This summer, our Festival Cellar manager Lee Vallett accepted a challenge even more difficult than sorting the cooling for 200 casks of beer. Swimming the English Channel!
At 04:17, 2nd July 2025, I set off from England to swim to France. I’ve been preparing for 3 years to do this.
The water was 16.5 degrees and it was still dark. It all seemed ok for the first hour, having swum 6 hours at 14 degrees earlier in the year. But then so soon in the swim, I started with shoulder pain and had to slow down a bit which led to me feeling cold. I felt defeated. I wanted to quit. When I stopped to tell my team, they had other ideas! Just do 15 more minutes with some Paracetamol and see how it goes was their response! So I swam on. 15 minutes came and went, the shoulder improved and so did my pace. I also warmed up and felt a glimmer of hope. 15 minutes became 30, which became my next feed, and 45 minutes later the feed after that as well. The 45 minute blocks soon added up and at 6 hours, I was half way and it was then I started to believe I was going to do this! I had a couple of jelly fish stings! I strangely welcomed them, they took my mind off the never ending repetition of left arm right arm!
9 hours in and we could see land! Time to push on and make sure the tide didn’t sweep us past the finish at Cap Gris-Nez! For the last hour I was just fighting the tide! Giving it everything against the power of the sea! It was just enough. I landed after 12 hours 24 minutes and hauled myself out of the water! A Channel Swimmer! Then back to the boat for a ride home.
I took some pretty big life lessons out there, in the 21 miles between England and France!
1. You can do anything with the right team behind you. A team who builds you up when you’re in doubt, and who cheers you on when you need it the most. A team who celebrates with you when you achieve your dreams.
2. Sometimes we set ourselves huge goals and targets. It always seems like a great idea at the time. And then you find yourself at the start. Waiting to jump in. This could be a sporting event or a new project at work. And when faced with the whole of the thing right in front of you, it can be overwhelming. All you can do in these situations is get through the next 15 minutes. And then the next. It soon adds up and before you know it! You’ll be home and dry!
I fundraised for Alzheimer’s Society. A terrible condition my Grandma suffered terribly with. Through incredible support, we have raised over £5000. My page is still open if you would like to donate.
Search “lee is off to france” on justgiving.com.
To finish with, lots of people ask me why I wanted to do it. I think a quote from one of my favourite author’s books says it pretty well:
“Some humans would do anything to see if it was possible to do it. If you put a large switch in some cave somewhere, with a sign on it saying ‘End-of-the-World Switch. PLEASE DO NOT TOUCH’, the paint wouldn’t even have time to dry.”
(Sir Terry Pratchett – Thief of Time).
Thanks again to everyone who supported – I’m forever Grateful. Lee
