Swimming in the Thames

[Ginfizz2]

Today I took my child to the ‘beach’ on the Thames. There’s a lovely sandy beach type area on the south bank which for a moment you can think your actually at the seaside. The water is obviously the Thames and therefore questionable around how clean but then I guess the sea probably isn’t all that clean. Anyway my child just sat digging huge holes to burry things and had a nice time. but there was a child around 9 years old with her mum. This child kept swimming off in the Thames maybe 2-3 metres away from the shoreline. The mum was sat with her friend drinking their bottle of Prosecco (there are now loads of places you can buy drinks from along the south bank to take away). The mum and her friend would occasionally call the child back trying to get her to come back to the shore. Not really sure why I’m posting this really, I think I was just so taken aback by the complacency of the mother. Intrigued to hear others thoughts.

Blimey, I live by the Thames, but about 100 miles upstream where it's a mere baby and I wouldn't even swim in it there, so damn dangerous.

There’s a time and place for Prosecco and on the beach with your kids certainly isn’t it.

The Thames is pretty clean - it’s that colour because it is swiftly tidal and over London clay. It’s clean silt particles that make it cloudy.

It does get full of shit (literally) when the sewers overflow into it, but that happens after heavy rainfall so not a factor at the moment.

Weils disease isn’t present in the strongly tidal parts of the river (sewer rats only rarely end up there and wholly by accident) also the volume of water, its salinity and speed of current is pretty hostile. But it theoretically could happen (boat clubs provide warning material) and it is good practice to be alert for symptoms, especially if you have broken skin.

The strength of the current is a huge hazard. Obviously that depends on how far up you are. But it’s just plain dangerous through central London

Then there’s high boat traffic. And the usual urban selection of dumped items which you probably won’t see just under the surface as the water is opaque.

I wouldn’t let a child in

What does burry mean? I'm intrigued as to what you were letting your child do.

As a Londoner I know how dangerous the Thames is. That's madness

We go down to that 'beach' a fair bit and have tried mud-larking there.

I wouldn't dream of letting my kids swim - because I'm sure it's dirty and very dangerous.

But I don't think I've ever seen a sign down there saying not to swim. They've opened up the beach (I think it used to be locked). That does sort of imply that you could swim doesn't it?

Are there any 'no swimming' signs?

Everyone does it in Oxford. I've seen naked swimmers 🙈😂

Yes perhaps you do IIjkk, but I’ve been a nurse for many many years and sadly have seen some horrific things

Has your experience as a nurse given you expertise on paddling on the Thames? I must have missed that module

Oxford is a bit downstream of the city sludge. Fisherman's wharf is one of the best places for mudkarking. Not swimming.

I was in a London hospital's walk-in centre a while ago and two guys came in after me - they had jumped into the Thames to rescue someone and the paramedics who came for the other person told them they had to go to the walk-in centre to get checked out as it's a health hazard.

That bit of beach is lovely, but swimming in there - never! And to be drinking alcohol whilst your child is swimming however safe the water is extraordinarily irresponsible.

I've not been there for some years and don't remember seeing warning signage. Is there any now? I've was brought up knowing Don't go into the Thames and there was never any question of letting my children go in there.

Oxford is a bit downstream of the city sludge

It's upstream from London, which is why it's cleaner!

Today I took my child to the ‘beach’ on the Thames. There’s a lovely sandy beach type area on the south bank which for a moment you can think your actually at the seaside
I assume you'd already finished a bottle of Prosecco then ?

Your OP doesn't actually make it clear that you're talking about the Thames. Further upstream, by Lechlade and that way you can swim.

Sorry: stupid typo. What I meant to say was, the OP doesn't make it clear you are talking about the London part of the Thames. The Thames by Lechlade is very different.

@corythatwas

Your OP doesn't actually make it clear that you're talking about the Thames. Further upstream, by Lechlade and that way you can swim.

It does, the Op refers to the south bank which generally you'd assume was in London, not many people would assume MN would be very familiar with the south bank in Lechlade, lovely as it is.

The tide is so strong at Southbank, about twice as fast as an Olympic swimmer. I wouldn't let my kids (nor myself) swim there for that reason alone. I would swim down at the docks though, next to the Emirates Airline cable car.

@lljkk

I would have been the Prosecco mum. I have a higher tolerance for risk than you do, OP.

Sorry but this is really stupid. The Thames has so many currents and is also filthy. There is a reason people don’t swim in the Thames in the middle of London.

@LonginesPrime

Oxford is a bit downstream of the city sludge

It's upstream from London, which is why it's cleaner!

Oxford May Morning tradition of students jumping from Magdalen Bridge is not quite the same thing as the playing in the tidal and busy Thames in central London. The Isis is much much cleaner and relatively fine for punting etc compared to the Thames water quality in London!

Please don't swim in the Thames. It might be cleaner than it used to be but it's still absolutely rank. The nice looking sand on that beach does not extend into the water and the river is full of underfoot and floating debris, raw sewage and thick green sludge that built up during boat-free lockdown still being deposited on the foreshore by the tide.

@FarTooSkinny

What does burry mean? I'm intrigued as to what you were letting your child do.

Oh give it a rest. You know fine well what the op means and you're just being a dick over a typo.

Depends which bit. I live in Berkshire. My kids spent most of last Saturday swimming in the Thames, accompanied by a responsible experience open water swimmer.

I almost drowned in the Thames as a small child. I slid in from the bank and was immediately stuck fast in the mud, underwater. My Dad had to jump in and drag me out (luckily he was fit and strong). I remember lying on the bank vomiting. No way I would let a child swim in it.

Fucking filthy. Leptospirosis is a thing.

JFC, no. You don’t let adults swim in the Thames, let alone a child. The currents are far too strong and far too dangerous! Even mudlarkers practice extreme caution regarding the tides and they’re not going in the water! Matthew Parris tried swimming across one night and got swept downstream. Anyone blithely proclaiming their higher tolerance for risk is - frankly - an ill-informed idiot.