Swim Meet: Paul & Jude

Swim Meet is a conversation series with members of our Crew – the community of local guides and water safety experts who are integral to creating our network of cross-country swimming routes throughout the UK and beyond.

In this edition, we hear from Paul and Jude about their backgrounds and their respective routes: The Surrey Explorer and The Hidden Thames.

Tell us a little bit about yourselves?

Paul: My names Paul McKenzie. I’m @adventureswims on social media. I’m a swim coach, a lifeguard, outdoor first aider – all those things, which helps make for a safe and fun swim adventure.

Jude: My name is Jude Palmer, I’m @RunSurreyHills on social media. I’m an open water lifeguard, open water swim coach, first aid trained, work for the NHS on Mental Health Swimming. An all-round adventurer – if I’m outside I’m typically having a great time.

Paul: We typically work together on a lot of our routes. It gives us a great ratio of guide to clients, but also allows for us to have double the fun.

Jude: Always double the fun! We offer two RuckRaft days out – The Surrey Explorer and The Hidden Thames.

What do you enjoy about the RuckRaft and cross country swimming?

Paul: The RuckRaft lets you get to places that are probably the trail or path less travelled, into some interesting nooks and crannies.

Jude: You can carry your whole life on your back and I find that wonderfully empowering and refreshing that I can just step away from life and have an adventure. While I love to go up to Scotland and places like that and do epic trips, I’m just as happy just finding an island in a lake – swim over and spend the night there. It can be the most uplifting thing you do.

Paul: It can be a travel card to micro adventures as well as epic multiday adventures.

Tell us about your RuckRaft routes?

Jude: We started off with the Surrey Explorer which was our initial route. It’s just outside Woking in Surrey. It’s short sections of swimming with the flow and you can literally just lie back and look at the sky, stop for a piece of cake but know you’ve been out on this little mini adventure and spent a great day with friends and family.

Paul: One of the things we always make sure we pack in our RuckRaft is usually homemade cake, we’ll stop somewhere and have a hot drink, usually half way down. Have a slice of cake and literally suck up the nature. On The Hidden Thames we often see kingfishers, amongst other things. We also see lots of little fish swimming about – it really takes you back to nature.

Jude: It’s one of the things we’re known for. We’re known for having fun, taking our time and immersing ourselves in the landscape and the RuckRaft lets us do that. We can carry our homes on our back and have fun, rather than the fast and furious life a lot of us lead.

Paul: The Hidden Thames follows a spur just off the Thames up near Henley. You leave the busy bustling Thames and soon you are on a very remote back water. In places its shallow, there’s lots of reeds – you are really quote remote. Towards the end you pass all these million-pound houses. It’s a fantastic little opportunity get away from it all and really enjoy the RuckRaft.

Jude: It’s quite special actually. You feel like you are in a different world and its one of the reasons we love the RuckRaft and Cross-Country Swimming.

How do you plan your adventures?

Paul: We like to come up with a journey that’s not miles and miles and look for something that’s going to be interesting. We travel slowly but soak up the whole experience along the way.

Jude: I’m really simple in what I’m looking for – is it going to be fun, am I going to see some interesting things along the way. And if we love it, we love sharing it – if it gets the Jude and Paul tick, we are going to share it with you. Is there somewhere to stop and eat cake is my second thing. I just love the whole you can go anywhere you like and it opens up doors when you have a RuckRaft with you.

Read more about Paul and Jude’s routes and all our other routes around the UK here