The Wild Swimming thread

[SybilBeddows]

Any other wild swimmers about? I did the Fairy Pools on Skye last week, which was magic. Anyone else had any lovely swims they want to share?

Hellooo! Just found this thread.

I swim outdoors all year round, but not always in 'wild' locations. I don't think there are many swimmable rivers near us, but luckily we do have the sea.

I love wild swimming! From rivers back when I were a lass, now mainly the sea, and an odd lake (DS's first swimming was in an alpine mountain tarn) and even through a waterfall.

I was wondering: has anyone here used The Canoe Man? I was thinking I could do this with DD - but as the furthest she's swum is 500m in a pool, perhaps I'll have to wait a year or two.

Does anyone else swim at Parliament Hill lido in the summer? I began teaching DD to swim there last summer but the chilly September and arrival of DS seven weeks ago curtailed things. It's a bit early to be thinking about next summer, I know, but if anyone else goes regularly I'd love to meet up. I can't really handle temperatures of less than 14c...

Done my first swim of the year.
DH found a lovely gorge up a stream in Wensleydale.
It was warm enough.

Anyone else been in yet?

Marking my place as I only just discovered 'Wild Swimming' was a thing a couple of weeks ago and am interested :)

Hello! I found my wet suit today! Yay! Desperate to get out to do some swimming but have to wait til next month as stuck in London

I know- lame I need a wetsuit!

I never knew wild swimming was a thing, I just thought it was swimming! I grew up in Canada though and have swum in all the Great Lakes, plus about 100 others, the St Lawrence River and more recently and regularly the Ladies' Pond in Hampstead Heath.

Best swims ever were skinny dipping in a wild river in Queensland on my honeymoon and swimming through these gorgeous caves and pools in Virgin Gorda I think it was when I was a teenager. Awesome.

My favourite swimming is in fresh water as opposed to salt water or chlorine soup in swimming pools!

It only became a thing about 15 years ago when Roger Deakin's book 'Waterlog' came out. It needed to be a thing in this country because traditional swimming rights were under attack and whenever little groups of swimmers got together to try and defend them they would encounter a general reaction of 'Why do you want to swim in that filthy river anyway? You should go to nice safe swimming pool like normal people.'
ROSPA (which is generally an excellent organisation that has done a lot of good work in other areas) was issuing leaflets that said things like 'never swim except in a properly lifeguarded pool' and misrepresenting drowning statistics to suggest a lot of people died every year from open water swimming (in fact most of the deaths they pointed to were things like pissed people deciding it would be a good idea to jump into the harbour to cool off after the pubs closed).

Anyway largely thanks to Roger Deakin, it became trendy, several organisations were set up to promote swimmers' rights and education, several books came out with listings of good swimming places (Kate Rew and Daniel Start) and there are regular newspaper articles saying where the good places are.

It's coincided with a lot of rivers in this country being significantly cleaner than they were 30 years ago because of the good work done by the Environment Agency.

Wetsuits are cheaper now too so there has never been a better time to do it

Tunip - thanks - that is a great summary! I'm going to look for some of those books

Im marking my place as this year I am determined to wild` swim, I am at the gym getting fitter and losing some weight ready to buy my wetsuit. This year I will do it and I cant wait.

Will be buying a couple of books now as well, thanks Tunip

Ooops just bought a book, yay (well, strike while the irons hot!)

Yay!

Some good websites, too:

River And Lake Swimming Assocation (they were campaigning hard before the ones with fancier websites got going. They're excellent.)
Wild Swimming (some good listings of places)

Outdoor Swimming Society (listings, also discount codes for swimwear)

Thanks for all the info Tunip, once ds in bed tonight I shall spend some time having a look through and having a little plan.

I saw some people swimming down to the waterfalls in Wales last year and it just looked so beautiful and free and Im desperate to have a go this year, and I was inspired by a programme last year (totally forgotten the name) with a woman following Roger Deakins wild swimming. Im in London, but dont think The Thames is quite what Im looking for, the centre bit I mean!

I think it was Alice Roberts from Coast who did the prog last year.
The Thames does have some lovely bits further up, but it also has strong currents and a lot of traffic so it is probably wise to start somewhere easier. There are plenty of southeast places in the gazeteers, I think.

There's a local wild swimming group I would love to join but I never seem to have the time

Anyone else been in this weekend?

We were in Wensleydale again so we swam above and below Redmire Falls and at Hullo Bridge on the Cover outside Middleham.

Also, the lido at Helmsley has reopened and is nice. Small, but nice, and there's something about the water quality which is really lovely.

I bloody love MN, been here years but just discovered this little pocket this week, found geocaching and now wild swimming! Two things we've been doing lots of this year!

Loads of swimming on the coast in Northumberland and some on the continent in lakes, as well as a brief (fecking cold) dip whilst camping.

Sybil, I'm in the York/east riding area, and recommendations round this way of places I can swim with the kids, they are really getting into it too. (Even ds who is only 3!)