Author Topic: Wild swimming  (Read 22421 times)

David Martin

  • Thats Dr Oi You thankyouverymuch
Wild swimming
« on: 04 August, 2010, 09:02:02 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.)
"By creating we think. By living we learn" - Patrick Geddes

Tim

Re: Wild swimming
« Reply #1 on: 04 August, 2010, 09:06:30 am »

Re: Wild swimming
« Reply #2 on: 04 August, 2010, 09:10:59 am »
Regularly take a dip when on tour, usually in the buff.   Coniston Water was the coldest dip I've taken - it was bloody awful.       

I was fortunate enough to enjoy free swimming (disabled) but this gubbishment have removed this benefit.   A friend suggested that we take a dip in the river Avon instead!

andygates

  • Peroxide Viking
Re: Wild swimming
« Reply #3 on: 04 August, 2010, 09:31:52 am »
>in a river?

As a kid, yes, "the bathers" was a swim spot on the Isis near where I grew up.  As an adult, some triathlon training in the Huntspill, which is a dredged-out 1km lane.

>in a large freshwater lake?

Do tri races count?

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

Jura. Round the back. Lovely.  Waterfall.  Midges waiting in ambush.

>in really cold water?

All of the above plus the sea!  A swim wetsuit is good when it's really low, but I aspire to being a Polar Bear.  Coldest was April in Somerset, water about 8 degrees, we got ice-cream headaches in our knees and ankles as well as heads!

>in a rock pool/natural tidal lagoon?

Ah, no.   Not this one.

>in a cave?

*wistful sigh*

>in the buff?

Murky water ftw.   O:-)
It takes blood and guts to be this cool but I'm still just a cliché.
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nicknack

  • Hornblower
Re: Wild swimming
« Reply #4 on: 04 August, 2010, 09:32:59 am »
All apart from the cave. Hmm... perhaps I should remedy that. Plenty of times when it's been really cold, but not for long.
There's no vibrations, but wait.

David Martin

  • Thats Dr Oi You thankyouverymuch
Re: Wild swimming
« Reply #5 on: 04 August, 2010, 09:35:59 am »
Really cold water: A pool with ice floating on it in the Dolomites (in July).  By the clattern bridge in Little Langdale when there was still snow on the peaks. (get in, swim across, get out sharpish. That was really cold.. Then have to repeat to get back.)

Rivers various. Thames (near Kingston), Axe, Otter and a few others. Rockpools are great - especially big ones like on the Gower.
"By creating we think. By living we learn" - Patrick Geddes

mattc

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Re: Wild swimming
« Reply #6 on: 04 August, 2010, 09:43:15 am »
Never*n

I am a very poor swimmer. I would love to tell my childhood self that learning to swim could lead to stuff like this [swimming with hot naked scientists].
Has never ridden RAAM
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Re: Wild swimming
« Reply #7 on: 04 August, 2010, 09:43:56 am »
Yes to all.

Skinnydipping is in the Kiwi blood...  ;D
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Woofage

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Re: Wild swimming
« Reply #8 on: 04 August, 2010, 09:49:44 am »
I swam in a river in Scotland once. Bloody freezing it was!

Never been *proper* skinny dipping, but if Alice Roberts invited me I would probably accept :demon:.
Pen Pusher

Re: Wild swimming
« Reply #9 on: 04 August, 2010, 09:50:44 am »
I'm not a pervert, but I love swimming in the nude it becomes.... well sort of sexual

nicknack

  • Hornblower
Re: Wild swimming
« Reply #10 on: 04 August, 2010, 09:50:58 am »
Never been *proper* skinny dipping, but if Alice Roberts invited me I would probably accept :demon:.

In really cold water?
There's no vibrations, but wait.

Re: Wild swimming
« Reply #11 on: 04 August, 2010, 09:51:59 am »
Frenchie - Train à Grande Vitesse

Re: Wild swimming
« Reply #12 on: 04 August, 2010, 09:55:26 am »
As a kid, yes. My friends and I swam here over several summers:



There was a bridge to jump off, a little island to swim out to and explore, and you could also scoot down the half pipe type weir section on your arse, which was fun. We had a rope swing set up slightly further down out of view, so you could swing over from the bank and splash-land into the river. Good times.

