You need to learn to walk before you can swim...

The island was about half the size of a football pitch, but contained a surprising variety of trees, bushes and rocks. It was about 300 metres offshore, but it still took my daughter and I about 15 minutes to swim there.

'Be careful dear', I said to Larisa. 'The stones are very slippery and sharp'. She was clambouring over the big rocks on the shoreline and didn't appear to be listening.

'If you're not going to be careful you might hurt.....aagghh'. After many expletives and much bleeding we decided to swim back to the mainland.

'Careful dad, those stones look sharp....' I limped back into the lake without answering her.