Apologies...

for my absence of late on the B files - I've been busy getting my Verity's Virago Venture underway and collecting lovely Viragos and trying to write some catch-up posts for the ones that I've already read has taken up my time. I was also poorly this week, but feeling a bit better now thank goodness.
Yesterday I got out Kate Rew's Wild Swim to keep me company on the sofa. I bought this book for my boyfriend last year when he was in hospital (it was a pretty bad choice on my part because although it didn't require much concentration, it was too big to be balanced with one hand (the other hand was strapped up for antibiotics). We love swimming in outdoor pools (and last year challenged ourselves to visit as many different outdoor pools and lidos as possible which gave an interesting twist to our days out and holidays - I think we managed 13 in the end). However, this book also visits lakes, stretches of the coastline and rivers as well as more formal swimming structures, and has many beautiful pictures of watery things. It's got a good directory at the back of places to swim outside throughout the UK, but equally it is just a lovely book about the outdoors.

Writing about this books enables a bit of shameless self-promotion. My boyfriend and I have signed up for The Great North Swim on 13th September, which involves swimming a mile across Lake Windermere. He's done various bits of open water swimming before, but my outside swimming has thus far been restricted to lidos and outdoor pools. However, I'm confident of completing the distance as long as I don't get too cold, and I have a very good incentive which is to raise as much money as possible for the charity Mind. We've set up a justgiving page which has a lot more information about the swim, my motivation, and some of the things Mind can do with the money that we raise.