I've wild swum only once as an adult- summer picnic with my girl, we stripped off and went for a swim in the river we were next to. Also good times.

Many adults nowadays seem petrified to let children near water, which seems a shame.

I'm discounting the water skiing and (very) little bit of scuba diving I've done on inland waters, whihc obviously involved plenty of swimming.

andygates

  • Peroxide Viking
Re: Wild swimming
« Reply #13 on: 04 August, 2010, 10:01:00 am »
They won't learn how to behanve near water unless they're exposed to it! 

Must must must get into the cold-conditioning this winter.
It takes blood and guts to be this cool but I'm still just a cliché.
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Wowbagger

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Re: Wild swimming
« Reply #14 on: 04 August, 2010, 10:01:21 am »
There's a photo of me somewhere swimming in Glen Nevis in 1968. Despite being an unusually hot and dry summer in Scotland, there was still plenty of snow on the top. That was cold. I was 14. I was 21 before I saw my goolies again.

I have swum at Lake Meadows in Billericay when I was about 18. It was about 3 o'clock on a sultry August morning. I was carp fishing with a pal and we just decided to do it. It was also my first skinny dip and we didn't swim back for some reason, but walked starkers round the shore for almost a quarter of a mile to where our clothes were.

I have also swum in Abberton Reservoir to retrieve an item of fishing tackle that had blown into the water.

The coldest water I remember swimming in was at Mellon Udrigle in NW Scotland. In fact I'm not sure I actually swam - I think perhaps I got in to about knee depth and my feet were numb with cold and terribly painful. This was about 4 years ago and it was a lovely warm day. Later in the day we had some excellent swimming a few miles round the coast at Gairloch. So probably my 14-year-old swim in Glen Nevis was the coldest.

There was a monster rock pool at one of the Pembrokeshire beaches we went to, I think, although it may have been Gower. It was about 20 yards wide, 50 yards long and probably 12 feet deep in places. Wonderful!

Not in a cave, sadly.

In the buff on innumerable occasions. It's got to the point that I really resent wearing a cossie.

I wanted to do the Fairy Pools on Skye when we were there last April, but we were only at Glenbrittle for one night and we were pretty knackered from the journey in and didn't have time in the morning.
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Re: Wild swimming
« Reply #15 on: 04 August, 2010, 10:01:38 am »
Punt bombing Swimming in the River Cam almost every weekend summer after summer (by Jesus Green or by the little pool round the back of Newnham including jumping in from the bridge). Now there are just signs about Weil's Disease/Leptospirosis.

Also the river in the village (part of the Cam or Rhee according to the OS map), with a steep weir which was a challenge to run across (and painful if you slipped part way).

Several large lakes in the US (Lake Perry, Lake Clinton, Lake of the Ozarks). Nahuel Huapi (next to Bariloche) in Argentina (that was quite bloody cold as it was fed by glaciers!). A waist high dip in Lago Nordenskjold half way round a 5 day trek of Torres del Paine.

No caves, no bloody chance.

Swam with penguins on Boulder's Beach in Simonstown, South Africa, that was fun.

Brother-in-Law keeps talking about hiring a boat to watch over us as we try and swim round the Quies off Trevose Head in Cornwall and back to shore but I'm guessing that it's far more dangerous than it looks and I'd need to put in a lot of work to get in shape for a 1 mile sea swim.

The SwimTrek holidays have always grabbed my interest but I doubt I'll ever get a chance to do any. Mrs G likes a dip in a pool but not 2-3 hour swims each day.
"Yes please" said Squirrel "biscuits are our favourite things."

αdαmsκι

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Re: Wild swimming
« Reply #16 on: 04 August, 2010, 10:09:17 am »
in a river?

Yes, loads of times. Summer during my childhood was spent swimming in the rivers around the Lake District. The last time was on Arran in May (or should that be in the beck section).  Oh, and some river in the pampas of Bolivia where there were pink dolphins.


in a large freshwater lake?

