Author Topic: Wild swimming  (Read 22425 times)

Regulator

  • That's Councillor Regulator to you...
Re: Wild swimming
« Reply #50 on: 05 August, 2010, 06:52:26 am »
....

in the buff?
Often.
 

Really?  Can a hairy man like you ever really be in the buff?   :P ;D
Quote from: clarion
I completely agree with Reg.

Green Party Councillor

Wowbagger

  • Former Sylph
    • Stuff mostly about weather
Re: Wild swimming
« Reply #51 on: 05 August, 2010, 10:08:10 am »
Skinny dipping is the natural state. It's not just Antipodeans who have it in their genes - it even affects the bloodstock from Thurrock. :P

The determination to hide one's genitals is a Victorian throwback, in my view. There are few cultures so prudish as the British. I nearly said English but then remembered the Scots police's treatment of the Edinburgh WNBR and the Naked Rambler, who, IIRC, had a lot more trouble north of the border than he did south of it.

It seems to me that in Wales people are a lot more relaxed about beach nudity. I know of only one accredited nudist beach, just north of Barmouth (I hope to be on it next week) but there are lots of little sandy coves where at certain times of day, when there are few people about, skinny dipping is a delight. Also, on some of the bigger beaches (Porth Neigl, Rhosilli, Marloes and Newgale) there's a tendency for a minority of people to swim and sunbathe nude and no-one seems to mind.

I think that a bit of communal non-sexual nudity and body freedom helps a lot in friendships. It brings a level of trust that is missing when part of you is always hidden.
Quote from: Dez
It doesn’t matter where you start. Just start.

Andrij

  • Андрій
  • Ερασιτεχνικός μισάνθρωπος
Re: Wild swimming
« Reply #52 on: 05 August, 2010, 10:23:16 am »
There's a lot of skinnydippers here.  Is it this common or are we all flashers?
It depends on if you do it in the public swimming baths or not.

Ignoring the 'flashing' aspect, Zoidburg has a point.  If people only ever swim in public pools, then odds are they will never swim au naturel (this being generally frowned upon).

Private pools, wild swimming and after-hours swimming (for example, if one happened to break into the hotel pool & jacuzzi at 3 am...  ::-) ) give you the option.

Yes, I'll swim in the buff, even in broad daylight and clear water.  But I won't do a WNBR.

 
;D  Andrij.  I pronounce you Complete and Utter GIT   :thumbsup:

jogler

  • mojo operandi
Re: Wild swimming
« Reply #53 on: 05 August, 2010, 10:23:37 am »
skinny dipping..is it a load of bollox?

clarion

  • Tyke
Re: Wild swimming
« Reply #54 on: 05 August, 2010, 10:25:05 am »
I like swimming in the sea.  I'm not a good swimmer at all, but I do like it.  I took swimming lessons when I went to University at 27 in order that I might improve from just being able to save myself from a canal to swimming for fun and health.  I am told that it is a very good exercise for asthmatics, and, if I were able to endure the tedium of plodding up & down a swimming pool, it would be great for my breathing and my rather underdeveloped upper body strength (at least in comparison with my legs).

I do struggle with cold water.  I don't feel the cold as much as most people, and I have fairly cold showers, but entering cold water can quickly give me an asthma attack, which makes me less inclined to do so.

I've also tended to worry about all my stuff being nicked while I'm in the water.  Overly so, maybe, but I rode alone, and being isolated without my kit would be a concern.

Thirdly, I've not enjoyed swimming because of my size and body image, ever since I took a lot of steroids when a teenager.  They kept me alive, but they did make me put on a lot of weight very quickly at a very sensitive time.

That said, we went for a lovely ride with the Clarion last year, down past Ford in Sussex, and we had a swim in the sea then.  It was brilliant.
Getting there...

Re: Wild swimming
« Reply #55 on: 05 August, 2010, 10:26:39 am »
When I was a kid we always used to holiday in Dorset as my grandparents lived there. Studland beach was full of naked people. Don't know if it still is or is an "official" nudest beach....
Those wonderful norks are never far from my thoughts, oh yeah!

