Epic swim across Wales for TV presenter Gareth
An epic swim across 60 kilometres of some of the wildest water in Wales’s seas, rivers, lakes and reservoirs is no birthday party - as TV presenter Gareth Jones discovered.
Gareth Jones: Swimming Home tells the tale of how the Welsh star of ITV shows like How 2 and The Big Bang tackled two-metre waves in the Bristol Channel, a Mid Wales reservoir where Dambusters explosives were tested and the lake which swept away a village.
To get the energy to fuel his efforts Gareth, was advised by nutrition experts from Bangor University to gorge on 5,000 calories a day.
He dreamt up the project to celebrate his 60th birthday and it was brought to life by Caernarfon-based international TV company Cwmni Da.
The three-part series will be shown on S4C, with the first programme going out on October 29.
Gareth, who has always been a strong swimmer, said: "The production company was brilliant in organising everything because you need safety boats and water safety experts as well as a team for the cameras and sound.
But two days into his challenge he woke up in the early hours of the morning with agonising stomach cramps.
“I don’t know whether I swallowed water or ate something dodgy but after two hours of cramps I threw up and that carried on through the night.
“I just had no strength. I couldn’t get out of bed, never mind into the water. I just had to rehydrate and eat and the next morning I felt fine and was able to carry on.”
Gareth swam an average of four kilometres on 15 days out of the 20 he and the crew spent on the trip.
In Mid Wales he swam in the Elan Valley and Claerwen Reservoirs, the River Dovey, Llyn Mwyngil, at Tal y Llyn, and Llyn Tegid, Wales’s largest lake, at Bala.
“Llyn Tegid was unbelievable. It’s just over six kilometres long and famously cold and deep, deep enough and cold enough to be home to the Gwyniad, a species of Arctic char.
“My father almost drowned when he was sailing on the lake years ago and I trained specially for it so it was emotional for me to be in the water there.”
“Llyn Tegid was a long swim but the longest were on the Teifi and the Conwy, both at over eight kilometres, and we planned to finish at the Liverpool Arms on Conwy harbour.
“It’s a good place to stop for fish and chips and that’s exactly what we did."
