Rob Fryer's Wild Swimming Guide, 2012/3 edition

The book for traditional sites in rivers and lakes
920 sites: 650 in the UK, 170 in France + 100 overseas +Ratings + Grid Refs + Postcodes + Maps + Disabled Access+ 16 page index used as a Wild Swimming Database by RALSA and a Wild Skating section

This massive work is the culmination of 13 years' research. Call it wild, open water, or outdoor swimming, this book contains more information on river and lake swimming sites than any other known publication. The index, with its site ratings, enables you to rapidly select the best place for your swim, the post codes simplify the use of satnav, while the Grid Reference pinpoints it on an OS map. (Grid Refs can be converted to GPS readings on www.Streetmap.co.uk). The chapter maps show only selected swims so that a quick overview of a region is simple. As chair of England's only river swimming club (Farleigh) and of the River & Lake Swimming Association, Rob has appeared frequently on TV. Inspired Roger Deakin's Waterlog, and encouraged by him, Rob then started work. Of necessity it is in directory format, but he has added colourful splashes of anecdotes and social history in his inimitable quirky style. He has assiduously sought out traditional wild swimming sites (Rob believes that, like a treasured heirloom, knowing the "provenance" of a site adds to the enjoyment of swimming there.) and wherever possible the names that local swimmers use for them together with other local words. For instance: what exactly is a goyle?. The vast majority of UK locations, have been visited and rated by Rob, so you know exactly what to expect. The book is liberally illustrated throughout. The two additional chapters on wild skating contain practical detail as well as recent and early history. (What is a skating stave?) Whether you are a committed wild swimmer or simply a parent looking for somewhere to take the kids, this is the guide for you.

Some people (fishermen?) want this book banned! A major retailer of ours has received requests to stop selling it, without success.

This revised and extended 2012/3 edition, which contains 50 more swims in England, Wales and Ireland, is now in stock again

The 2011 edition is now out of print. Order here online or from any bookshop (ISBN 978-0-9538465-5-9), but Amazon are not directly supplied, because they lay down terms which we cannot agree to. However discount copies are available for just £10 by arranging to collect from Warminster, Wilts. Please ring mobile to arrange.

Previously known as “Rob's Directory of Cool Places”.

242pp A4 monocolour, paperback, £14.95 inc UK post.

BUY NOW   T:01985 847168, M: 07733 191395

UK inc Post £14.95
Europe inc airmail £19
World inc airmail £25