"Wild swimming"

Swimming with the fishes

Genius.

I went swimming with the fishes in an Alpine lake earlier this year – was absolutely packed with little fish, and when I stopped, they nibbled at my toes. It was quite disconcerting.

Joe

Wrote a big long piece about linguistic nuances but can't really be ass*d so have removed it.

If you feel the need to make swimming in a pond sound 'core' happy happy joy joy to you.

Apropos special equipment, old quarries tend to have a bed of broken bottles near the shore.Can anyone recommend any good footwear for gettting in & out. We were warned about this by the warden near a v. nice water-filled quarry in the Malverns, the other week. There were enough broken bottles visible to make me concerned about wading in barefoot.

PS Mrs M has skinny-dipped much of the upper Thames and a fair few other rivers. Brave woman.

Apropos special equipment, old quarries tend to have a bed of broken bottles near the shore.Can anyone recommend any good footwear for gettting in & out.

Old shoes? You can get fancy water shoes (like trainers but without padding that gets wet – used for canoeing where you might have to portage) or wetsuit boots.

Probably the best thing is to get in at a point which isn't where the local drunk people hang out on a Saturday night, and always swim as soon as it is remotely deep enough.

Joe

Yeah true. White-water swimming is awesome though, you should try it (I'd only swim a grade 2 or 3 canoeing river though). When we had all the rains, I swum a section of our local river that is usually too shallow – it was a foot up from normal, and you could just get through without too many scrapes on the rocks. The feeling of no return as you swim into the main channel, commit yourself to it and the river catches you is awesome.

So white water swimming is, sort of downhill swimming!

Cool…… do you wear a helmet?

Me… I am more into the upstream swimming….. more of a workout, and when I am done, I don't have to walk back, because I didn't actually get anywhere…….

Swimming upstream and not getting anywhere: Sounds like my job!

Hammer

Me… I am more into the upstream swimming….. more of a workout, and when I am done, I don't have to walk back, because I didn't actually get anywhere…….

Yeah, I've done some upstream swimming too, but in my most local river, it is hard, even swimming from eddy to eddy, there are a few points where I just can't swim against it and have to turn downstream.

Joe

I went swimming with the fishes in an Alpine lake earlier this year – was absolutely packed with little fish, and when I stopped, they nibbled at my toes. It was quite disconcerting.

Too true. It's cool to share it with the fish and all, but I remember 'wild' swimming in the Ardeche near Vallon Pont D'Arc (sp?) and being freaked by some bloody big fish swimming between my legs.

PS to join in with the righteous bashing of post-modern terminology, swimming is called SWIMMING!

I went swimming with the fishes in an Alpine lake earlier this year – was absolutely packed with little fish, and when I stopped, they nibbled at my toes. It was quite disconcerting.

The old quarry I swim in round here the fish aren't so little and they also nibble your toes! No fishing allowed, which may be why they've grown so big – then again there are also now "no swimming" notices there 😉

I'd guess it was the same place Moses went, but for the fact I'd expect the warden to tell him to stay out, and I can't particularly recall ever having a problem with broken bottles either. Is there somewhere you can swim other than Gullett Quarry?

No worse than the terms freeriding or hardcore xc it's all riding a **** bike.

it's all riding a **** bike.

To you it might be. To others, it's all about riding a trusty steed.

So white water swimming is, sort of downhill swimming!

Cool…… do you wear a helmet?

No, just a cod piece? (See what I did?)

Steed? Nah never been into horse riding 😉

the woman who has been making the swimming in rivers etc videos for the guardian is quite tasty. in an upper-class crumpet kind of way

I call it swimcore lite these days – nobody ever wanted to come with me when I called it doggygnarl

[/quote]Is there somewhere you can swim other than Gullett Quarry?

I never swam in Gullet Quarry after hearing the horror stories about hypothermia deaths etc…but before I lived here I heard it was a popular summer spot packed with families jumping in for a dip. Now swimming there is verboten for all manner of reasons

They should open up the reservoir below British Camp don't you think? That would be an epic and scenic location for summer fun and stuff, and job creation for lifeguards.

Will see if I can dig up other local swimspots…

I never swam in Gullet Quarry after hearing the horror stories about hypothermia deaths etc…but before I lived here I heard it was a popular summer spot packed with families jumping in for a dip. Now swimming there is verboten for all manner of reasons

Horror stories about drunk people dying you mean? Not aware of anybody dying there for any reason other than being drunk and stupid – it's certainly far from being an inherently unsafe place to swim if you are actually capable of swimming in deep coldish water (though it's actually warm enough by this time of year that I generally feel the need to take off the wetsuit which I'm training in to cool down at the end). What reason is swimming "banned" there other than that people killed themselves by being drunk and stupid?

aracer, sorry I'm not au fait with all the ins-and outs of the Gullet Quarry safety aspects, as I say I've never been swimming there, just picked up reports here and there.

Googling found a report of a schoolboy dying there 7 years ago, but I don't know what happened. I'm a weak and cautious swimmer, and after having nearly drowned myself in Cornwall once I tend to avoid any palce I've even heard is 'risky', so don't quote me :wink:.

What reason is swimming "banned" there other than that people killed themselves by being drunk and stupid?

Not sure. I'm certainly not defending any side of the Gullet Quarry argument as I (in French accent) know nothing!

