May the 3rd is the two hundredth anniversary of Lord Byron swimming the Hellespont, an act that he said was more worthwhile than all his lifetime's poetry. Following in the footsteps of Leander and Byron...I'm doing it too!

Any other WOLlers fancy it?

:)

Jx

Shucks - so wish I knew how to swim now John...have never quite mastered it.

Would love to watch other WOL ers engage in Byronic activity though. Where are you proposing to do it? We have a dirty River Douglas up here in Wigan - and there is always the murkey River Mersey, a little further afield...

Hi there...

I also cannot swim so no Byronic activities for me. How far is the swim? Perhaps Icould do it on a bicycle instead and if so what would the equivalent distace for it to be an equivalent achievement? Win

Winston - you never cease to amaze me! How can you possibly live on a barge, on a canal and not be able to swim?
Do you never worry about stumbling in, one drunken night?
I know how to ride a bike too. We could always wear our swimming costumes on the bike...it could make for an interesting event. We might even stop traffic.

It's about 4k across the busiest shipping lane in the world...but they are closing the shipping lanes for a couple of hours. Here's what Byron had to say about it...

Byron's poem, on Swimming The Hellespont:

If, in the month of dark December,
Leander, who was nightly wont
(What maid will not the tale remember?)
To cross thy stream, broad Hellespont!


If, when the wintry tempest roared,
He sped to Hero, nothing loath,
And thus of old thy current poured,
Fair Venus! how I pity both!


For me, degenerate modern wretch,
Though in the genial month of May,
My dripping limbs I faintly stretch,
And think I've done a feat today.


But since he crossed the rapid tide,
According to the doubtful story,
To woo -and -Lord knows what beside,
And swam for Love, as I for Glory;


'Twere hard to say who fared the best:
Sad mortals! thus the gods still plague you!
He lost his labour, I my jest;
For he was drowned, and I've the ague.

Byron


The swimming will be a doddle...it's more the temperature I'm worried about. I don't want to have to wear a wetsuit...in fact I'd rather like to do it naked...but that's another story.

:)

Jx

Hmmm... I see. This is a noble and ridiculous feat. would it be comparable to 200k in approx 12 hours which I did on the 18th Dec 2009. Departure temperature (at 6am) was minus 4 deg C. Maximum temp 1 deg C ? Win

200km in twelve hours? Blimey. It takes me about 2 hours to do 5km in a nice warm pool...I reckon, on that basis it would take me nearly a week to do 200k. I'm hoping to do the Hellespont it in about an hour (and a bit)....you would do it in about ten minutes at your speed, adjusting for tides and wind.

Way to go!

:)

Jx

Adjusting for tides and winds is one thing - but adjusting for your bicycle sinking beneath the waves is quite another!
Cx

And I do hope the water is warm enough for you John - not much fun for the spectators otherwise...

Naaah, if the water's too warm...I always end up dragging seaweed....if you know what I mean?

:)

Jx

Hero and Leander

It lies not in our power to love or hate,
For will in us is over-rul'd by fate.
when two are stript long ere the course begin,
We wish that one should lose, the other win;
And one especially do we affect
Of two gold ingots, like in each respect:
The reason no man knows; let it suffice,
What we behold is censur'd by our eyes.
Where both deliberate, the love is slight:
Who ever lov'd, that lov'd not at first sight.

Christopher Marlowe

Leander was the one who drowned in the Hellespont whilst swimming over for a bunk up with Hero, who was the daughter of Aphrodite.

He had got his end away earlier...so it wasn't completely tragic...although Hero did chuck herself in and drown when she found out...so, not all good.

It was her fault, she let the light go out in her tower and he got lost.

Women!

:)

Jx

Perhaps she let the light go out cos she was too preoccupied by the mass of sea weed coming her way...

Our starting point is near the ancient city of Troy...which, as they are temporarily closing the shipping lanes, my wife has pointed out makes me 'the arse that stopped a thousand ships'.

Hmmm....

Not sure that was a compliment?

:)

Jx

Water temperature aside I do sometimes wonder what is it that makes people want to throw themselves into water and swim when there is no need.

Then again I'm sure the same could be said for poetry. Why do I write poetry when there is no need to do so?

Hmmmm, I'll ponder that one but in the meantime I wish you very good luck!