This festive season, 10,000 people will brave biting cold water at one of the 100 or so Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day swims around the UK. For some, it will be their one outdoor dip of the year, but many who take to the water in mid-winter are dedicated cold-water swimmers, who plunge into the sea, rivers, lakes and lidos across the country all year round. You’d think it would take a certain type to step into water that’s below 10C, but outdoor swimming is one of the most diverse and democratic activities in the UK. It attracts people from all backgrounds and of all ages. A few do it for the physical challenge, but most are drawn to it for other reasons – a connection with nature, camaraderie and most of all “to feel alive”. We asked 10 swimmers from across the UK where they swim – and why.
John Wigglesworth, 72, south London
I joined Tooting Bec Lido in 1973. There was a group of us: men who did judo, who were runners and body builders. We called ourselves the physical culture club because we did a bit more than just swimming. It was a meeting place; it was very macho but there was great camaraderie. At the time there weren’t gyms everywhere, so we used to organise a six-mile run to warm up, then go for a swim. In winter we used to crack the ice and make a channel to swim along, and they didn’t have hot showers then. We never wore a wetsuit – nobody would be seen dead in one. Now they have a sauna at the lido but our crew won’t use it: they think it’s for softies. Whenever anyone asks what the temperature is, I just say “cold”. I still go every Sunday and I always go on Christmas Day – the South London Swimming Club organises men’s and women’s races in the morning.
Rachel Smith, 41, Belfast
I swim in the sea all year round: near Downpatrick – where I’m often the only person on the beach and I’ll be swimming with seals – and sometimes in the Blue Lough in the Mourne mountains and Tollymore forest park. I also love swimming at Bloody Bridge river just outside Newcastle. You climb up into the mountains and jump into rock pools and swim behind waterfalls – it’s incredible. Wild swimming is really growing here. I think one of the attractions is the sense of community: in so many other sports people are very competitive, but swimming brings people together. Our group has people from all walks of life: air hostesses, doctors, mechanics. I’m not swimming on Christmas Day but I’m doing a New Year’s Day swim at Helen’s Bay, just outside Belfast.
Dianne Parrish, 58, Cheshire
I made the decision on 1 January 2013 to give myself three years to swim the Channel. My friends’ mouths dropped open. They said it was ridiculous – I’m always telling people to turn the heating up – but I wanted a goal to focus on. I started in spring that year with a supervised open-water swim in Manley Mere, and since then I’ve swum through three winters. I swam the Channel this summer as part of a relay team of six, and I’m hoping to do it solo in 2016, or 2017 when I turn 60. My favourite spot is at Eccelston Ferry on the river Dee on the outskirts of Chester. In summer, we swim up and down but in the winter we walk upstream and have a float down with the current. But I also swim in Padarn Lake in Snowdonia, the Liverpool Docks and Delamere forest park in Cheshire. I’ve set up a group called the ChesterFrosties and we’ll be organising a Christmas Day swim, hopefully in the river Dee as it’s my favourite place.
Calum Hudson, 26, south London and Cumbria
I grew up on the river Eden: our garden ran down to the water and we used to just go and jump in. When my parents sold our family home, I wanted an excuse to get back to Cumbria so my two brothers and I decided to swim the length of the Eden – all 90 miles of it. We started at the source, which is little more than a bog in the hills near the North Yorkshire border; it was just big enough for all three of us to get in and we swam about 10 miles a day over nine days, camping along the way. There were a few hairy moments but it was amazing to see the countryside from the river. Our challenge for 2016 is to swim across the world’s two biggest whirlpools: Moskstraumen and Saltstraumen in Norway.
Jules McRobbie, 52, Ludlow, Shropshire
For me, swimming is not about distance or speed. It’s about sensory stuff: the feeling of the water, seeing kingfishers, the pattern of light. Most of the time I don’t wear a costume. I’m part of a group of skinny dippers. I don’t go out to shock; I just like the sensation. I started outdoor swimming after a horse riding accident. I live in Ludlow and discovered a spot on the river Lugg in Heredfordshire that had a beautiful 100m stretch above a weir. I started going there every day. Sometimes I swim up and down just once, sometimes for an hour. This Christmas I’ll be staying with my parents in Hampshire so I’ll be going for a dip in the Itchen, which I used to swim in as a child.
