It’s almost three months now since I braved the waters of the Waveney and took my last swim in the strokes of Roger Deakin. In that time it’s gone from damp to wet to bone-crushingly cold and back to wet again. My plans to swim through the winter have been disappointingly disrupted through a combination of endlessly rubbish weather, a lack of a decent wetsuit and, basically, my being a baby about taking a dip in icy waters.So, before 2013 gets fully under way, I want to set out just what my plans are for Waterlog Reswum this year. Because while I haven’t managed an outdoor swim for the best part of 12 weeks, I am still desperate to visit and swim in all the places where Roger did. Breathe in the air, get into nature and enjoy the best wild swimming this country has to offer and how it’s changed since Roger’s first swims for the book in the late 1990s.

At the moment, I’m still in the geeing myself up phase, which I’ll get past by loosening the purse strings and buying some kind of wetsuit to protect myself against the chill. My aim is to swim at least once in January and February, most likely a sea swim with many rivers (including the Waveney at Geldeston) flooded and not exactly safe for my exploits.

From then on, I’m hoping to do a number of swims every month, visiting a single area and swimming in a string of locations in one go. This will involve losing work and developing gills (possibly), but will be worth it just to get out there as the distant spring and summer, finally, hopefully, rear their heads.

Waterloo Reswum will continue. In the meantime, have a read of any old entries and feel free to give me any pointers. Happy New Year.

Joe