The man behind a Facebook page for one of Dunmurry's hidden gems says the cooling-off spot in the Colin River is offering people fantastic physical and mental benefits.
Pearse McCann started going down to the "Dunmurry Dippers" spot on Black's Path about three and a half years ago.
He says it has grown in popularity as people seek out a way of cooling off after exercise or just a way to clear their head.
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"I had a friend who hurt his back and one of the therapies was cold-water therapy, so he was going into the water to help relieve the pain in his back," Pearse told Belfast Live.
"So it started from that, I started to go down from about three and a half years ago.
"The hardest part was getting myself up at seven o'clock every morning!"
Pearse gradually started to deepen out parts of the river to allow for the ability to swim in it.
"I'm not a strong swimmer but I can practise my swimming in there - I just imagine it's a swimming pool in Spain," he laughs.
"It only really takes off when the sun comes out and you'll have a load of the younger ones out.
"But I would say that if you're going down you should take someone with you and especially the younger opens should always have an adult with you.
"And I would say take a pair of old shoes or beach shoes with you, it just helps protect the feet in case there's any stones on the bottom or anything."
He said people were seeing a huge benefit in coming down from a social, mental and physical perspective.
"The mental health benefit of it is brilliant though - the thing is, no matter when you go in, the water's cold, so all you think about is keeping moving to keep warm," he said.
"So whatever's in your head goes out because you have to keep warm and it just clears your head.
"See for waking you up first thing in the morning and clearing a groggy head, it's absolutely fantastic.
"There's footballers going ion and even runners are going in - the runners go in to the tops of their thighs to help their muscles.
"I'm not an expert in that, but if I've a sore back, after five or 10 minutes in there, it loosens up, it's fantastic."
And Pearse said there has been real buy-in from those using the river, in terms of maintaining the area.
"There's one guy as well who has a black bag and he goes down every Sunday morning and tidies up litter around the forest and the path," he said.
"And even the young ones too are starting to use the litter bag - it means that it's their place too, it's their spot, with everybody looking after it.
"It's everybody's river so it's great to see."
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