Downstream

the water every day’.
The best time for a sensible
swim, says Richard, is slack
water and he goes into some
detail about low and high
tide, measurements and
depth, and the role of the
moon. I ask him if he feels
the water outside these
windows is a river or the sea.
‘I know it as a river, I can see
the opposite banks, but a lot
of people think it’s the sea,’
he laughs. ‘People think it’s