Wild Swimming.

Yup. Well and truly bitten by the bug. This Summer, we swam outdoors more than we’ve ever done before, and it just got better, and better!

Sure, it was helped by the fact that we had such a blazing hot Summer, but the buzz from swimming outdoors, feeling the spray of a waterfall on your face, dunking your head so that you get brain freeze… waving at complete strangers who think you’re absolutely nuts (yes that happened), the thrill of trying to get changed without any of those random strangers seeing your butt…. well, it’s addictive. Even the butt thing.

It’s safe to say that Wild Swimming is our thing. The kids LOVE it. I LOVE it. In fact, it even made them WANT to hike. Powerful stuff this Wild Swimming lark.

When September came, we carried on a bit… the kids started to feel the chill, and so did I.

But you know what? I was not ready to stop.

And so, at the beginning of October, I decided that I wasn’t going to stop…. want to find out why?

Go on then. Why?

Well, a combination of factors.

I was bored and completely lacked any motivation.  I do not do well with a lack of focus, and I feel like I had exactly that. We were entering that time of year where most of the time it’s damp, winter is cold, miserable and after the whole Christmas madness, it’s quite frankly the worst time of year for me. I hate the lack of fairy lights in my life and I hate being cold.

Yup. I hate being cold. Which is the obvious reason why I intentionally decided to make myself cold on a daily basis.

Which leads me neatly onto my next factor. Probable midlife crisis, at least that’s what my husband believes.

But in all seriousness, I suffer from Raynauds and whilst it never stops all year round, it’s the absolute bane of my life in the colder months. I LIVE for being outside. It makes me happy and the fact that taking a stroll down the Tesco’s freezer aisle makes my fingers resemble dead things does not bode well for actual icy days. It doesn’t stop me, but it annoys the hell out of me and I wish it would stop.

Then I read that cold water swimming could help boost circulation….

What were my aims?

I always approach claims about medical benefits with a slight pinch of salt.

Unless they are scientifically proven (of course!)

But there are a LOT of claims made about the benefits of cold water Swimming, and my research into it so far has led me to the preliminary conclusion that a lot of these claims are made by cold water swimming enthusiasts, from their own personal experiences and their own feelings rather, than being proven by any actual scientific method.

Which leads me onto a little declaration…. What will follow is NOT scientific fact, it is MY experience. I am not a scientist nor do I claim to be an expert in anything (other than perhaps sleep deprivation derived from the production of children…)

I wanted to test out whether repeated exposure to cold water WOULD help improve my circulation. I wanted to know if it did give you an extra buzz and improve your mood. I wanted to see if there was anything behind the theory that it can improve immunity. Basically, I wanted to find out if it was all it was cracked up to be.

Oh yeah and that boredom thing I mentioned… That too.

So, here’s my diary of a month of cold water. Every day. (Like EVERY day.)

The October Diary

So here you go.… A week by week account of what happened (I would do day, but you’d be bored and ‘spolier alert’ it was pretty repetitive!)

Week 1:

‘I am so bored. I have a million things to do, but can’t be motivated to do them, and this is making me quite annoyed with myself.

Started googling cold water swimming (as you do.) Thought… why the hell not?

Filled a shallow bath with cold water and sat in it. Bloody freezing but managed up to my neck. It’s so weird how you get an initial shock and then your body adjusts almost instantly.

Followed that up with a hot bath, which strangely felt too hot, then had a 30 second cold shower chaser.

Ridiculously I feel very proud of my minimal effort day 1. Even opened the window for that extra chill factor.

Question is….. how long will it last?’

Well, I lasted the week with cold baths and showers. Even did a 30 second cold shower OVER my head, which I felt was an achievement (although admittedly I was counting pretty quickly by the end of it) and by the time I reached the weekend, I was genuinely looking forward to it. On the Sunday, I had my first outdoors swim…

‘Hold the phone, it was a double cold-water day today! A bath AND shower. AND (yes and) a sunset swim at Burnsall. Which I found easier than the bloody freezing baths! WEIRD.'

So, I think I may invest in a thermometer to investigate those bath temperatures…’

Week 2

‘It’s my birthday today. So OBVIOUSLY I started it off freezing cold with a full under water dunk (head too!) followed by a freezing 30 second cold shower. Interesting observation, brain freeze didn’t set in until the last second today…. Maybe…. Maybe something’s happening…’

Made it through week 1, and then into week 2 with cold showers and baths. It was also the arrival of Davenick Duck (named by the kids), a baby bath thermometer to measure the bath water temperature, which I’ll be honest felt bloody baltic.

It was not. 15 degrees! 15!!!! Basically Mediterranean. You have no idea how irritating that was!

Regardless, I carried on and headed outdoors at the weekend.

‘Oooooooh a proper dip in a waterfall. 10 degrees according to Davenick. That’s colder. But surprisingly it felt easier than getting in the bath. Maybe because of the waterfall factor. Made you gasp though. Only lasted a few mins dunk. Reynauds check…. I think better than when we swum this waterfall in May.’

Week 3:

‘Didn’t want to do it today. Did it anyway.’

This week the wall was hit. You know what? It is the outdoors factor that brings the buzz in my humble opinion. Baths are for being warm. I genuinely am finding it harder and harder to get into a bath of cold water, but a waterfall or a river? Seconds. And the cold, despite being colder, feels warmer. Perfectly logical.

There’s got to be something psychological behind that. Sadly, I am definitely not qualified to say what that is. But in my pseudo-scientific opinion. Outdoors cold water is what brings the buzz.

I did slog on though, with no wild swims planned for this week. Which was also annoying.

‘ugh. I caved and had a hot bath, followed by a cold shower. The cold shower was fine, but it didn’t feel like any sort of achievement. We shall persevere. Lake District next week, and I have plotted 3 wild swims there, unless we get hideous rain…. again!’

