Swim Snowdonia

Swim Snowdonia came about as I am one of those people who embraces change a little too much, never wanting to swim in the same place twice. A friend of mine was doing 30 days of biking in April 2014, and I didn’t have a bike so I decided I’d swim it alongside her, and swim every day for 30 days. There were no other rules; I have little interest in distance, times or temperatures.

At the beginning I thought it’d be interesting to see how many lakes I could swim by the time the first snow fell later that year, but then I grew interested in exploring all the permanent bodies of wa-ter in the hills all the lakes.

I now have an OS map of Snowdonia wallpapered to my kitchen wall. I mark the ones I’ve swum with numbers, and the ones I want to swim next have a different kind of tag. With around 250 lakes alone, what started off as a small project in my spare time, has turned into researching, planning and attempting to dip my toes in more than 400 permanent bodies of water. Aside from the lakes, there are quarry pools, rivers to explore, not to mention water created by man. I realise it could take me years to complete and has become a bit of a life’s work.

I’m quite dedicated to it – I took up fell running to get to them quicker. Some are a few hours drive away, and several hours walk in, so it takes a whole day to get there and back. I was already swimming all year round when I started. It was pretty cold, and I’ve grown more used to it as the years go on. Sometimes I think ‘am I ever going to do this?’ then I get a spurt on and get 30 done in a month.

In deciding where to swim next, a place has to catch my eye in some way. Sometimes it will be the name that draws me there, sometimes looking at a photo someone local has put on social media. I went to Afon Ystumiau at the weekend. A little river, it’s name has several meanings; gestures, fa-cial expressions, distorted. On the map it cut a beautiful shape and clearly related to it’s meander-ing path.

In swimming terms I don’t have a favourite type of swim or season. I like winter more purely from a creative point of view – the clarity of water is that much better. In winter I go for short swims, I do it for feeling alive, the sheer joy it brings. In summer I like blissful zen-like long swims. Swimming alone and with other people are both nice, just totally different kinds of experiences.

I’m a qualified mountain leader, so I like to think I can look after myself in the mountains. I always ensure I know what’s happening with the weather, I can get myself in and out of the hills and can navigate myself around happily, making common sense decisions when I need to. The lakes are all quite different depending on the mountain area they are in. On Snowdon and Cadair Idris they’ll be that clear blue water because of the geology. Across the valley the Moelwynion mountain range has a more peaty soil therefore the lakes are brown and orange – I like the tones of that water and the rivers that flow from them.