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Wild Swimming - exploring Britain's outdoor swimming places On a hot summer day, what could be more refreshing than slipping into the cool, clear waters of a secret lake? And what could be more exciting than plunging into a hidden waterfall? Britain’s rivers, lakes and waterfalls, secret coves, caves and beaches, and are cleaner, safer and more accessible than at any time in living memory and the health benefits of a wild swim or natural dip are also now well known. We're here to help you enjoy a summer of picnics and splash-abouts in some of Britain most watery and hidd beauty spots. To start with why not check out our best-selling photo-guide book on freshwater swimming holes, or the new guide to secret coves and wild beaches. NEWS AND LATEST POSTS  Imagine a summer of swimming, exploring by the sea and discovering secret beaches and sandy coves, smugglers’ caves and deep lagoons. Britain’s beautiful coastline is studded with hidden places to swim, snorkel and sunbathe... We're delighted to announce the imminent arrival of the companion volume to the original Wild Swimming book. A guide to the most extraordinary and wonderful places to plunge and bathe around Britain's coast... View a sample of Wild Swimming Coast and buy a signed copy (£14.95 incl p&p).
 We're planning a series of fantastic days out this summer.
It's our "Weekend Wild Swimming Club",
a sparkling new invention: a walk in the
countryside that leads to a perfect swimming hole for a picnic and
splash-about. All the places will be accessible by train, it's free,
sustainable and there's no need to book. Bring
your friends, or meet people on the walk. We'll be posting dates and
details for June to August - via this website, Facebook and the newsletter. Sign-up for
updates.
Look for clues on a map: why not follow a river along its length? Many have footpaths that follow the bankside. Buy an Ordnance Survey map of your area (Purple Landrager 1:50,000 or Orange Explore 1:25,000), or use www.multimap.co.uk online. They will identify all the water features in your area. Weirs are marked and swimming is often popular in the pools above or below. Bridges sometimes cross sections where the river naturally narrows and deepens, so examine these. Bends are always good, as the river shallows to a beach on the inside, but deepens to a pool on the outside. Legal access is important so also examine footbridges, riverside footpaths, road fords and other places where a right of way comes into contact with the water. In highland areas look for any mountain lake and examine waterfalls, where marked. Read on for online sources and more tips.  Do you know the quality of water in your local river? The Environment Agency's newly updated interactive map makes checking this easy. See our new simple guide to checking water quality. What grade does your river receive? You can also see the new report from WWF on the state of t  he River Thames and the threats it faces from climate change. It's still one of the cleanest rivers of its size in Europe but climate
change is creating new challenges and too much water is still being
abstracted. Why not find out more about the work of UK
environmental organisations working to keep our freshwaters fresh?
Check out WWF's work in the UK and the UK Blueprint for Water coalition. Why not also find out about the work of the UK Association of River Trusts? Google Map now easier We’ve changed the settings on the Wild Swimming Google Map to make it easier to add places. You can find it here. We've added a little selection from the Wild Swimming book but it’s mainly a place for
new outdoor swims. Click 'Edit' to begin adding your swims. Use 'Rich text' to add links to photos.
Alternatively email us at swims AT wildswimming.co.uk and we’ll upload
them for you. The Big Jump! 2pm Sunday 6th July  The 6th July saw European Rivers Network annual river swimming day. “Everybody will swim in the rivers the same day, at
the same hour, in all the European rivers, from the sources and the glaciers to
the oceans”. It's all in aid of raising awareness about river water quality. We were at Hatchmere taking a plunge with RALSA. Wild Swimming on the Radio. Daniel Start joined John McCarthy on Radio Four's Excess Baggage to talk about the wild places of Brit  ain for an outdoor swim. You can also hear more about wild swimming on BBC Coventry and Warwickshire and BBC Herefordshire and Worcestershire. You'll find an interview with BBC Radio Scotland 'Highlands and Islands' here. Updated 16th June 2008Over the last few months wild swimming has featured in the Telegraph and as the cover story in the Sunday Times. Read about the top places to swim and why outdoor swimming is great for all the family. Skinny dipping at one of our suggested wild swim spots - Galleny Falls - was also nominated as one of the 100 most romantic things to do in the Guardian. More in the Scotsman too. Posted 15th May 2008 
Comedian Dom Joly and 25 nutty wild swimmers joined us in tropical
tornado conditions to swim in the River Wye on Monday 26th May. Dom's
wild swim sketch was screened on the 'Hay-on-Sky' TV show. Despite the rain
there was great elation and euphoria. The Hay Literary Festival is the largest literary festival in the world and earlier that morning Daniel Start spoke
about ’Wild Swimming’ on Start the Day at the Guardian stage (together with Harry Bingham on ‘This
Little Britain’ and Tim Fitzhigham who rowed across the channel in a
bath). You can download a
brochure for the continuing 9-day event here. For more on Hay Warren and the long tradition of wild swimming at Hay see the Upper Wye chapter from the book. Updated 28th May 2008. What, another book? 'Wild Swim' by Kate Rew and Guardian publishers. Wild
Swim by Kate Rew and Guardian publishing follows rapidly in our
wet footsteps. This has good coverage of outdoor swimming pools
and sea swims, making this a great complement to our own Wild Swimming
book (dedicated to rivers, lakes and waterfalls...) This is a
hardback coffee-table book with
atmospheric photos of moody watery expanses (so don't expect quite
so much in the way of handy grid refs and regional
maps). This book will appeal
to anyone who loves a wild place, as well as to the hardier swimmer or
triathlete who enjoys a longer swim. Updated 28th May 2008 |
NEW BOOKS !!
signed copies for sale  
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