As nature intendedStainforth Force
Yorkshire Dales, North Yorkshire
Stainforth Force (pronounced ‘foss’) lies just below Stainforth Packhorse Bridge, with some shallow sun-warmed pools suitable for small children, and then a succession of platforms and falls. We approach on an un-sunny Sunday in September, but the banks are full of families eating picnics.
Children in sports shorts and soggy trainers run down an incline holding a rope-and-wood bar-swing, arcing out over the fall and letting go as they soar over the pool. A sister and brother do tandem dives, backflips and somersaults to the delight of their parents.‘I felt like I was flying for ages,’ says the brother, running back from a jump that scared him. A teenager stands on the highest ledge, shaking. ‘Come on then!’ shouts a boy of about five, then offers: ‘I’m not old enough’ to the spectators beside him.
The commotion centres on the deep pool at the end of the falls, where jumpers and divers are gathered on the cliff, peering out from behind tree trunks and scrabbling up slopes.
It’s a riotous human circus that everyone joins, the less confident leaping off lower rocks into the water. One boy tries the rope swing, but his grip slips and he lands on the ledge, jarring his back and then skidding out over the waterfall. It provides the only hush of the afternoon – a collective intake of breath – then the chatter starts up again as he swims to the edge. ‘I knew he was holding it wrong,’ offers another boy, red-haired and wet beside me. ‘You want to hold it like this.’ ‘Don’t tell me,’ I say, ushering him forward, ‘tell him.’
Swim: Easy to moderate. A popular jumping spot on a lively section of the River Ribble.
Details: Stainforth is on the B6479, about two miles north of Settle (which is the nearest railway station). The Force is just west of the village. This swim is part of the Ribble Way (a 70-mile footpath) and various circular walks. Stainforth and Little Stainforth are both on National Cycle Routes. The bridge is a short walk from the Stainforth Force car park.
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Llyn Idwal, Snowdonia, Gwynedd
There are ‘llyns’ (or ‘lakes’, pronounced ‘thlins’) all over Wales that are good for swimming in, and, while this llyn is good for walkers, wild campers and climbers (particularly beginners who can have a go at the ‘Idwal slabs’), the wide stepping-stone path to it also makes it a great family option.
My companion finishes chatting with the handsome young guide in the visitor centre (‘So, which part are you in charge of?’ she says, stroking a map of Snowdonia National Park in his private office), and then we start the walk up, through a wrought-iron gate. We pass a few people pushing babies in off-road pushchairs, and young children skipping up the ten-minute walk without obvious signs of fatigue or boredom.
Idwal is one of the best examples of a glacial valley in Wales, a wide-open basin in the shadow of Twll Du (known as Devil’s Kitchen), with the dark cliffs and waterfall of Clogwyn y Geifr (the Cliff of the Goat) behind it. There’s a big shingle beach that looks ripe for an afternoon’s picnic, playing and snoozing on a sunny day, and there’s a walk around the lake. Pictures in the visitor centre show Llyn Idwal in various seasons: eerily beautiful on misty mornings, intensely coloured in autumn sunshine.
But some strange confluence of weather fronts and our travel plans means that, during my trip to North Wales, it rains as we approach each and every llyn. And now, 50 steps from the beach, it begins to pour and everything looks grey. Lulu finds somewhere to crouch, towel at the ready, while I swim.
The only drawback of this lake for children is that it’s north-facing which, combined with its altitude, means that it’s a little bit colder than the others. But the deep-sided cwm (rock basin) is stunning from the water. And minerals washed down from Devil’s Kitchen would have
made the grass beneath it supernaturally green, if the light hadn’t been too flat to see it.
This is one of the most popular lakes in Wales (300,000 people visit each year), so tread lightly. it is also the furthest south that some Arctic alpine plants can survive, and grazing has been excluded in various areas to allow heather to grow.