It was Gullett Quarry, and there were enough visible bottles to make me wary of the hidden ones.
The warden was a really good bloke, we chatted for some time. His job, poor sod, includes litter picking the morning after the local youth have partied in the carparks etc, leaving all sorts of rubbish. Mind, that morning they had left him half a case of beer by the quarry so he may not have minded. Plus towels, food, discarded knickers, etc.

His opinion seemed to be that middle-aged people in camper-vans staying illegally dissuaded the youth from being too obnoxious, so we were a good thing. Also, we don't litter.

🙂

mild swimming? 😮

no teeth i'd say yo jumped into the shallow end there!

apart from prehaps the concept of "wild" anything in the British I generally something of misnomer…i'd say the attention these recently published book have brought to a variety of aquatic pursuits is more of a celebratory than cynical-cash in.

It was Gullett Quarry, and there were enough visible bottles to make me wary of the hidden ones.

I thought about that more since my last post, but was waiting for you to confirm that's where it was. I'm guessing you were going in from the shallow sloping bit on the right (as you look at the quarry from what used to be the car park). I've always swum from the left hand side where there's a grassy bank leading down steeply into the water – a lot kinder on the wetsuit getting changed there, and I would guess any broken bottles would be likely to fall down the slope out of reach.

Maybe things have changed, as I've not swum there at all this year, but I can't recall ever seeing any broken bottles that side, despite much activity and other rubbish around in the days when swimming there was "legal". Then again, I've stopped next to the sloping bit on the far side before and not noticed bottles there either, so maybe the yobs have got worse, or maybe there was just one lot who chucked a load of bottles.

Nice to know the warden's don't actually mind you swimming in there too much.

Its a clever re-branding exercise designed to make swimming outdoors appear exciting and something for people to aspire to. Very much like the title mountain biking and the associated image that goes with it (and surfing, snowboarding etc). Until recently I had'nt swam in a pool for about 3 years due partly to chlorine intollerance but also because I live near the sea and its convenient and free to swim in it. I also swim in rivers when I get the chance but didnt realise i was indulging officially in wild swimming. But in all this time I have rarely seen anyone else doing the same. But if it alerts people to the idea that this is an alternative or complement to pool swimming then I have no problem with it. The fact is that when it starts to turn cold, from the middle of next month or so, most people won't be interested as some initial discomfort is experienced. Oh yeah, I saw that book as well and …some great pictures etc

Wild swimming is what is done here in North Queensland. Got crocs, sharks, and jellyfish with fatal stings.

Usually the "wild swimming" is done by tourists who either don't believe there are crocs, sharks, and jellyfish, or who think they are so special that none of those animals will bother them.

All these people who are calling it a re-branding, which corporate monolith do you imagine are doing this re-branding?

One of the joys of swimming is that it's cheap and simple. One of the extra joys of lake/river/sea swimming is that it's even cheaper and simpler.

Maybe re-branding is another slip of language with unintentional implications. FWIW I know quite a lot of channel swimmers and sea swimmers through Swimtrek (who do holidays for eating, drinking, and a bit of spectacular swimming). They're generally a bit narked with the Wild Swimming woman for taking something that everyone's been doing for years, acting like she represents it, and spouting loads of guff about how out-there and in touch with nature she thinks she is.

I think that Kate Rew (and Daniel Start, and to a lesser extent the Rivers & Lakes person whose name I don't remember) have obviously got some press about it, and hence become by default the names that are in the address books of random media people wanting to find out about swimming. Everything I see where they're publicising it, they seem to be very much doing it because they are excited about doing something fun, and want to inspire other people to get out and swim. I don't imagine they are making masses of money for their sinister media empires, I'm guessing like every other guidebook author, they do it because they like doing the activity. Until recently, it was the swimtrek people who were the go to people for the media about outdoor swimming, the current people are a lot more focused on swimming in normal places in the UK, rather than always having to travelling hundreds or thousands of miles to swim which is nice.

The getting pissed off thing seems a bit like surfers getting pissed off with people muscling in on 'their' bit of sea or whatever. Yes, people have been doing it for years, but no-one has been publicising it, making it mainstream, making it easy to find good spots in new areas in the country, or to meet up with people to swim with. It isn't like the rivers are crowded, they are just a bit more accessible. If people wanted to have a media profile as the person to ask about outdoor swimming, it is pretty simple to get in the media, but it takes a whole lot of effort, just spend ages writing press releases and sending things to journalists. If they couldn't be arsed to promote it then surely they should just be happy someone else is out there inspiring people to go swimming.

By the way, anyone looking at buying either of the recent books, Daniel Start's Wild Swimming is better in my opinion. There is also somebody or others guide to wet places or something, which is supposed to be good (I've been given some good swimming spots out of it), I haven't got the full details (or even the actual title / author details) here, there is an email address you write to, the guy prints you off a copy for a smallish charge, it is pretty much just a list of OS grid references though, not very descriptive.

Joe

TBH, I maybe shouldn't have stuck my oar in 🙂

(ironically enough) Outdoor swimming seems like it can be one of those small ponds with lots of strong characters and politics. I don't really know the ins and outs of it well enough.

Or it can be some person swimming in a river with knowledge of, or connection to, any organisation.