Take a swim on the wild side
6:54am UK, Sunday September 04, 2011
Swimming in rivers and lakes is the latest craze for people who want to exercise without joining a health club.
So-called wild swimming groups say their membership is booming despite the UK's unreliable weather and chilly open water.Comedian David Walliams is being given some of the credit for the increased popularity of the sport.
After swimming the English Channel for charity five years ago he is about to swim the length of the River Thames for Sport Relief.
The Little Britain star sets off on Monday to swim the 140 miles from Lechlade in Gloucestershire to central London in eight days.
Swimming outdoors became unfashionable after the Second World War – all but killed off by cheap travel and a burgeoning health and safety culture.
Its revival is being helped by social networking sites that make it easy to arrange meetings and promote suitable stretches of water around the country.
Former training adviser Pauline Squire, who writes a wild swimming blog and organises swims in Ellerton Lake in North Yorkshire, has seen attendances double in six months.
"We get 20 people or more in the water each time, including young children," she said.
"The water's clean, you're with the ducks, and unlike in a pool it's not just boring swimming up and down."
The Royal Society For The Prevention Of Accidents has changed its advice to would-be wild swimmers in recent years.
Instead of telling them not to do it, the current advice is to try to swim with an organised group and be aware of any local hazards.
Official Peter Cornall said the sport's dangers were not to be underestimated.
"There’s a lot of traffic in the Thames. I've been hit by oars, I've been attacked by a swan. It's really not a good environment for swimming," he warned.
http://news.sky.com/home/x/article/16061795
would rather be swiped at by a swan (rare occurance) and see traffic on the water than see hair bands, plasters, dirt, and all manner of things that get dropped to the bottom of a pool, also getting someone elses hair in your mouth, sneezing from chlorine, itching from the same, having to stop every 25 metres to turn round and view the same thing. Today i same along side horses at the waters edge, swans coming to say hello not attack (they very rarely do), ducks, diving birds, wonderful people, kayakers and a boat, all of which shared the same passion for fresh air and wonderful scenery, the thames may be risky but there are loads of other places to swim. Also if the thames was so risky why would NOVA place one of greatest swims there! I think Peter Crnall has not had a safe introduction to open water swimming nor has he swam with people who will help him get over the mental fear of leaving the walls of a pool! Join us sometime Peter and i promise you will be a convert not to mention benefit from the physical and mental benefits of open water swimming, its been done for 100's of years so we must be doing something right!!!
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