The River Cam just outside Cambridge at Grantchester Meadows is one of the places that has kept us sane through the Covid-19 pandemic. We have swum there in all conditions, from blazing sunshine to hail storms, sometimes with just swans for company, sometimes with the banks crowded with families and groups of young people - though rarely with more than a handful of swimmers and paddleboarders. Now it seems that the landowners, Kings College, have decided to ban swimmers entering the river from Grantchester Meadows as well as launching boats, kayaks or paddle boards. In a statement they have cited concerns about large gatherings, antisocial behaviour, safety and erosion of riverbanks. No doubt during lockdown with so much closed down places like Grantchester Meadows have been busier than normal, but this probably temporary phenomenon is no reason to deny many people their right to enjoy the river. To anybody with experience of urban life the alleged antisocial behavio...
The poet Sylvia Plath (October 27 1932 – February 11 1963) was a keen swimmer, and her writings make many references to being in the water. For instance a 1947 letter to her mother mentions a long cycle ride to a beach where 'The waters were a light, salty blue and a sandy, smooth bar stretched out into the ocean. The water was free from crabs and seaweed, and I went swimming with Sally… We had loads of fun swimming underwater and sitting on the smooth sandy bottom pretending to comb our hair'. Plath was staying at the time in a summer sailing camp at Oak Bluffs, Martha's Vineyard. Going to Smith College in Massachusetts gave her plenty of time to spend at the beaches on Cape Cod. A 1951 letter describes a restless night-time swim: 'I looked at the angry grey ocean, darkening in late twilight. So I put on my bathing suit and ran barefoot down to the beach. It is a queer sensation to swim at night, but it was very warm after the rain. So I splashed and kicked and the f...
Walpole Bay Tidal Pool encloses four acres worth of the sea between high walls on the Margate sea front at the Cliftonville end. When it opened in 1937 it was the largest pool in the UK, not sure whether it still is but there is plenty of room for swimmers. It tapers from 167 metres wide at the beach end to 91m at the seaward end. You can walk in from the beach with the pool getting gradually deeper to a depth of around 2m, or if you walk around the walls there are ladders at various points to get in somewhere deeper The 'floor' of the pool is the natural beach, essentially you are just swimming in the sea with a bit of protection from the vicissitudes of tides and waves. The pool was originally built to ensure that people could easily swim/play in the water at low tide when people would otherwise have to walk a long way out to reach the water. But at high tide the walls are submerged and the pool is more or less invisible. On our most recent trip last month we timed ou...
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