finish their first cup of coffee (or tea).