From memory I've swam in Bassenthwaite & Ullswater. Probably more, too. Ah, yeah - Lake Malawi - that's pretty big. Oh, and the reservoir in the Peneda-Gerês National Park in Portugal was lovely too, if one ignored the no swimming signs.


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

The last was at Easter when I'd been climbing in Turkey, it was baking hot and there was a small river following past the crag. I've swam in a number of the tarns, too, the last time being about a year ago when I went up to Scoat Tarn on a fieldtrip. Swam loads of times in the tiny ponds that are scattered across the Badain Jaran Desert (China) when I was on fieldwork 'cos it was the easiest way to collect samples, and clean yourself too.


in really cold water?

Ullswater in November was pretty cold. The Atlantic off the Dingle Peninsular I remember being nippy too. The River Derwent on Boxing Day was cold too, but at least I had a wet suit that day (tho I'd have been better off staying in the kayak).


in a rock pool/natural tidal lagoon?
Will have done at some point


in a cave?
No. I'll have to change that at some point


in the buff?
Shocking behavior O:-). So far, only twice this year.
What on earth am I doing here on this beautiful day?! This is the only life I've got!!

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αdαmsκι

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Re: Wild swimming
« Reply #17 on: 04 August, 2010, 10:13:01 am »
>in the buff?

Murky water ftw.   O:-)

Or at night.
What on earth am I doing here on this beautiful day?! This is the only life I've got!!

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woollypigs

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Re: Wild swimming
« Reply #18 on: 04 August, 2010, 10:13:16 am »
If I can I will swim in it. Not so keen on swimming pools the sea is where it is at. Rivers and lakes can be done but is mostly to clam for me.

The next time I'm in Paris I have been invited to swim in the lake under the opera house, for the heck of it I would do it :)
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Re: Wild swimming
« Reply #19 on: 04 August, 2010, 10:18:41 am »
Rivers and lakes can be done but is mostly to clam for me.
Je ne comprends pas woollyese.  ;)  ???

Re: Wild swimming
« Reply #20 on: 04 August, 2010, 10:20:32 am »
The best thing around Woolly is to try and stay clam at all times.

Re: Wild swimming
« Reply #21 on: 04 August, 2010, 10:20:46 am »
I've watched my brother swim from Alcatraz to Marina Green as part of the Alcatraz Triathlon. I thought about entering the next year for about 3msec before coming to my senses.
"Yes please" said Squirrel "biscuits are our favourite things."

Chris N

Re: Wild swimming
« Reply #22 on: 04 August, 2010, 10:21:43 am »
> in a river?

Lots of times in Elan, Wye, Yswyth and Marteg when I was a kid in Mid Wales

> in a large freshwater lake?

Elan Resevoirs (norty!), Clywedog res., some lakes in the Jotunheimen national park in Norway

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

Again, in the Jotunheimen and some of the smaller pools in the Elan Valley

> in really cold water?

Not icy cold, but Mid Wales in July ain't warm.

>in a rock pool/natural tidal lagoon?

Does a fjord count?

> in a cave?

Nope

> in the buff?

Nope

What about the sea, does that count as wild swimming?

Tim

Re: Wild swimming
« Reply #23 on: 04 August, 2010, 10:22:53 am »
If I can I will swim in it. Not so keen on swimming pools the sea is where it is at. Rivers and lakes can be done but is mostly to clam for me.
I much prefer swimming in fresh water to salt. Lake Garda is probably the largest expanse of fresh water I've swum in and was akin to the sea on a mill pond like day due to the scale of it but on getting out there was none of that sticky feeling.

For cold - glacial melt water (Alpine) has been the chilliest (see link upthread for out of kayak experiences), though I did go for a quick dip about six yards from the end of a glacier (I've forgotten which it was) having hiked up to it - I think that qualified as refreshing.

Re: Wild swimming
« Reply #24 on: 04 August, 2010, 10:24:28 am »
All except a cave.

I've only got 20 minutes into Alice's programme on iPlayer so far. I had to pause it to go for a wank...
Those wonderful norks are never far from my thoughts, oh yeah!