Week 4

The BIG one.

‘We are spending a week in the Lakes and I fully intend on dipping and dunking whilst we are here. On the cards are Church Beck and Buckstones Jump for SURE….. maybe Blea Tarn? Maybe Little Langdale Tarn? OOOOOOH Exciting!

In other news, I spent a full late October day outdoors with no jacket or jumper on. Yes, it’s a strangely warm October, but also….. am I becoming a shorts in the winter kinda person?! What is HAPPENING to me?!

Oh, and I have a cold. So much for that immunity boost!’

It bloody rained the full week. Which is of course par for the course in the Lakes, but it didn’t stop the dips, and improved the waterfalls, so all in all…. WIN! Any day I didn’t dip, I cold showered. Which meant that a dip day was a double treat, because I was also allowed a HOT SHOWER! I missed those!

‘A dip in Church Beck Coniston today. This was annoying. I had genuinely researched the hell out of these pools before coming to the Lakes, and whilst we found them no problem and they were EPIC…. there was a dead sheep. Bloody dead sheep. So I dipped, but in a different disappointing spot. Such is life. I will be back here, because it’s an absolutely marvellous spot (sans sheep).

And it continued….

Because Week 4 ended up being a multiple dip week! Buckstones Jump, Church Beck, Whorneyside Force, Gastack Beck AND finished off by a sunrise dunk at White Wells, with a group of other dunkees….

So with a combo of cold baths, showers, and some wild swims too, I did it! A cold dip a day in October.

‘Ok, so it’s not the LAST, last day - because that’s tomorrow - but it did feel kind of epic to finish(ish) off the month of October dips in the historic White Wells Spa in my home town with a fab bunch of cold water fans too’

So, what’s the outcome then?

What the bloody hell was the point?

Well I have learned some things. Cold water dipping OUTDOORS is a buzz. Inside is a chore.

I also learned that water might feel BLOODY FREEZING. But actually. It’s not. Can I call this a cold water challenge, when the water did not dip below 10 degrees? Apparently yes. To me it was cold. BUT also, The Outdoor Swimmers Handbook says that water temp between 6-11 degrees is ‘freezing’. So there. Validated.

I found that on more than one occasion, I really didn’t want to go through the whole faff of getting changed, particularly if there was an audience, but you know what? I did not regret ONE dip. They all left me feeling like my mood had been lifted 100 points.

Raynauds? Well I still have it. But there were occasions across the month where I could draw direct comparisons. We swam in Buckden Beck waterfall in May, when it was mild. After that my hands were totally numb and took ages to warm up. This time, the onset of numbness was delayed, and the recovery quicker. Yes, October was mild but I had fewer occasions of Raynauds whilst out walking. I didn’t have to wear my gloves once. If you know me, that’s a miracle.

Has it improved it? I think so. What I did find was that after the month was up, and I lapsed in the daily cold baths and showers, the number of episodes has increased slightly again.

Immunity? Metabolism? Cannot possibly say! I get exposed to so many bugs through work and I caught a cold during the month. Metabolism? I eat far too much chocolate to be able to comment!

Scientific? Nope. Interesting? Yep.

So will I keep it up?

I’ll let you into a secret… I already have!

I have gone from saying that I am a fair weather swimmer to now being an Autumn dipper, my most recent being in November. I even had a cold bath the other day and am keeping up the icy showers.

So. I’m not saying anything. This time last year, I would have said NO WAY. But look where we are now!

Maybe I’ll carry on, maybe I’ll see you back in April.

Who knows! But it’s fun finding out!

Stuff I’ve learned and stuff to read…

Tempted to give it a go?

Here is my limited knowledge of important stuff relating to Wild Swimming and Cold Water.

• Respect the water. Not sure you are aware….. LOL… but the weather can be pretty pants in Winter. I generally find river dipping a tad frightening on account of the speed of the current and the difference between Summer and Autumn is massive! That’s why I generally stuck to waterfalls to start off. I will try rivers I think, but only when there hasn’t been much rain (wish me luck on that front!).

• Respect the Countryside. Because it’s beautiful.

• Leave no trace, pick up any litter you see.

• Think about biosecurity. Always wear thoroughly clean and dry swimwear/ shoes to prevent cross contamination of invasive species. In Yorkshire, this is essential in helping to protect the under threat native White Clawed crayfish.

• Do not trespass and respect any signage.

• Respect the landowners requests on open access land too.

• Enter slowly. Don’t dive in.

• Take hot drinks and even a hot water bottle to help warm you up after you get out.

• The afterdrop is a real thing and warming up from the inside out is super important, as your core will continue to cool even after you get out of the water.

• Don’t dip alone. Particularly when starting out.

• It’s generally advisable to get a tow float, which can make you more visible in the water, and can give you a float to grab onto if you need a break or find yourself in difficulty.

• Don’t dip for long when you are starting out. We’re talking a few minutes.

• If in doubt check with your doctor before trying cold water dipping and do your research on the potential risks to health, including the risk of hypothermia.

Reads and Links!

• Follow the Outdoor Swimmers Code.

• Familiarise yourself with the Countryside Code.

• Everything on the Outdoor Swimmers Society website is both interesting and useful to answer any questions and is packed full of safety information.

• Read this interesting article on the Boots website about starting off cold water swimming.

• I thoroughly recommend reading the Outdoors Swimmers Handbook by Kate Rew.

• Join a local Wild Swimming Facebook Group such as The Wild and Dipsy Dippers (womens only) or the Dales Dippers. Both are Yorkshire based groups who regularly migrate to the Lake District. They are brilliant places to head for advice, inspiration and find dates for group swims. Something that I hope to do!

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