Tags
Book Review, Kenwood Ladies' Pond Association, Swimming, Walking, Wild Swimming Walks, Wild Things Publishing
A stunning labour of love and a clarion call to delight and achievement!
As a lover of wild walking for almost all my adult life, and a devotee of wild water swimming for many years, it almost felt as if someone (well, to be honest, as this book was created by a wonderful and inspired collective group of women) that is, a collection of wise, doughty and joyful someones, produced a book which absolutely fits me. To save all my friends buying me this for Christmas I’ve stolen a march on them and got it, pronto, for myself.
Now this book may have a practical appeal just for those who live in the more-or-less-greater London area, but it is also an object of visual style and beauty, from the delectable cover, designed by James Lewis, to the wealth of wonderful photos taken of the watery destinations, and the walkers and swimmers themselves. So, if I didn’t plan to use the book, it would still be one to aesthetically appreciate.
Moving on to the purely practical, this is a brilliantly put together book – not only are the instructions clear, but there are useful details of start/finish by public transport, length of each walk, time taken, ease or difficulty of the walk, details about the swimming aspects – for example, depth, ease of access to the water, details of the refreshments available (oh yay!) graphics on a map of the route, details of the precise OS map it can be found on – and, even better there are details of how you can access each map on line to printout and/or to email to a smart phone. This is stunningly helpful, and is part, I believe, of the approach that the publishers, Wild Things Publishers, have taken with their series of books.
So, an astonishingly well thought out package, in terms of both practicality and style – the book itself is far too beautiful to sully by cramming into a walking bag – particularly as eventually wet bathers will be dripping into said bag, nor would I want to break the spine of this book in my printer/scanner/copier just to print out the instructions.
There is also additional historical information about wild swimming, and rights of way, which may spur readers to further thought about the land and our relationship to it. Plus very sensible practical advice to those who may be unaccustomed to the delights of pond, lake, river or sea and only have swum whilst under the influence of chlorination. Magic awaits!
Many thanks to the authors, the contributors and the publishers for a gorgeous addition to my various walking books, and I shall enjoy both stepping out and pretending to be an otter, working my way through the 28 wild water and land experiences.
Oh…and the undoubtedly lovely photo of a swimmer in the River Cam is not one of the delectable ones from this book, which are all copyrighted, but is a Wiki Commons
I have a kind of arms length interest here – I have had nothing whatsoever to do with the making of this book, but I am a long time swimmer in the amazing Kenwood Ladies Pond, and do know many of those who are to be hugely congratulated for this brilliant book. Which was NOT an ARC – I have been impatiently waiting to spend my hard earned dosh on what I knew was going to be stunning!
Wild Water Swimmers of the World, Unite! You have nothing to lose but your bathers!
Wild Swimming Walks Amazon UK
Wild Swimming Walks Amazon USA
Lady Fancifull 
Well… I was just thinking about having a nice bubble bath. Does that count? You are mad, m’lady… but in a good way!
PS – I’m enormously amused by what WordPress ‘relates it to’ – the undoubtedly weird and wonderful We Have Always Lived In The Castle, with a charmingly unbalanced protagonist, and in clear acknowledgement of the fact that the water is cold a Polar outing from Georgina Harding, which, alas, also features a degree of lunacy!
Haha! You made me look at what my Knox bio was related to. Poor Knox! Even in death it appears he can’t escape Mary Queen of Scots!
I’m not sure the swans, the Canada Geese, the kingfisher, the heron, the sundry varieties of ducks, the coots and the moorhen, not to mention ooh matron the shag (tis a bird, honest) AND you would all fit in the one bath the way they do in Kenwood Ladies Pond………….
I have had a strong aversion to swimming in fresh water since an unfortunate incident in my early 30s. I’ll take seawater any day. So clearly, I am not the target audience for this book. I’ll enjoy those rippling pools from a distance.
I think you’re just happy not to be adding this to your TBR! The book usefully identifies safe places to swim, not just any old puddle or lagoon. Shark, crocodile, and, I trust, leech free bathing!
Relieved. Very relieved. You could say I’m either treading water or coming up for air. 😀
I’ve been curious about this wild swimming lark for a while. don’t you get very muddy feet?Isn’t it a bit smelly on times swimming in water where there are ducks and what not?
Smelly? Ducks and fish (live) in wild water are testimony to its freshness and lack of pollution. I’ll take the smell of living water, with its lack of substances which hide the unpleasant anyday over the chlorinated fug of swimming pools which override human odours caused by careless people using the pool as a toilet. That water to my mind is dead water with chlorine disinfecting it. I gave up pool swimming years ago. It always made my eyes sting, my skin itchy and my breathing tight. As for mud, people spend hundreds of pounds getting slathered with the stuff in beauty clinics, so I don’t mind if I get some on my toes! But yes one does need to know which places are safe to enter and exit water from, and, in the sea, and in rivers, take account of tides, speed and direction of flow etc. This book does that work for swimming possibilities with great walks in a certain area of the UK. There is something utterly magical about swimming in the natural world, and I particularly like places which are almost grotto like such as ponds, surrounded by trees.
An interesting pastime but it must be awfully cold? I do enjoy swimming but the downside to a pool is the chlorine without a doubt – I’m sure that they add far more than they ever used to or maybe I’m just getting less tolerant. I suppose at least there aren’t things like crocodiles to contend with in the UK!
Well, let’s call it bracing rather than cold (at least in summer!) and you do adjust to it rather quickly. I like your description of it as a pastime though, which for some reason suggests something less strenuous, like embroidery. Which of course isn’t something you’d do in the water! No crocodiles, though I have been flown at by a heron which appeared to be heading straight for me, but then lifted over me before I had time to think more than ‘good heavens it looks like a small flying dinosaur is about to make my acquaintance!’ They do look remarkably prehistoric from beneath.
Haha your response to comments
Your response to my comment made me smile – maybe pastime wasn’t quite the right term 😉 I’d be a little wary of who or what was sharing the water with me and hadn’t thought of those that might want to attack from above!
Actually for me part of the thrill is being able to swim with birds, even if the larger ones can look quite alarming at eye level (and possibly be, if you got near an occupied nest) But finding that you swam between a mother duck and her very young fluffies, who promptly then pattern onto YOU and insist on anxiously trying to keep up with you in a strung out line, peeping furiously, counts as one of life’s swimming pleasures – though possibly not to Mama Duck!
You almost have me convinced…