Wild Swim Podcast

Alice joins me to speak about her Masters in Public Health, and the important role she believes that outdoor swimming could play in this area. Like many swimmers I've heard about the personal benefits of open water swimming, as well as experiencing this myself. Alice describes how this might work on a wider, population level, […]

Author Kerry Andrew joins me to talk about SKIN, a story of mystery, myths and – of course – swimming. SKIN follows the journey of eleven-year-old Matty. Joe, father to Matty, has disappeared, and nobody will explain where he's gone, or why. Kerry captures the joy of outdoor swimming as Matty finds peace in the water, […]

COVID-19 put many things on hold, including swimming, with many people unable to access the water. So what's it been like for wild swimmers? In this episode I speak to swimmers about their experiences, including those who put training on hold, and those who started wild swimming for the first time. Many swimmers – including […]

Lenka Janiurek joins me to discuss her memoir “Watermarks: Life, Death and Swimming”, and shares how water and swimming empowered her to write about her remarkable life. We talk about how swimming has given Lenka strength, and has helped her when facing life's challenges by providing a chance to be playful and gain a fresh […]

In 2020, Jo Jones took on the Bristol Channel, following in the footsteps of Kathleen Thomas, the first person to cross the channel almost 100 years earlier. But things didn't go to plan, and with the open water swimming season coming to a close, a broken boat and bad weather put the swim under threat. […]

P B Hughes is a cold water swimmer and poet from London. In this episode she describes the courage needed to attempt cold water swimming, and observes that this courage is something she's been able to take strength in during difficult times. She also describes the parallels between cold water swimming and her creative work. […]

Tamsin Calidas followed her dream of moving from London to a remote Scottish island. Relocating and adjusting to island life wasn't without its challenges, and Tamsin shares how sea swimming and finding a bond with nature has helped her overcome those difficult times, and has now started to inspire her creative work. I love how Tamsin describes […]

Shannon Keegan has a personal relationship with Lake Memphremagog. It's the place that inspired her to take part in her first open water swim event, and where she caught the wild swimming bug, so it's no surprise it's somewhere that she's returned to multiple times since. In this episode she talks about swimming across the […]

I share my once in a lifetime experience of swimming from the Golden Gate Bridge to Alcatraz. Not quite the route of the legendary swim from the prison, but close enough (I'll have to go back one day!) I can't swim right now due to lockdown conditions, but I can reminisce about swimming! From being […]

Adventurer Matt Williams on his incredible challenge to be the first person to swim every lake in the Lake District! Matt shares his feelings ahead of the challenge – and how he needs more socks! Then we catch up again to find out how he got on, and the unexpected highs and lows on the journey.

My experience of my first marathon distance swim, swimming the Outdoor Swimming Society's Dart 10k from (very early!) start to finish. I got really lucky with perfect conditions that definitely made it easier than it could have been. In this episode I talk about the highs and lows of the swim and my thoughts on […]