Wild Swim

Product Information

Another book about the social and cultural aspects of swimming, exploring our relationship with the water. Not one I’ve yet had chance to read but it could be worth a look. Swimming Studies If it had its way you'd never have any adventures and you'd be at home, cooped up on the sofa with a tub of Haagen Daas Salted Caramel, spoon in hand, Netflix primed. And we all know how terrible that sounds...well. Actually, hang on a minute...no. Bad amygdala. In a time when we need it more than ever, wild swimming connects us to all things good in this world (well a lot of them) - the people around us, nature, and perhaps most importantly ourselves. Not to mention the endless health benefits for mind, body, and soul. So let's get into everything you could ever want to know about this weird and wonderful exploit.

I’ve seen this for sale in Daunt Books, Hampstead. It’s that kind of book: a beautiful, glossy coffee table volume. Beyond the Beach: The Secret Wild Swims of Torbay This is a memoir of alcoholism and recovery, Amy Liptrot left rehab in England and returned to recover in Orkney, where she was brought up. She joined a swimming group and found in the chilled waters of the North Sea as well as around the hills and islands of the Orkneys what she needed to truly recover.Like most things, the hardest part is just before you begin. So here are a few pointers to get you going. The resulting journey became the subject of Roger Deakin’s first book, Waterlog: A Swimmer’s Journey Through Britain, which is now being published stateside for the first time. In the U.K., Waterlog’s publication galvanized a movement. According to Sport England, a national organization that promotes physical exercise, some half a million people in England were regularly taking dips in frigid lakes and streams as of 2020. Wild swimming is so popular that it has sprouted its own industry. Bookstores abound with “swimmoirs” by devotees who claim that the practice does wonders for their health. Today, you can take guided swim tours across the country or even rent out Deakin’s Suffolk home and swim in his moat, an experience the New Yorker writer Rebecca Mead described last year as “starkly beautiful.”

We are delighted to be able to bring you a variety of sessions which aim to accommodate all levels of Wild Swimmer. If you have not yet started this amazing outdoor activity and would like a helping hand to get started, we would love to support you in your first endeavours. Here is a literary account of the history and struggles of women who swim. Before the 1930s, very few women swam at all, until the ‘swimming suffragettes’ took to the water and forged a splash into pools and onto beaches. This book explores the author’s own love affair with water and swimming, along with the almost 100 year history of woman’s freedom to swim. There is also more of a psychological almost philosophical benefit to paddling around in chilly temperatures. It teaches you the power of doing something challenging. To accept things as they are. And how not to lose your shit when things get uncomfortable. Plan your exit before you get in (this one's a biggie). Wrapped up in the excitement of your first coldwater expedition it's easy to be a bit of an over-keen bean and just jump right in. 10 points for enthusiasm but it's a good idea to just spot how you plan to get out if shit hits the fan. This is especially true in rivers or steeply banked sidesCharlotte Runcie explores what the sea means to us, and particularly what it has meant to women through the ages. In mesmerising prose, she explores how the sea has inspired, fascinated and terrified us, and how she herself fell in love with the deep blue. Go to Germany, Scandinavia, Holland, or pretty much anywhere other than Anglo countries and you'll find being naked is much less of ‘a thing'. Most saunas and many pools forbid any form of clothing and nobody thinks twice about it. Wild swimming’s popularity may be due, in large part, to the seductions of Deakin’s writing. The liveliness of his prose disarms the skeptic into shaking off natural doubts and hesitancies; his voice is as encouraging as a camp counselor’s. Before his untimely death in 2006, at age 63, Deakin had been a co-founder of the environmental activist group Common Ground, and made a life’s work of promoting outdoor activities such as walking, swimming, and biking. He believed that the most effective way to bond people to the landscape was to engage the pleasure principle. The essayist Olivia Laing has written that “Deakin’s greatest gift—indeed, his legacy—is to make the ecologically minded life a matter of gleeful fun.” Arguably, Waterlog is a memoir in name but a manifesto in deed, inspiring action not by appealing to the reader’s sense of duty or guilt, but by showing how joyful swimming outdoors can be. Lynne Cox has swum the most gruelling and demanding long-distance swims in the world. The Channel crossings came early, then the Bering Strait, Straits of Magellan, Cape of Good Hope and Cook Strait in New Zealand. Her life story and those of her swims are gripping, culminating in her 24 minute Antarctic Swim.

Narrow minded purists will tell you that a wetsuit is cheating. Put simply, it's not. It's just different. To cheat you have to be playing a game with rules. Fortunately, you make the rules for your adventures so feel free to wear one if that's what you want to do. Get out if you being to feel really cold, shiver, experience teeth chattering, turn blue, purple, or any other unusual colour

BUSINESS

Y ou can actually join us on our Hike and Wild Swim the 1000 Lakes trip if you want to swim here too. For longer swims and even overnighters, dry bags mean you can drag all your kit along with you - water, food, camping equipment - no problem. These aren't necessary on shorter day swims. Save the money and spend it on an extra few ciders at the pub after.