From Idwal there is also a steep walk up to Llyn y Cwm (Lake of the Dog), a swim recommended by local wild swimmer Ross. ‘It’s a small, beautiful lake on a popular footpath where you can easily spend an afternoon.’ He has swum in more than 50 of the llyns around Snowdonia and says the natural ones are clearer. ‘The manmade ones tend to silt up and collect about three foot of mud in the bottom– you can swim in them but it’s not pleasant, walking up to your knees in mud.’
Swim: Easy. A good lake for walkers, climbers and families
Details: Llyn Idwal is 800 metres long and 300 metres wide. There is a car park by the Cwm Idwal visitor centre (and café) off the A5 on the south side of Llyn Ogwen. The beach gets the sun all day in summer. If wreck-swimming is your thing, we heard afterwards there are a few old rowing boats that can be seen under the water, on the right hand side of the lake as you stand on the beach.
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Burton Bradstock
Dorset
Hive Beach, near Burton Bradstock on the Dorset coast, is part of the National Trust’s 700 miles of coastline and has been called ‘heaven on earth’ by wild swimmer Roger Deacon. We arrive early on a sunny Sunday and it’s such a golden and twinkly blue expanse that it’s like being transported to the Mediterranean.
We pay a teenager in a wooden hut a few pounds and are waved into a parking space by a National Trust volunteer armed with a traffic cone. Almost immediately we are drawn to the tented canvas conservatory of the Hive Beach Café. It’s full of people peacefully reading papers and eating breakfast behind zipped windows. Restaurant critic AA Gill once gave it four stars for its perfect plaice and potato-tasting chips. We would have tried the coffee, if we could have found a seat.
Up and down this coastline, beaches are scarred by signs and cordons, but here there is no man-made clutter, just a landscape of stripes: bands of beach, cliff, sky and sea running off into the distance. The whole effect combines to make us want to swim for miles. The sea laps against the pebbled beach in a repetitive rush and trickle and the water is calm and safe. We stretch out in endless front crawl, catching the occasional glimpse of a pensioner on a cliff path or a gull dive-bombing the water.
Before leaving, we take the time to examine the honey-coloured cliffs, their horizontal strata buffeted by the waves into magnificent frills. If you want to be humbled, and bobbing about in a big sea hasn’t done the trick, standing underneath the cliffs will remind you how tiny you are.
Swim: Easy. Remarkable ‘honeycomb’ cliffs and a long, calm stretch of shore make this a heavenly swim.
Details: Burton Bradstock is about three miles off the A35 between Bridport and Dorchester. For more information about the Hive Beach Café and the local area, check out www.hivebeachcafe.co.uk. Hive Beach is also a popular shore dive. Had we been wearing swimming goggles, we might have seen pout and pollock using the cover of boulders and seaweed to ambush smaller fish, and the magnificently named tompot blenny attacking sea anemones. Like a fishy version of a tabby cat, this 20cm fish has minute teeth that also crunch through barnacles and crab. Many people believe there’s a fine line between wild swimming and naturism. At Cogden Beach at Swyre (also featured in the book), just east of Burton Bradstock, they’ve crossed it. ‘Ideal for worry-free Naturism’ says Naturist website. There are also great walks in this area – along Chesil Beach and on coastal paths – and Burton Bradstock is on some cycle routes.
The author, Kate Rew, says Wild Swim’ is not meant to be an ‘exhaustive’ catalogue of places to swim in the UK. Well, it’s still extraordinarily extensive – and would be exhausting to complete each swim featured within its pages. There are 307 in all, covering all corners of the UK and completed by eight ‘wild swimmers’, including Kate herself. Each swim in the main section carries a rating, from ‘easy’ and ‘moderate’ to ‘advanced’. After you’ve been inspired by the writers’ adventures, a ‘resources’ section gives tips on technique,safety. kit and access issues. It adds up to a celebration of swimming outdoors in the UK. Go on, dive in.
Images: Dominic Tyler
