Yes indeed, I was back in Dover last week once more. It’s over four years since I first visited Dover, and on leaving that first time, I swore I’d never return, and really meant it. I do believe my actual words were, well let’s just leave that. But it’s gotten so I now have to carefully enumerate the various people and swims that I’ve been there for, at least twice each subsequent year. What a weird thing and place on which to become expert.

• Last week I crewed for my friend Alan Clack on his successful English Channel Solo, in a fantastic time of 11 hours and thirty minutes, two year after he contacted me and we set off on the Channel journey together. I can’t write Alan’s story however because that’s his to write. I may approach it from the process of how it came about and what Alan did in the lead-up.
• I plan (and have for some time) to write a new Channel swimmer visitor’s guide to Dover.
• Long overdue is a post on the greatest hospitality location for swimmers on earth, Varne Ridge Channel Swimming Holiday Park and my adopted parents David and Evelyn. There cannot be another place on the planet like it, which deals with such extremes of emotions on a weekly basis.
• Applying swim lube for beginners. Seriously.
• Trent Grimsey’s World Record English Channel Record swim. I foresee this possibly being a picture heavy two-part post. I took a lot of pictures, recognising it was once-in-lifetime opportunity. Also, it’s the Channel, and I’m a tad obsessed.
• What’s wrong with marathon swimming?
• How do we protect our sport and consequently the global family of open water swimmers?

So this is just a placeholder post, me looking for inspiration to start writing