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Daniel Start’s wild swimming round the UK
By | May 20, 2008
I met Daniel Start at the end of last Summer when he moved into my friend Jo’s house in Bristol. He’d just finished writing a book, Wild Swimming, about all the beautiful rivers and pools he’d visited in the UK where you can go swimming and he’s done a blog for us on his travels round the UK.
Dan tells us he gave up summer holidaying abroad by discovering some of Britain’s most idyllic ‘Wild Swimming’ spots back home. His guidebook documents 150 of our most beautiful river, lake and waterfall swimming holes. Loads of amazing photos in it too. Brilliant job!
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 freshwater rivers, lakes and waterfalls are cleaner, safer and more accessible than at any time in living memory and the health benefits of a natural dip are also now well known.
A childhood spent playing on the riverbanks of the river Wye inspired me to document the traditional local places where our great-grandparents used to swim in the summer holidays. The result is a new photo-guide book ‘Wild Swimming: 150 hidden dips in the rivers, lakes and waterfalls of Britain’ produced by the publishers of best-selling Cool Camping series. There are sections on skinny dipping, waterfalls, wild swimming with children, canoe camping, raft making and riverside wildlife too. These are places where children see their first kingfisher or find their first otter track. Here we learn to play Pooh sticks and build dams before falling asleep in the grass after a hard day’s adventure. With worries about climate change, obesity and urban youth crime, we need, more than ever, new and exciting ways for our children to engage with the natural world and to explore it in safe and responsible ways. We’re keen to hear about your favourite places so get in touch via the interactive map, guidance and articles at wildswimming.co.uk.
Top highlights from Daniel’s book
South West
King Arthur’s knights were baptised in this mystical circular waterfall before beginning their quest for the Holy Grail
Camp in the tipi village by this swimming lake set in a magical reclaimed quarry
Close to the birthplace of Charles Kingsley, these remote river pools on the Dart are surrounded by steep lush forest and inspired the tale of The Waterbabies
Swim with Tarka the Otter in the rivers that inspired Henry Williamson’s famous novel
Picnic by the river and exchange favourite wild-swimming locations at Britain’s longest established river swimming club
Swim and play at one of the longest river weirs in the country
South
White shingle beach and dancing water buttercups line the crystal-clear chalk streams that drain Hampshire’s Watership Down
These ‘lost’ river meanders are set in the spectacular Cuckmere Haven
A popular inland beach, set in ancient Surrey heathland, built by the Bishop of Winchester in the sixteenth century
One of Britain’s oldest and most famous bathing ponds, these pools were constructed 400 years ago to provide London with drinking water through hollowed-out elm tree pipes
In the centre of Oxford, not far from the station, the riverside at Port Meadow inspired Lewis Carroll in the opening of Alice in Wonderland
Beautiful stretches of the River Thames that provided the setting for Three Men in a Boat and Wind in the Willows
Central and East
Paddle with dinosaurs at Stonesfield, the location of the first ever found Jurassic fossil
A giant amphitheatre filled with famously pure Malvern spring water. Admire tectonic faults from over 500 million years ago
Swim down the River Wye in Herefordshire, one of England’s best-loved swimming and canoeing rivers
Join the famous coracle regatta at the river-swimming village of Leintwardine
The famous Grantchester Meadows were a popular river bathing location of Lord Byron, Rupert Brooke, Virginia Woolf and members of the Bloomsbury Group
Mountain-top pools imbued with legends of mermaids and monsters
Wales
Hay-on-Wye, home of literary festivals and second-hand bookshops, is also the site of the famous riverside ‘Warren’ – a stretch of Wye-side shingle and shallows popular with families
The Waterfalls Woods are the most spectacular series of waterfalls in Wales, with aqua forest lidos fit for the gods
This high tarn is haunted by King Arthur’s ‘Lady of the Lake’
Waterfalls plunge through a valley rich in Welsh gold. There are several ruined mines and you can still find gold if you pan the pools
Coloured azure blue by faint traces of copper, these fantastic old slate quarries are like Mediterranean lagoons
Tarn-swimming is the ultimate landscape immersion and wilderness trip. These are three of the best
Follow in the footsteps of Mallory, Hillary and some of our most famous Everest mountaineers and complete the Snowdon swim tour
Lakes and Dales
Magnificent Wastwater: England’s deepest, most dramatic and most beautiful lake. It also has an underwater ‘gnome garden’
Eskdale: a magical series of pools leading up to Scafell Pike. There’s nowhere better to be on a hot day in the Lakes
William Wordsworth’s mountain pools with view across Rydal Water
Swim across to Wildcat Island of Swallows and Amazons fame
Hell Gill is thought to be a collapsed cave, now a semi-underground stream that feels like the inside of a whale. Descend if you dare!
A gentle cataract great for ‘tubing’ – rafting the rapids on rubber rings
Set next to the ruins of Bolton Priory, this stretch of river becomes Costa-del- Bolton on hot summer days
The wooded Gormire Lake, set beneath the spectacular Sutton Bank, was a favourite location for James Herriot
Scotland and North
Swim with the Romans along Hadrian’s Wall and visit their temple to the water nymphs
The bottomless plunge pool of Linhope Spout in the grand Cheviot Hills
Swim across the border from England to Scotland at Union Bridge, one of the oldest suspension bridges in the world
The Faeries and Faerie Pools of Skye, the clearest water in Britain
Bathe with the Loch Ness Monster by the ruins of Urquhart Castle
Swim across to a ruined castle island on Loch an Eilein
Find Rob Roy’s secret cave on the bonnie banks of Loch Lomond
The closest thing to Highland pools without going north of Stirling. Great rock slide and there’s an excellent pub nearby too
Swim in Rob Roy’s giant bathtub at the Falls of Falloch
How to be wild and safe
- Wear footwear if you can
- Never swim alone and keep a constant watch on weak swimmers
- Always make sure you know how you will get out before you get in
- Avoid contact with blue-green algae, a powdery scum found on some lake edges in summer
- Never swim in canals, urban rivers, stagnant lakes or reedy shallows, and keep cuts and wounds covered with waterproof plasters
We’d love to hear about natural places you love near to where you live and the times you have had. . . .
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