CLUB . . . You're wrong and you don't even know it !

It is time once again to look forward to next year and plan what exciting holidays I could be taking, I saw this holiday on the Holiday program a few years ago and it has fascinated me ever since. The idea is to go somewhere where the water is quite warm and which has a lot of islands dotted around quite close to one another and spend the week swimming around from island to island. The superiority I felt whilst cycling around Scotland over foolish people in cars and walking around will be as nothing to the superiority you would feel on this holiday over foolish people catching ferries or just lazing on beaches, how insufficient and inadequate will they feel as you emerge from the waves !

I have found one operator which arranges this, they are called swimtrek and they run holidays in a number of locations including Greece, Croatia, Turkey and Scotland ( which they say is "suprisingly warm" ). A general day runs like this; you get up and have a little walk down to the beach or cove for the start point of the swim, then you're split up into small groups based on your swimming speed and ability, each group sets off with a support boat to hand out drinks and snacks ( and which you can sit on for as long as you like ) and swims between 3 - 5Km to the next island which should take 2-3 hours leaving you the rest of the afternoon to laze on the beach, frequent the bars or indulge in some more swimming or walking in especially scenic locations.

Some people may well question why you want to do this rather than simply getting the ferry between islands and spending all night punching the air in night clubs, anyone asking such a question will be unconvinced by any explanation however people who think swimming around in the sea is fun and like a little adventure would certainly enjoy it.

None of the swims are over 5KM so they suggest that anyone wanting to come along should be able to comfortably swim this distance, I can currently comfortably swim 3KM ( on a dead slow setting ) in around an hour so 5KM should not be that difficult for anyone to manage with a bit of practice. They have a 3 month training plan which you can follow to prepare yourself. Apparently swimming in the sea is a bit more tricky than swimming in a pool but it's also a lot more fun which is, apparently, a great motivator and enables people who have doubts about there ability to swim that far to do it easily, there is always the boat to sit on if you prefer.

All of the holidays cost £650 for the swimming guides, support boats, accommodation, food and moving your luggage between hotels. It is probably best to do this in the summer when the water is warm ! Croatia looks like a fun place to do this as do the Bavarian Lakes ( which have the bonus of being fresh water and short distances ), Scotland does not look that enticing despite their protestations about the warming gulf stream !