To celebrate his 60th birthday, John Mather thought it would be a good idea to swim the length of all seventeen lakes in the English Lake District. This proved to be quite an undertaking, requiring a much greater deal of time, effort and planning than he had anticipated. He estimates that he swam over 40 miles in total which is far greater than someone attempting to swim the English Channel. From Brothers Water to Windermere, John's icy endeavours were rewarded with tantalising glimpses of wildlife amidst the awesome mountain scape and variable weather that was thrown at him. John is very proud of completing his swim and wishes to share with you some of the incredible highs and lows of the journey. He has written an illustrated account of his journey in his self published book entitled "Challenging Waters, the Diary of a Lake District Swimmer".
Views: 1269 | Enquiries: 9John Mather graduated from Bristol University in 1976 and is a retired Chartered Civil Engineer, having spent a 41 year career in the construction and maintenance of highways & bridges. John is passionate about swimming and has swum in many lakes and rivers in Europe and further abroad. As well as nearly being arrested by the Turkish navy when swimming in the River Bosporus and dodging Komodo dragons in Indonesia, his coldest swim was in Siberia's Lake Baikal! He has written two books about swimming. These are entitled: • “A Pictorial Guide to Greater Manchester’s Public Swimming Pools” (ISBN: 978-1-291-117890-5) Published by Rossendale Books 2012 • “Challenging Waters: The Diary of a Lake District Swimmer” (ISBN: 978-0-9955990-0-0). Published by Sublime Swimming Press on the 28th February 2018
As well as volunteering for the Lake District National Park Authority and occasionally helping out on archaeological excavations, his other interests include art and the history of both civil engineering and the First World War.
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