Wild Swimming & Bluetits

I love wild swimming and have nearly completed my 2nd winter of swimming in the cold waters. Actually I found it harder last summer as I think my body thought the sea was not hot enough after the cold of the winter.

Bluetits Chill Swimmers https://thebluetits.co/

I met a few friends through the Slow Swimmers group on Facebook and we started swimming in the Deben River, Waldringfield a village on a estuary off the North Sea in Suffolk.

In October 2020 I discovered the Bluetit Chill Swimmers and decided to join them (a worldwide social enterprise group) and with the help of HQ set up Deben & Orwell Bluetits. I also encouraged fellow TGC Ambassador Natasha to set up Shingle Street just up the coast.

Fast forward to 2022 and we now have over 700 members, a large admin team (which I am so grateful for their help).

We have 4 group swims per week and everyone is encouraged to post when they are going and grab some friends

In the Summer when its warm enough to stay in the water longer we have trips out to meet other Bluetit groups and explore new places to swim (next month we have a bus trip to Hampstead Heath Ladies Pond).

The benefits of swimming are well known, but these are heightened (I feel) when in the wild, not only do you have the cold water benefits, there's the wildlife and the friendships. I find that outside you float on your back and take it all in, whilst in a pool its up down up down and no chill time.

For our first birthday I went through all the photos in our facebook group for a project and something I noticed was everyone smiles.

Of course swimming in the wild can be dangerous and we all have to take responsibility for our own safety, each time we go in we always look at the quality of the water, which way the tide is going as this impacts how strong the currents can be and in winter how cold it is, including the air temperature/wind chill as this can impact on how well you recover.

If this is something that you have considered, find your Bluetit Flock as every group welcomes beginners (we were all beginners ones and we are all still learning new things as we go along).