I love the outdoor community – HBL056

05/10/20 • 60 min

This week's guest is Helen and as we approach week... 7? 8? of lock down in the UK, it could not have come at a better time. Helen is a powerhouse of joy and fun. She shares all that positive energy in this interview, and like swimming outdoors, I felt better afterwards than I did at the start. What a gift. Despite having a broken ankle, Helen greeted me on our Skype call in full swimming gear - costume, hat, goggles and tow float, plus Polar Bear buff and medal. When we can't easily access the things that ordinarily keep us afloat, connecting with like minded people, doing silly challenges and committing to making the effort go a long way to helping us to survive, if not thrive. Thank you Helen for sharing your positive energy so generously. Things we mention you might want to look up Polar bear challenge, Cromhall quarry, Clevedon marine lake, South West Seals, Tooting Bec lido, Portishead popsicle, Winter swimming champs in lake Bled.

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Looking back at winter – TP052

This week's guest is Tina, and we spoke 3 weeks into coronavirus lockdown in the UK when we were both still trying to process what was happening. It is a quiet, reflective conversation, through which we learned how uplifting it was, actually, to talk about our winter swimming season just gone, even though wild swimming is inaccessible to us at the moment. Things we talk about Polar Bear Challenge, intermittent fasting, Parliament Hill Lido - fish event, Portishead popsicle event, ice mile

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The sea talks to you – SI053

Welcome to another Swim Wild podcast. This week I am speaking to Sally in Orkney about her first season wild swimming. It is a lovely, reflective conversation which took place with the back drop of coronavirus lock down in full force across the UK. This puts into sharp relief what things mean to us and their significance in our lives when they are temporarily, although we don't know how long for, out of our reach. Our realities through this crisis will differ depending on where in the world we live, and what access to open water we each might have. However you are coping, stay safe and well and hopefully we can all get back in the water soon. Things we mention you might want to know more about Orkney, Kirkwall, Orkney Polar Bears, Durness, Polar Bear Challenge