Inspiration
The Merthyr MermaidBBC iplayer
Cath Pendleton describes herself as an ordinary single mum (aged 49) of two gorgeous girls. She works for the NHS on their smoking cessation campaign, but it is her hobby that has brought her fame – she swims outdoors in her local lake all year round and in 2020 became the first person to swim an Ice Mile inside the polar Antarctic circle.
Watch this wonderful documentary and see how Cath faces the challenge of training to swim in one of the most inhospitable places on the planet.
Taking the Waters: A Swim Around Hampstead Heath
This wonderful book packed with amazing photos is a celebration of the four unique swimming spots on Hampstead Heath, London: the Kenwood Ladies’ Pond, the Highgate Men’s Pond, the Mixed Bathing Pond, and Parliament Hill Lido.
People have swum at the ponds for over 200 years – from champion swimmers and world famous divers, to international film stars and hardy year round bathers – while the Lido is one of London’s few remaining outdoor pools.
The 4 swim facilities attract over a quarter of a million visits a year. This book is an illustrated history full of personal memories, archive images and stunning modern photography. Both the author and photographer are regular Ladies’ Pond swimmers and the book is packed full of anecdotes from locals past and present.
Wild Swimming with Alice Roberts BBC iplayer / Youtube
There is a long history of wild swimming here in the UK and with over 1000 lakes and 8000 rivers to choose from, it is no surprise that the trend for wild swimming is once more on the up. This lovely 2010 documentary follows anthropologist Alice Roberts as she investigates the growing trend for wild swimming, trying to understand what it is that connects so many of us at a deeply emotional level with water, how our bodies respond physically to cold water and how water and swimming has been represented in art, poetry and music over the centuries.
After taking advice from Professor Mike Tipton (the country’s leading expert on the effects of immersion in cold water) on how to stay safe whilst swimming in colder temperatures, she follows in the footsteps of the famed Roger Deakin, swimming in many of the places featured in his definitive water anthology, Waterlog. The documentary is full of wonderful underwater nature photography and is both a history of and an introduction to the addictive activity that is Wild Swimming.
Waterlog: A Swimmer’s Journey Through Britain By Roger Deakin
Part travelogue, part autobiography, part cultural commentary, this seminal book charts Roger Deakins’ swimming odyssey across the British Isles in 1996. This fabulous books documents not just the places he swims but also the people he meets along the way and their response to him, a (usually naked) wild swimmer. Since this book was published many people have attempted to recreate Deakin’s swimathon, with his book firmly tucked into their backpack. A wonderful read for anyone in love with wild swimming.
“So swimming is a rite of passage, a crossing of boundaries; the line of the shore, the bank of the river, the edge of the pool, the surface itself. When you enter the water, something like metamorphosis happens. Leaving behind the land, you go through the looking glass surface and enter a new world, in which survival, not ambition or desire, is the dominant aim”
Blue Mind: How water makes you happier, more connected and betterat what you do By Wallace J Nichols
A fascinating study of the emotional, behavioural, psychological and physiological connections that keep us so drawn to water. Combining solid scientific research with pure instinct and brilliant cultural reference points, this study by renowned marine biologist Wallace J Nichols is a compelling read and has redefined how people think of their relationship with water and how it fundamentally affects their happiness.
He explores the multi-sensory appeal of water in all its forms - lakes, rivers, oceans, swimming pools, even bath tubs – and seeks to understand how it affects us at a fundamental human level.
It is a great, accessible read that will help you understand the difference between the modern concepts of red mind and grey mind and how we should all be aspiring to return to our natural happy state, a blue mind.