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April 2021 April 2021
After a short wait a little way down the river, Emile had caught us up and our small Digital Hotline
flotilla of boats and swimmers had begun our long journey. This proved to be a
brilliant part of the swim as we were getting the benefit of the flow of the river and A special hotline set
being close to the river’s edge, could see the glorious Dorset countryside whizz by up to help people with
before our very eyes. digital enquiries has
seen the number of
We were soon passing Redbridge Marina and Ridge Warf on our way to the more calls it receives almost
open reaches of Wareham Channel and Poole Harbour. Even without a wetsuit, triple during this latest
Emile is quicker than me these days and has definitely got another gear, but l oc kd o wn . Fro m
generally we can stick together over a long swim. January 5 to February 5, the Dorset Digital Hotline received 132 calls – its biggest

After an hour we briefly stopped for a drink and in my case a whole banana. I find ever monthly total and nearly three times the average monthly calls it received in
that bananas are the one energy giving food that I can digest and swim at the the last quarter of 2020. Operated by volunteer Digital Champions, the hotline has
same time. helped people in the last month with a wide range of enquiries, from using Zoom
to what device they can buy.
In the middle of Wareham Channel and well into our swim, we stopped to reassess
the situation. The tide as expected had turned against us by 0.8 knots. We The hotline was set up by Dorset Council in March last year during the first
retreated to the boat for around 20 minutes to give the tide a little time to turn in lockdown and when the Digital Champions were no longer able to help people
our favour once more. Also, the water temperature had noticeably jumped to face to face in libraries. On day one of lockdown three, the first call to the hotline
around 17C and was to reach 19C at the end of our swim. was from a gentleman who had tested positive for Covid-19 and needed help
with arranging online shopping delivery slots. Other calls received during January
We were soon back in the water with Rockley Caravan Park and the Poole Marine included a woman whose tablet froze while she was in the middle of internet
Base our focus for the next couple of hours. We were clearly making really good banking; and a partially sighted resident who needed help on how to make her
progress as we edged our way into the Wych Channel and the more open Poole screen larger. A school that needed advice on clearing old information from
Harbour and towards Pottery Pier and Brownsea Island. laptops it had received as a gift also got in touch.
We were now just 2 miles from our intended finishing point just inside the outer The Digital Hotline – 01305 221048 – is open Mondays to Fridays from 10am to
reaches of the harbour. This was the point where every muscle in my body began midday (except Bank Holidays). Outside of these times you can leave a message,
to ache! However after a short stop on the eastern side of Brownsea Island we and someone will get back to you.
began to make our way down the long southern shoreline.
Problem: we very shortly began to run out of water as we swam/ crawled and at Household Recycling Centres
times walked in the now salty water which was only a few inches deep. No matter,
after a little while and after the boat had got stuck on a mud bank we managed Do not visit a household recycling centre (HRC, or “the tip”) right now unless your
to ease ourselves into more swimmable waters. waste cannot be stored safely at home. This is the simple message that Dorset
Council is using to help deal with rising visitor numbers. Recent warm weather has
The western end of Brownsea now became our focus as we edged ever closer to resulted in HRCs becoming busy again as visitors drop off their items – primarily
it. We had soon passed Green Island and Furzey Island on our right. The tide which garden waste and wood – which is starting to cause long queues, creating access
is always variable and unpredictable inside Poole Harbour had now turned against problems for residents, businesses and kerbside collection vehicles.
us by 0.8 knots and we still had over ½ a mile of the swim left.
Last May, Dorset Council re-opened its HRCs with safety restrictions in place after
As Gordon brought the boat to a halt, we had to make a decision whether to they were closed in the early stages of the pandemic. Initially, extra people were
abort the swim at this point. My great friend decided to call it a day. Emile had brought in to manage queuing traffic, but this was scaled back as visitor numbers
swum brilliantly without all the advantages of a wetsuit and had completed the eased over the summer, with volunteers and employees deployed elsewhere. This
major aim to swim from Wareham Bridge to Poole Harbour. had continued to work well over the colder months when visitor numbers are
I decided to swim on and see what happened. Within a few hundred metres and traditionally lower, but lately the mild weather in Dorset has encouraged people to
in more open water, the tide had changed yet again and was definitely for me for begin gardening again, or Spring cleaning. This produces more waste, which in
turn causes visitor numbers to rise.

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