OVER the past several years, the practice of wild swimming has grown exponentially. What might once have been considered an activity reserved for the seldom few days of summer we get here in Scotland, wild swimming, or “cold water therapy” has become a routine – even necessary – part of people’s lives throughout all four seasons.
In 2006, the Outdoor Swimming Society (OSS) was established to raise awareness of people’s right to swim outside the lines of a blue, chlorinated rectangle. Their aim was simple: to empower people by “giving permission to swim wild”.
Kate Rew, OSS founder and creative director spoke of that time: “When we began … we really had to work to convince people swimming outdoors wasn’t dirty, dangerous and illegal. Lots of people’s grandmothers still did it – but it wasn’t an active movement.”
Sixteen years on, OSS has 100,000 members, with more than half a million visitors visiting their site in 2020 alone.
This record spike in site traffic is no coincidence; two years ago, as the pandemic forced gyms and public pools up and down the country to close, those who relied on swimming as a form of exercise and solace were left without.
On May 24, 2020, Google searches for “wild swimming in Scotland” suddenly peaked – this surge coinciding with a month without any visits to local pools – four weeks after the first UK lockdown was announced.
Though no official membership is required to participate, the Wild Swimming Scotland Facebook group has over 70.9k members – with dozens of pictures and videos uploaded every day of people swimming in the rain, wind, and snow.
One of its members, Jemma Martin (pictured above), is a mum of two and was diagnosed with autism later in life. Before she discovered wild swimming she said she was a “hermit”.
As of today, she has scaled 15 Munros, swam in Fingal’s Cave, camped solo, and managed to meet her best friend, who she described as her “soul mate”.
Jemma said swimming saved her life: “I wasn’t very happy for a long time. I was depressed, overwhelmed, although I didn’t know it at the time.”
She described how the shock of the cold water has helped to calm her overactive mind: “When I enter that water, my mind is silent. The cold water resets my entire system. My brain is focusing on the cold and allowing my body to move to swim, I have no thoughts and feel truly happy.
“After a swim that feeling stays – my emotional dial is down at a level where I can function better.
“Me and my best friend have swam almost every day for 8 months, climbed 6 or 7 Munro's together, ending each with a loch swim. We’ve went out at 3am and watched shooting stars. She's family now."
Gemma's favourite places to swim have been Fingal's Cave and the tidal pools along the Fife coastal paths: “My life now is grounded in nature – I’ve found healing and self-confidence.
"My daughter is eight – she's also autistic and has Crohn's. We had to get permission from her health team about wild swimming and when we got the green light it absolutely gave her a boost to her immunity.
“She only swims in the milder weather, but I can see a huge difference in her general health and well-being when she swims. We bond in a way that's almost primal – we are in nature and just enjoying what's free and untainted from societies expectations or stresses.”
In 2018, a study published in the British Medical Journal exampled the first case study of cold-water swimming being used as an effective treatment for depression.
The study treated a 24-year-old-woman who had been resistant to fluoxetine and then citalopram tablets.
A programme of weekly open water swimming was trialed, which “led to an immediate improvement in mood following each swim and a sustained and gradual reduction in symptoms of depression, and consequently a reduction in, and then cessation of, medication.” A year later, the woman was still medication-free.
Hazel Dale lost her father at the beginning of the first lockdown, and then subsequently her mother-in-law, best friend’s mother, and cousin to cancer in the space of year: “I had uncharacteristically hit a very low and dark spot. Cold water immersion therapy changed my life and saved it.”
Hazel has been practicing “cold-water therapy” since March of 2021: "I tell everyone I had a ‘Mr Miyagi’ moment as I looked out to The Trossachs and realised the enormity of the universe around me. It literally changed my life in an instant and I have never looked back.
“I have widespread arthritis too and I have enjoyed such a massive benefit physically.” Last year, Hazel submerged every day of November and raised £3000 for Cancer Research UK.
Hazel's favourite place to swim is Loch Lomond, though she was brought up in Kintrye and loves to swim the beaches around the area such as Carradale and Machrihanish Bay.
Before “wild swimming” entered the mainstream lexicon, there was outdoor swimming – or in Kate Rennie’s case, just swimming: “I have always swam outside. I was brought up in a remote area with no facilities, so I learned to swim in a river."
“It is a total sensory experience, and every swim is different – the light, the colour, the play or mood of the water and the touch, the sound and the scents always new.”
Oblivious to any reports of health benefits, Charles Cameron stepped up his yearly New Year’s dip to once daily during lockdown: “As there was nothing else to do, I started doing it most days and posting my pics to hopefully cheer people up and myself as well."
“It’s not changed my life much – I was retired when I started and pretty laid back anyway and did not have any ailments for it to fix."
“It was just so calming being completely submerged apart from my head and near enough floating. I know a lot of people say it’s great for this and that, but as I did not as far as I knew have anything wrong with me, so I don’t know if it's working or not.”
Gavin Neate started swimming after he left his job in 2015 to pursue his technology company, Neatebox.com, which designs solutions to help disabled people live more independent lives.
Gavin said he was working so hard to develop these solutions that he forgot to take time for himself: “In 2017 I started yoga, which helped me find focus outside of work. “With COVID I lost the yoga classes I loved but recently as I was now working from home discovered wild swimming."
“Where yoga was a gentle distraction, it is impossible to avoid being in the moment with wild swimming and it allowed me to focus fully on something outside of work.
"At the moment, I’m also only 3 minutes from the Atlantic Sea where I swim every morning. It is sore and challenging but every day I walk into the sea and focus on the very real shock which the water brings.”
Gavin’s favourite place to swim is Mellon Charles Beach in the Highlands near Aultbea – which is an old Ministry of Defence site and part of the WW2 Atlantic Convoy trail.
Sarah Redman, below, from Galloway and Southern Ayrshire, started her own business, Swim the Lochs, on the back of the wild swimming boom: “In 2021 I completed my Level 2 STA Open Water Swimming Coaching qualification, but with no intention of coaching!"
“My passion is getting women ‘of a certain age’ to experience the absolute joy of cold water immersion, and the smile on their face as they realise how absolutely empowering it is for mind, body and soul.
“I also set up a local open water swimming group. We are a fabulous group of ladies, all different ages and backgrounds who meet regularly for dips and swims all year round. I am so proud of this group who give each other so much support, both physically and mentally."
“For me, immersing myself in the deep, dark waters of a loch is the most peaceful and empowering experience.”
Caroline Timmins, 56-years-old and from the Borders, started swimming in 2020, and, as she calls, “dooks in skins” – just a swimsuit, shoes, gloves, and woolly hat.
Caroline has completed day, night, sunset and full-moon swims, all of which offer a swimmer a different kind of sensory experience.
Kate Rew from the OSS writes that: “Full moons have always symbolised and been used as touchstones for seasonal change. “They offer an ideal opportunity for you to immerse yourself in the outdoors and observe the flowing seasons under new light."
For brave people who want to try out one of these moonlight swims, February’s full moon is set to happen on February 16. It is a “Snow Moon” – named so after frequent snowfall experienced in the Northern Hemisphere around this time.
As more people begin to discover the powers of outdoor swimming, results from ongoing research into its mental health benefits will only become more comprehensive.
The practice of wild swimming is no longer reserved for the intrepid, Patagonia-clad elite, or those who can afford a three-figure neoprene wetsuit. Anyone with access to a clean, open body of water can swim outside, and feel the benefits to both mind and body.
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