Wowbagger

  • Former Sylph
    • Stuff mostly about weather
Re: Wild swimming
« Reply #56 on: 05 August, 2010, 10:32:29 am »
Studland United Nudists: Fighting nudist harassment implies that Studlans is still used by people, some of whom choose to wear clothes even when swimming.
Quote from: Dez
It doesn’t matter where you start. Just start.

Regulator

  • That's Councillor Regulator to you...
Re: Wild swimming
« Reply #57 on: 05 August, 2010, 11:08:46 am »
There's a lot of skinnydippers here.  Is it this common or are we all flashers?
It depends on if you do it in the public swimming baths or not.

If you go to Rotarua the public swimming baths, which are geothermal hot pools, are 'no swimming cozzies'*






*the water rots them v. quickly.
Quote from: clarion
I completely agree with Reg.

Green Party Councillor

Re: Wild swimming
« Reply #58 on: 05 August, 2010, 11:54:03 am »
I have been to Studland beach many time it is very nice, I also have two other beaches near me Calshot and Hill Head, both are shingle, but haven't been there this year must take a trip out before the summer ends

Re: Wild swimming
« Reply #59 on: 05 August, 2010, 11:46:12 pm »
When did swimming other than in a pool become 'wild swimming'? I thought it was just swimming.

Yes to all the questions in the OP except the cave, and depending on ones definition of 'really cold'. Definitely yes to in the buff. I don't like wet cloth clinging to me, although I tolerate it when socially required.
"A woman on a bicycle has all the world before her where to choose; she can go where she will, no man hindering." The Type-Writer Girl, 1897

clarion

  • Tyke
Re: Wild swimming
« Reply #60 on: 06 August, 2010, 09:10:02 am »
It became wild swimming when they wanted to 'sex it up' and sell books, TV progs etc.

Yes, it's just swimming.  Of the sort your mum would have ticked you off for if she'd found out.
Getting there...

Re: Wild swimming
« Reply #61 on: 06 August, 2010, 09:25:35 am »
Or because we've gone health and safety mad in this country (sorry, sounds a bit Wail) so "Swimming" means paying money to go and swim up and down a hole filled with chlorinated water.

When my good friend from Minnesota (which has over a thousand lakes) came to visit a few years ago, we were walking through town and passed a sign saying "Swimming Pool ->" She said "Is there a lake around here then?" The concept of paying to go for a swim in a man made pool was completely alien to her.
Those wonderful norks are never far from my thoughts, oh yeah!

Tim Hall

  • Victoria is my queen
Re: Wild swimming
« Reply #62 on: 06 August, 2010, 09:37:40 am »
Thoroughly enjoyed the Wild Swimming with Alice program last night.

If I could work out how to add a poll I'd set one up but a quick survey..

Have you wild swum:

in a river?


Yes, misc times in France.

Quote
in a large freshwater lake?
Umm, don't think so. Ooh, hang on, yes. Lago di Garda.

Quote
in a small mountain tarn/beck/loch/llyn?
One of those tarns on the way back from Pulpit Rock in the land of the Wikings. I was over there for the oil exhibition and had a day sight seeing, so went with Mrs. Hall, customer and his wife. Having looked over the edge of Pulpit Rock we made our way back and I decided a swim was a good idea. Customer's wife suggsted I swim "with nothing" but I kept my shreddies in place.

Quote
in really cold water?
No.

Quote
in a rock pool/natural tidal lagoon?
in a cave?
No and no.
Quote
in the buff?
Indeed. One time,  blimey, 1980 I reckon, a massed skinny dip with the Venture Scouts on holiday at St Jean de Luz. Strip off, run into the oggin. One bloke tripped and caught his todger on a rock.
There are two ways you can get exercise out of a bicycle: you can
"overhaul" it, or you can ride it.  (Jerome K Jerome)

jogler

  • mojo operandi
Re: Wild swimming
« Reply #63 on: 06 August, 2010, 09:40:46 am »
. One bloke tripped and caught his todger on a rock.


perhaps he now has a job as a petrol pump?

Re: Wild swimming
« Reply #64 on: 06 August, 2010, 12:06:54 pm »
Or because we've gone health and safety mad in this country (sorry, sounds a bit Wail) so "Swimming" means paying money to go and swim up and down a hole filled with chlorinated water.

