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The Fruid reservoir

 Located 9 miles (15 km) north of Moffat, the Fruid is a substantial reservoir lying on the course of the Fruid Water in the Scottish Borders. It opened in 1968 to supplement the Talla Reservoir , via a large subterranean aquapipe , it’s located 2 miles (3 km) to the northeast, in supplying Edinburgh with drinking water. It is operated by Scottish Water and covers an area of 139.6 ha (344 acres).

The past year has been a busy one! With most of my spare time spent training to become a rebreather “pilot”.  Its taken a huge number of hours of underwater training.  And many many more with my head in a book studying gas laws, dive planning, physics , biology and loads more. It’s a tough sport on the technical end , where your education is wide and in-depth and your skills must be practiced not to the point of being able to do them, but to the point of being unable to do them WRONG !    It’s a sport where death is only a minute away at any time so there are no shortcuts to being proficient enough to see in your old age.

However I did manage to squeeze in enough wild swimming to complete a swim on the last of my Scottish Borders big four, the Fruid !  It had eluded me last year because of a road closure but it still simmered away in the back of my mind.   A few long swims with the lads on Alemoor and a few longer ones on my own and I was confident in my ability to solo swim it’s length. So on the last day of my summer holiday I grabbed my wetsuit and headed to the Fruid.

Fruid Control Centre …. 70s retro

It has a strange “Logans Run” type moderno building as it’s control centre , it certainly adds to the surreal feeling of this remote reservoir , kind of like the place Quatermass might hole up in an alien invasion but hey ho …. I was there to swim 😀

Looking up the Fruid towards the Dam , eyes on the prize ! 🙂

In my usual form I started from the tributary leading in and swam a centre line to the Dam. It’s not the longest of the four , neither the widest but it had a foreboding feel to it as the sides seemed to disappear into a bottomless black … solo swimming doesn’t normally bother me and I regularly dive solo under the North Sea but today I had a slight dose of the willies 😀

Mid swim selfie ! Ugly mug gets every where 😀

However my nerves stood the test and I swam purposefully to the dam at a steady pace , but the last few hundred metres had a strange current, my head started to imagine me being sucked into the big tunnel that feeds the talla … not something I would relish but not really a danger, all the same I swam hard for the dam wall and climbed out …. I was glad to be out of the strange current, maybe I’m getting old and more cautious but the head game was strong on this one. Subsequently a few weeks later hot on my heels,  the Lauder eel Jim Finlay swam it and reported the same undercurrents so be careful in there.

Note: Learn your craft , understand water , reservoirs and your own limits … Everyone knows how to swim but now you must learn to wild swim ?  Stay safe !

Wild SWimming …

I love Wild swimming !! And the wilder the better , it keeps you fit, focused and in deep with nature. Here in the Scottish Borders we have Lochs and reservoirs in abundance !!  …… Lately after my big loch swims a few interested people have been asking how it started and where do you do it.  So just how did I get into it ?  ………..

Early days up the Barnes …

I was first introduced to Loch swimming  by my friend and first class outdoor sportsman Kenny Short. He had been loch training for his triathlons and my Uncle Mick had also been getting involved . Mick is part fish, he has a natural speed that none of us can live with, he’s the fish-boy,  no lie!  Of late Bongo had been joining him longside Deeeksy, Steven Brady,Titch and Andrew Shanky .. Kennys crew of crew triathletes is growing. They took me to the Barnes Loch near Stobs military camp and I did a lap or two with them.  It was fantastic !!!  I was always a decent swimmer , using it on and off for training purposes over the years, mainly for flexibility and stretching to help both the climbing and kayaking that I so loved.  I took to it like a duck to water .. quack quack!  😀  the love was real !

Mad Dog Mick … Alemoor

After a short season in the Barnes I started to hunger for more ! I persuaded “mad dog” Mick Lyons to join me on a recce of Alemoor, a local loch much larger than the Barnes. We jumped on our bikes and cycled out … In we went , it was windy but good to go .. the water was fresh, clear and deep. We swam the 2.5 km out and back to the dam. It was amazing to be floating in the middle of such a large expanse of water, and we were having a full on buzz! The swim home was hard work with tall surface waves and current , we battled on though, attacking the waves and soon we were on the bank tired but laughing our heads off at our difficult battle home.That was it , the Barnes was relegated and Alemoor was our summer home.   Soon after this we were hitting the long swims of St Marys and the Tweedsmuir classics,  even entering the Coniston Chillswim , an amazing swim taking you on a journey to the Islands of Swallows and Amazons  and beyond .. see here ..

Deeks the Alemoor monster !! or is it minnow 😀

Alemoor is now our regular summer training loch and my completion of the Borders big boys  Talla, Fruid , Megget and St Marys is on the back of this amazing spot … get your wetsuit , and get yourself in ……..  also check out Loch Skeen for a bit of adventure if your game ….

Note: Learn your craft , understand water , reservoirs and your own limits … Everyone knows how to swim but now you must learn to wild swim 🙂  Stay safe !