Swim a mile with the current down the wonderful and secretive Tiddy estuary. Assisted by the out-going tide, this is an exhilarating and achievable swim, with boat support and the opportunity to exit to the shore if you become tired. You will be accompanied by the Kenwood Ladies of Hampstead ponds – authors of Wild Swimming Walks – and Daniel Start from the website wildswimming.com and author of Wild Swimming.
After a walk upstream the swim starts at a launch point in the woods where you can get changed and enter the water together. (Your clothes will be carried back to the start for you.)
The Tiddy is a small river which rises on Bodmin Moor, but near St Germans it becomes tidal and fills with seawater, creating grand meanders between meadows and woodland. The incoming tide quickly warms over the dark mud raising the water temperature to more than 20 degree on summer afternoons.
The Kenwood Ladies’ Pond on Hampstead Heath has been a swimming pond since 1926 and is the only pond on the Heath reserved solely for female swimming. Their book, Wild Swimming Walks, details 28 lake, river and seaside days out by train from London, all accessible by train, with maps, walks and numerous swims.
Daniel Start is the author of Wild Swimming, Hidden Beaches, Wild Swimming France and the Wild Guide series which won the Travel guidebook of the Year 2015. His latest book is Wild Guide to the Lake District and Yorkshire Dales.
Price £5
Buy tickets here.
All children under 14 must be accompanied by an adult with a ticket