Our Tadpole Graham Round experience may have been a little different to others’. For a start, the lead in saw the hottest period of the year so far in the UK. A good 10 days of up to 30 degree heat which meant the water was unusually warm. Like 24 degrees warm! All thoughts of wetsuits were abandoned on the first dip. Also, there were 18 of us ranging in age from nearly 2 to nearly 50, including 8 kids who had almost no open water swimming experience between them. In fact, few of the 10 adults had much open water swimming experience. Oh, and we had an inflatable pink flamingo to get round too. Yes, it was that kind of trip.
We devised our team sign, hands together as if in prayer but bent at the wrist to one side, imitating a tadpole (as far as human hands can imitate a tadpole). Quite what the family who were trying to enjoy a peaceful morning on the shores of Crummock Water made to our motley band is anyone’s guess, but we didn’t care, we were here to Tadpole!
We launched ourselves into the first swim, a 600 metre crossing of Crummock Water. Mark and Monty in Boaty Mcboatface, a hastily purchased inflatable canoe from Decathlon which served us well. Our other support craft, a SUP board, was manned by Giles and provided respite for any kids who were getting cold or tired along the way, although amazingly it was little needed. Kids had varying degrees of equipment in the water with them, fins for those that needed them, kickboards for most and those kickboards were a master stroke, giving the chance for a head up breather whilst keeping bodies warm from kicking. Nearly-two year old Mathilde began the journey laid out regally in the aforementioned pink flamingo, but soon opted to be towed on Daddy Guy’s neck. She may not have enjoyed the whole crossing, but gamely got on the SUP with Dad for the return crossing over Buttermere. It was a beautiful sight, yellow heads bobbing in the crystal clear water, glinting in the sun, accompanied by a bridal train of orange dry bags being towed by the canoe with all our land based gear and supplies. The yellow swim caps had been fully decorated the night before with Sharpies and now sported slogans such as “Help me, I’m drowning! and “I love unicorns!” The creativity was simply stunning. Max and Sarah were our trailblazers, completing the crossing first, with Sam, Monty and Jon hanging around in the water to jump, dive and generally splat themselves off the rocks into the waters for a bit. Having started at 11am we had the first leg done in about half an hour. We were well on schedule to meet our support crew of Sarah with Poppy and Jasper the dogs, back at Buttermere village at around 1pm. Or at least that was the plan.
The next stage was a 5km walk / run to Buttermere Lake where we would make a return swim. When I say walk / run, what I actually mean is an expedition in cotton gathering, grasshopper catching, under bridge scrambling, rock hopping, camera posing, sheep herding, chocolate gel eating; for all these things formed an essential part of this land based leg. No aquathlon should be attempted without them! There was a bit of running, but it was flipping hot and the scenery was way too beautiful to just run quickly past. We had left Jon to heroically take the flotilla of canoe, SUP, flamingo and drybags up to the end of Crummock Water ready to be portaged the 1km over to Buttermere. This is where timings started to go a little awry. Rather than portage, it appeared perfectly possible to canoe the river connecting Crummock to Buttermere. Jon set off in the vessels and we shepherded kids along on land. About 300 metres along we came to a humpback bridge where we stopped to wait for the flotilla. Having had such a long period of dry, hot weather, the stream was little more than a trickle, with vicious rocks exposed that threatened to puncture our trusty support craft. Ben hops down to lend a hand and we debate pulling the vessels out but decide that it is still easier to manhandle them through. Beck, Giles and Ella push on, on foot (the others having been sent on to get the main group of children to the start of swim 2), whilst Jon and Ben continue to coax the crafts over the river bed. The foot party are nearly at the start of swim 2 (about 2km down the side of Buttermere) before they realise that the flotilla is still nowhere to be seen. We backtrack to try and give assistance, but the path diverges from the waters edge (which is how we lost sight of the flotilla in the first place) and we daren’t go back and risk missing them. We wait and wait until finally we see a couple of paddlers. It looks like Jon and Ben, and yes, it IS Jon and Ben! The snag now is that the wind has picked up, so they are battling against an oncoming headwind. In fact, it’s decided that it’s probably easier to tow the SUP behind the canoe with only one person paddling, than try to paddle both, so Jon gets dumped on the side to walk the final km in his swim socks (his trainers being in a dry bag somewhere in the middle of Buttermere).
Finally, 1 hour and 45 minutes after starting this leg, we have completed it and the group is reunited!
It’s blissful to get back in the water and cool off. This time our support crew are Jon in the canoe and Guy with Mathilde on the SUP. Confidence is high after the 600 metres of swim 1, this crossing is half that. But Buttermere is deep and the water feels colder now. Yet still everyone gets across in about 17 minutes, we are flying again!
Drying off on the shores of Buttermere, we get talking to a wetsuited man who tells us he is training for the Frog Graham Round; the Tadpole’s big sister (and by big sister read 40 mile round trip, crossing four lakes with 5,000 metres of total ascent). Still he is suitably impressed (disbelieving?!?) that our whole group has undertaken the Tadpole.
The final leg takes us back along the shores of Buttermere Lake towards the village. This section includes a cool cave like tunnel element which provides much opportunity for echoing calls, storytelling, scaring each other and other shenanigans. Then its time to leave the waters edge with another portage to carry the crafts into Buttermere village, where they can be stored in Clarence the campervan, whilst we complete the walk. They are heavy and unwieldy and it is hot, and we are sure that portaging them from Crummock to Buttermere would have been just as slow and tiring as the river based shuffle that we ended up opting for.
In fact, we truncate this final leg at Buttermere village for a refuel on malt loaf, bananas, scones with jam and clotted cream and isotonic Erdinger, all of which have been stowed in Clarence up to now. As it turns out, due to a lack of parking, Clarence is being hosted by the kind people at Sykes Farm Tearoom and our refuel is supplemented by teas, ice creams, sandwiches and milkshakes – quite the party!
At this point it is decided to split the group; Bawdens and Woods, plus Zoe and Monty taking the water side path and Horwoods, McIntyres, Jon, Emily and Sam Bury taking the ridge path. This group also has Poppy and Jasper the dogs, the latter of which decides to kamikaze himself off the footpath to get into the river at the bottom of the valley at one point – it just shows how hot it is! The ridge is a steep climb from Buttermere village, giving fantastic views of the route we have just done. It’s breathtaking (literally and figuratively) but also gives a perfect birds eye view of the connecting route between Crummock and Buttermere. Looking down from this perspective we can see why the flotilla had such an issue. It’s a long stretch with low overhanging trees. The craft were useful, but next time we may need to come up with a more elegant solution. The rest of the walk follows a valley behind the ridge, avoiding the scramble of Rannerdale Knots which no-one is keen to do after such an epic day. We descend gently down the hill and pop out right next to the starting carpark. A quick shuttle to get Giles back to the camper, and we are all homeward bound.
Back at the house, the BBQ is lit and the prosecco is popped. All the kids get medals. It’s time to relax and celebrate a fantastic day. Oh, and plan the next adventure….