Ask Me Why I'm Stood Here: A Bristol Channel Swim Tale

By Alec Richardson

Ask Me Why I'm Stood Here is a book about so much more than swimming. Nested within this humorously, and at times movingly, written tale of Alec Richardson's swim across the Bristol Channel (undertaken despite, as his wife Jo deftly points out, there being perfectly good roads connecting South Wales and North Somerset) are journeys within journeys. The story describes the swim itself, as well as the meticulous planning and preparation that was a lengthy, and necessary, one of those journeys before Alec could ever wade off the slipway at Penarth. It also describes some of the longer journey of Alec's life as a way of throwing some light onto what drove him to undertake such a challenging swim. Along the way there is encouragement for the reader to reflect on their own journeys and challenges, and the motivation needed to stand tall in the face of them.It is often noted that fewer people have swum the English Channel than have summitted Everest, and far, far fewer people have swum the Bristol Channel than have swum the English Channel. The massive tidal range, the silty waters, the inconveniently placed sandbanks and the almost absolute absence of any degree of status to be gained from swimming across the Bristol Channel may all be factors in that. If you tell someone you've swum the English Channel, you'll get impressed looks and softly muttered words of respect. If you tell them you've swum the Bristol Channel, you'll get the sort of look that lies somewhere between 'so what?' and 'why on earth would you bother with that?'Ask Me Why I'm Stood Here is the answer to that question. It tells, in a captivating and enthralling way, why any swimmer worth their salt should bother with exactly that. And for non-swimmers it throws light on what it is that drives men and women to swim through cold, murky, salty water for several hours at a stretch, despite the existence of perfectly good roads.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1731015240
• ISBN13: 9781731015242
• Release Date: November 2018
• Publisher: Independently published
• Length: 180 Pages
• Weight: 0.56 lbs.
• Dimensions: 7.8" x 0.5" x 5.1"