Rory Fitzgerald, 57, Romsey, Hampshire
I’m helping to organise the first UK ice-swimming championships, which will be held at Andark diving lake in Swanwick near Southampton, in February. It’s a qualifying meet for the next ice-swimming world championships in Germany in January 2017. I swim with a local competitive club, the Winchester Penguins, in an indoor pool but often go straight from the pool across a few playing fields to the river Itchen for what I call my proper swim. I also regularly swim on the south coast at various spots from Hayling Island to Bournemouth. I am addicted to open-water swimming: it makes me feel better, healthier and fitter, but it also brings me into contact with a fantastic community of like-minded people and allows me to explore wonderful places. When I was swimming off the Isle of Man I felt a tug on my bare foot and turned round to find a grey seal swimming with me. I’ll be swimming on Christmas Day and Boxing Day, probably in the sea at Bournemouth. There are several groups down there including the Spartans, an ancient club.
Bill O’Mahoney, 61, Bude, Cornwall
I’ve been outdoor swimming for three years but this is the first year I’ve pledged to swim through the winter. I swim a mile at Bude sea pool every day. It’s 11.7C as I talk to you but it can get down to 7C in January and February. Bude is a tidal pool: it’s washed out twice a day and is stunningly beautiful. When you’re swimming you feel like you’re in open water. I also like to swim along the coast from Bude – two or three miles at a time. It’s great to observe the beach from that perspective. I did the Dart 10km this year and the Creek safari down the river Fal. Seeing the river from a boat or walking is the stuff of life, but when there’s nothing between you and the water, that’s unique.
Natasha Brooks, 36, Anglesey
I live on the west coast of Anglesey and swim in the sea around Aberffraw. I also swim in the lakes of Snowdonia. There are so many but my favourite is Llyn Cwm Silyn – there’s rarely anyone there and the water is so blue. Llyn Idawl is spectacular, too, and I love Llyn Glaslyn, right at the back of Snowdon. I’m an artist and for the past four years I’ve been looking into what water symbolises: the cleansing, religious side of it and this ability it has to switch us off from everyday life. My film Bluehue was shown at the Kendal and Banff mountain festivals this year. On Christmas Day, I’ll be in West Yorkshire, so I’m going to a river I used to swim in as a child in the hills above Cornholme. There’s a tiny plunge pool there created by a waterfall, called the Frying Pan.
Rebecca Howett, 27, Edinburgh, Scotland
My usual swimming spot is Portobello beach, a long sandy beach on the Firth of Forth, a few miles east of Edinburgh, where a group of swimmers called the Wild Ones meet every Sunday morning. The beach offers views over the Forth to Fife, as well as along the East Lothian coastline and back to the city of Edinburgh and Arthur’s Seat. On a Sunday morning in winter, it’s mostly frequented by dog walkers enjoying a blustery stroll. I like to go further afield, too. Highlights have been the beaches of Skye and Arran; a quick dip at Skaw on Unst, Shetland, which is the UK’s northernmost beach; and “refreshing” mid-hike loch swims on the west coast. On a calm day, my thoughts are concentrated on the serenity of smoothly taking one stroke after another and enjoying the view. On rougher days, my focus is on fighting through the waves. I’ll be spending Christmas Day and Boxing Day with my family in landlocked Derbyshire. I don’t have definite swimming plans, but will certainly pack my swimming costume and see what I can do.
Larry Connolly, 35, Norwich
I’m a policeman, so I often swim early in the morning after a night shift – usually in a reservoir near where I live. It’s a cracking spot: an old pit, quite deep and surrounded by trees. It’s amazing with the dawn chorus and the sun coming up. If I’ve just come off a bad shift, it helps me forget everything … and I get the best morning’s sleep ever. Sometimes, there’ll be the occasional fisherman there. They’re crazy too – they fish round the clock. I haven’t swum at Christmas before but I may well go to the reservoir this year on Boxing Day morning. It’s meant to be frosty, too, and it’s beautiful when you look up and see the frost in the trees.
