Steve left at 5.30 for a light breakfast before heading to the wharf for the 6.30 boat across to the start line – 800 staters for the race!.

I stayed and packed and made my way to the finish line. It was quite the scene.

Many Turkish families gathered to cheer on their sons and daughters.

It was hard to see the swimmers arriving. Some were being swept by the current past the finish line – adding a difficult swim back to finish.

I was hoping Steve wasn’t amongst those unfortunate swimmers.

I saw Vanessa. She was beaming. She’s had a great swim and came in under one hour. A really great time.

I couldn’t see Steve and started to worry. Not another swim like Hong Kong!

Finally Hussein, our local Swim Trek guide, came and found me. ‘Steve arrived about 10 mins ago. He came in around 1hr 5″. Then George arrived around 1hr 15. All three had great swims and were jubilant.

They all wore their Hellespont finishers medal with pride.

After photos and watching the last swimmers arrive (or not! – as some were pulled out) we had a beer before racing back to the hotel to change for our flight back to London. When booking we made a mistake with dates and booked a day early.

Steve was lucky he got to do the swim!

We had time to watch the award ceremony – we were hopeful Vanessa would get a medal.

The young Turks won the first 3 major places, and then they did the age groups starting with the eldest – for a change – and unbelievably “Stefan Maitland” was called out as the bronze medal winner for his age group. Third. Wow. We all cheered and Steve was a bit knocked out!

Then Vanessa won Gold in her age group!

What a day.

From there to the airport for our flight to London. Talk about a busy day.

Looking forward to a change of pace and weather. It was very hot in Turkey but London will be cooler.