The Water and the Wild

The Cuckmere River winds it way through East Sussex down to the Channel where it joins the sea by the 'Seven Sisters' white cliffs. In its later stages the river has cut a pattern of Meanders, although the main body of the river now flows through an adjacent straight cut put in the river in the mid-19th century. The Cuckmere Meanders are good for swimming, readily accessible via low banks from the adjoining grassland. We walked along the river for a bit from near to the Cuckmere Valley Canoe Club (right next to one of the car parks for the Seven Sisters Country Park - postcode BN25 4AD), but where we actually entered the water was close to where the South Downs Way footpath passes it - the bend furthest to the right in the picture above.  The entry was shallow, with the river become swimmable nearer the middle.  I think a 5 feet ten adult would be able to touch the (muddy) bottom in many places, but I wouldn't rely on it. In some sections there is a lot of weed action but...

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...

Anita Klein, Swimming in the Rain (2020) The artist and printmaker Anita Klein has been painting swimmers for a while, but Covid lockdown has prompted her to create and bring together a whole body of swim-themed work - the subject of her exhibition 'Water' at Eames Fine Art Gallery (Bermondsey Street, London SE1) which we visited last week. There are swims in pools, in lakes, in the rain, in Italy, in Lake Windermere, and in London's Royal Docks which like many other swimmers this year Anita took to for the first time when so many other swimming spaces in London were closed. As Anita told 'Outdoor Swimmer' magazine (October 2020):  'Before lockdown I was definitely more of a pool swimmer, but I missed swimming so much, then I discovered the London Royal Docks and I realised it was possible to swim again.…Swimming at the Dock has been really beautiful. Have you ever noticed the reflections of the buildings? There are these buildings that are vertically straight i...

Our coldest and warmest swims of the year (so far?) took place on the same memorable day at the start of February 2020 in two nearby pools in the West Country. Portishead Open Air Pool The cold one was at Portishead Open Air Pool , 7°C with a few hardy swimmers and very welcoming staff followed by lunch in the volunteer-run cafe.  The story of the Pool is told in a book by John Birkinshaw, 'Celebrating Portishead Open Air Pool' ( Clevedon Community Press , 2018).  Its a tale familiar from many other pools - a municipal heyday (the pool opened in 1962), decades of under-investment and funding cuts threatening closure, and a community campaign to save the pool. In this case leading to the establishment of the Portishead Pool Community Trust, who took over running the pool from 2009. Mural by Emma Hill, 2018: The pool is next to Portishead beach, overlooking the Severn Estuary. Bristol Lido The warmer swim was just a few miles away at Bristol Lido in the evening. Of course the a...

Dock2Dock race (1.5k, 5k and 10k)  London Royal Docks, 12 September 2020 T-shirt design by Jonny Voss