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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Lifestyle
Mark Rice-Oxley

‘You feel you’ve conquered the world’: a Thames swimmer on the river’s first bathing site in London

Swimmers with floats get into the water
Teddington Bluetit swimmers at the designated bathing site in south-west London. Photograph: Sophia Evans/The Guardian

Some people think we are odd for swimming in the Thames. “Isn’t it cold?” they ask with a shiver, like they are the ones who just took the plunge. Er, yes, that’s the whole point. Cold water ignites the central nervous system and reboots the mind.

“Isn’t it dirty?” they ask. Yes, sometimes, particularly when it’s rained. Then we don’t get in the Thames, we get in a rage instead, taking contamination measurements and signing petitions challenging the behaviour of the water company that spews sewage into the river.

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