Night swimming deserves a quiet night or so the lyrics go, but what better night to choose for an outdoor swim than the 5th November Bonfire Night.

A novel alternative to Guy Fawkes Night we thought, take some logs for a camp fire on the beach to warm up afterwards, along with flasks of hot mulled wine. We’ve got great swimming wetsuits, glow sticks for safety oh and did I mention it’s ‘up north’ in Rydal Water, the Lake District.

The response from one of my friends at the suggestion was encouraging:

‘Hmmmm, hypothermic conditions, zero chance of rescue, slight chance of death. Count me in’.

Needless to say he was just being dramatic and no, he didn’t turn up!

Fire at Night

 

We lit our fire (very responsibly) by the edge of the lake, there wasn’t much beach left due to the amount of rain we’d had the previous day, changed into our wetsuits, had a quick nip of mulled wine and we were in, glow sticks and all, even Boot the dog had a glow stick.

Not wanting to tempt death we swam together just a 1/4 of the way across the Lake and absorbed our surroundings.

It was just beautiful; it was so very dark, we were surrounded by the dark silhouettes of the mountains encircling the lake. The silence was awe inspiring.

The fire glowing on the beach beckoned us back and we headed for shore.  That was enough; it had wet our wild swimming appetite for the night.

A few more scoops of mulled wine and we were all heading back along the Lake shore to the drawing light of the ‘Badger Bar’, just a shame it didn’t have a log fire too.

Join us on a Night Swim in the Lake District, we promise a warm welcome and a roaring fire.