When my good friend from Minnesota (which has over a thousand lakes) came to visit a few years ago, we were walking through town and passed a sign saying "Swimming Pool ->" She said "Is there a lake around here then?" The concept of paying to go for a swim in a man made pool was completely alien to her.

I'd forgotten Lake Calhoun Beach in Minneapolis where I spent much of the long hot summer of 1974. I can remember running round the lake on several occasions and I remember a judo contest held on the beach (officiating rather than competing due to severe sunburn) but I can't recall an actual instance of swimming in the lake though I'm sure I must have at some point.
The old Legion hand told the recruit, "When things are bad, bleu, try not to make them worse, because it is very likely that they are bad enough already." -- Robert Ruark

Re: Wild swimming
« Reply #65 on: 07 August, 2010, 02:09:21 am »
Or because we've gone health and safety mad in this country (sorry, sounds a bit Wail) so "Swimming" means paying money to go and swim up and down a hole filled with chlorinated water.

When my good friend from Minnesota (which has over a thousand lakes) came to visit a few years ago, we were walking through town and passed a sign saying "Swimming Pool ->" She said "Is there a lake around here then?" The concept of paying to go for a swim in a man made pool was completely alien to her.
A bit like Finland, then. I remember wandering round that country in the summer of 1980 with a lesbian* & a small tent (as one does), & every campsite we ended up at was next to a lake, in which it appeared to be compulsory to swim.

Deceptive, lakes in northern climes in June. Dip in toe. Water is quite a comfortable temperature. Leap in. Discover the thermocline 10cm or so below the surface. Above - tolerable. Below - AAAARRRRRGGGHHHH! ME NUTS ARE FREEZING OFFFF!!!!

*She e-mailed me today, so I can't have annoyed her too much.
"A woman on a bicycle has all the world before her where to choose; she can go where she will, no man hindering." The Type-Writer Girl, 1897

Tourist Tony

  • Supermassive mobile flesh-toned black hole
Re: Wild swimming
« Reply #66 on: 07 August, 2010, 03:38:13 am »
Thoroughly enjoyed the Wild Swimming with Alice program last night.

If I could work out how to add a poll I'd set one up but a quick survey..

Have you wild swum:

in a river?

in a large freshwater lake?

in a small mountain tarn/beck/loch/llyn?

in really cold water?

in a rock pool/natural tidal lagoon?

in a cave?

in the buff?


For me the answer is yes to all but the last.. The cave was the most eerie (Kingsdale Master cave - the taller guys I was with could just about still walk on the bottom.)
In a river? Many, many times, in many rivers, from the Highlands south.
Large freshwater lake?  Dittol a fave memory is the Llynau Mymbyr in the 1976 heatwave., and both Vanern and Vattern (spelling limited by typeface) in Sweden, the Zeller See in Austria, and so on.
Small beck? Again many times. There is a pool on the Afon Ogwen below the falls and only visible from top decks of coaches...and then there are the pools by the ford on the Lairig Eilde off Glencoe. Does the Dove in Dovedale count?
Really cold water? May 1st off Studland beach, and my second time in the Lairig Eilde burn. I thought my heart was going to stop.
Rock pools? Again, many times, in several oceans.
Cave---Smoo Cave near Durness.
In the buff? Loads of places from the Med through Brighton after last year's WNBR to the aforementioned two mountain streams.

I would add another: volcanic crater lake, Lake Eacham in Queensland.


Re: Wild swimming
« Reply #67 on: 07 August, 2010, 03:16:44 pm »
Going back to the programme, does anyone else think Roger Deakin's voice is identical to that of Bill Nighy?

citoyen

  • Occasionally rides a bike
Re: Wild swimming
« Reply #68 on: 07 August, 2010, 05:37:27 pm »
When did swimming other than in a pool become 'wild swimming'? I thought it was just swimming.

My thoughts entirely. There's an article in the Guardian today about wild swimming. Basically, it's just yet another middle-class fad, like cupcakes or holidaying in a yurt.

In answer to the OP, all except swimming in a cave. I might have even done that but I can't recall doing so. It's all just swimming. I think the coldest water I've swum in was in the Lake District, but I can't remember which lake - possibly Derwentwater.

