This morning, I had a fantastic swim around Hope Island with Marco. It’s a swim Marco does from his house every year, usually toward the end of the summer after he’s built up to it. This year I said I’d like to join him when he went and this morning we did it. His lovely mother-in-law, Linda, kayaked for us. 

Hope Island is the biggest island on the lake (at least I think it is) and though swimming around it isn’t that far (just about 2 kilometers), it feels like a significant undertaking. I swam my steady front crawl while Marco surged ahead and then took it easy until I caught up with him and then surged ahead again. The conditions were perfect; the lake calm and smooth, the morning warm. You’ll have to take my word for it, though, because it was a head-down swim without stopping and so I only took pictures at the beginning and at the end. It was a fantastic way to start the day.