He said, ‘Clonea, 8am tomorrow morning?’ I said, ‘sure thing, Channel swimmer.’

Holy frehole, a Channel swimmer ringing me always gives me buzz.

We arrived within a minute of each other. The scene was spectacular. Clonea looked better than I have seen this year. Glassy water, sun over the horizon, air not cold and the tide was still fairly high. The water temperature was better than last weekend. We cruised to just past the big yellow house and came back, an easy but stunning 50+ minutes. The tide dropped very quickly, we must be on springs, and by the time we emerged, the sun was warming our backs and the waterline was below the rocks.

Clonea at dropping tide

Afterwards we chatted. It’s not the length of the war, but the depth of the foxhole that makes friends. Liam Maher would be a man amongst men … even if he wasn’t freakishly tall.

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