Lyme Regis on the south coast of England is an old and beautiful town. The picturesque River Lym runs through it, easing past quaint houses, leafy banks and beautiful beaches before flowing into the English Channel. The locals, though, keep their dogs on a tight leash near their river. And you won’t see anyone dipping their toes in it during hot weather. The reason? High levels of potentially dangerous faecal bacteria. A polite way of saying it’s a river full of literal crap.
One of those locals is Giles Bristow, a member of the Lyme Regis RNLI (Royal National Lifeboats Institution) crew and avid open-water swimmer, who says, “Our river has been declared ecologically dead because of sewage – how can that be? It’s tragic.”