I don't swim naked as a rule but mainly to avoid offending others rather than prudery on my part. Last time I went skinny dipping was at a party at a friend's house - her garden leads directly onto the beach and someone decided it would be a good idea to go for a swim, so several of us did. And none of us had brought appropriate attire.

All this talk of nude/wild swimming makes me think of the swimming scene in <a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/gCznsjnrQ2A&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/gCznsjnrQ2A&rel=1</a>.

d.
"The future's all yours, you lousy bicycles."

Zoidburg

Re: Wild swimming
« Reply #69 on: 07 August, 2010, 05:49:04 pm »
I did see a piece on country file or whatever it is called now about a chap up in the lakes who had taken to "lake orienteering" which means hiking with dry bag to stuff your clothes in and then swimming any lakes that get in the way of your route - trying to take in any islands on the way.

That looked kind of fun a and a bit more sensible as you had the bag as a flotation aid in case you got in trouble.

Re: Wild swimming
« Reply #70 on: 07 August, 2010, 09:31:02 pm »
> in a river?
across the Rio Grande, plus assorted others

> in a large freshwater lake?
Loch Trool, somewhere in Germany

> in a small mountain tarn/beck/loch/llyn?
don't think so

> in really cold water?
in the sea, water temp -1.4 or thereabouts, going slushy (wearing a wetsuit).

> in a rock pool/natural tidal lagoon?
don't think so

> in a cave?
Porth yr Ogof resurgence pool, in which 10 people have drowned according to Wikipedia
(also Spain, Ireland)
 
> in the buff?
Scottish sea

and just as an extra, water somewhat deeper than two miles, approximately on the equator on the way back from Rio.

Re: Wild swimming
« Reply #71 on: 08 August, 2010, 12:28:22 am »
> in a river?
across the Rio Grande, plus assorted others
Which Rio Grande?
"A woman on a bicycle has all the world before her where to choose; she can go where she will, no man hindering." The Type-Writer Girl, 1897

Re: Wild swimming
« Reply #72 on: 08 August, 2010, 12:24:33 pm »
There used to be a raft rase across Bangor Bay in NI that we used to enter every year in the Scouts - that invariably ended with a swim in the Irish Sea in April ... the New Year's Day swim in Rhu Marina is like being punched in the chest by God ...

There used to be a tradition of 'Hands to Bathe' on submarines before everybody got all safety conscious. If you weren't covert the CO would surface the boat and make the pipe. In one patrol many years ago I swam in the middle of the Med about 100 miles north of Lybia, in the Red Sea, in the Indian Ocean on the equator about 1000 miles from anywhere, South China Sea, Arabian Sea, Persian Gulf and the N Atlantic.

One of the things with that is that the boat posts a 'Sharkwatch' on the top of the Fin - a guy with an SA80 rifle and a pair of binoculars. We always told the new guys that he had no chance of hitting a shark - too fast and too hard to see - so what he's do if he spotted one was to shoot the sailor furthest out from the boat to give the others a chance to get back. Cruel, but very funny to see them clinging limpet-like to the hull.
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wafflycat

Re: Wild swimming
« Reply #73 on: 08 August, 2010, 12:33:19 pm »


Have you wild swum:

in a river?


A very small, quiet one.


in a large freshwater lake?


Yes, Lake District


in a small mountain tarn/beck/loch/llyn?


No


in really cold water?


Isn't it all unless it's a heated pool?


in a rock pool/natural tidal lagoon?


Yes


in a cave?

No


in the buff?

Good grief, no. It'd send the natives screaming for mind-bleach..


I'm a poor swimmer, so I pick my swimming spots very carefully.

Re: Wild swimming
« Reply #74 on: 05 January, 2012, 11:23:05 am »
I'm aiming to swim across these http://www.chirk.com/aqueduct.html The Pontcysyllte aqueduct in particular is 1000+ feet in length and offers a giddying view down across the valley.  Probably need to get it done before all the summer canal boat activity.  I might see about doing it in the inflatable canoe too sometime.

On new year's day I swam in Llyn Padarn in Llanberis, looking up at the mountains.  It was lovely, and at 8C a touch bracing, though entirely pleasant in a wetsuit.