Wild Swimming Spain

With much excitement do I reactivate my humble blog to bring you a bookish post on 'Wild Swimming Spain' [fanfare]! Books and swimming - what's not to like?!

It's by John Weller (aka my dear and clever friend Poolside Percy, who I know through The Swimmer and has regularly featured on this blog) and his most excellent, half-Spanish co-author, Lola Culsan.

OK so owing largely to my poor time-keeping and organisational skills the book has already been reviewed by so many august organs (eg the Guardian and H2Open Magazine) that I've been scooped more times than a tub of tutti frutti.

Hot off the press

But here nevertheless is my take - including exclusive report of...

The book launch

This took place one Thursday evening in April, at the ever pleasing Stanfords book and map shop in Covent Garden.





















I arrived unfashionably early as is my wont, affording ample time to partake of a complimentary glass of Rioja and reserve a row of seats with my swim bag and towel as though at a luxury resort, before tracking down nervous John/Percy for a spot of encouragement and light pre-heckling.

Some of the usual Icicle suspects were in evidence, including Liz who deftly insinuated herself between the projector and an antique mahogany drinks cabinet to take up her seat.





















A touching array of Percy's family, including his mother, son Danny and an assortment of sisters, were also in attendance.

I'm quite a fan of the lecture format under most circs, and one about wild swimming delivered by well-loved friends is about as good as it gets. Percy began his part of the talk with tales of learning to swim at some baths in North London - "You could get a Wagon Wheel in the cafe afterwards but otherwise the 70s were a bit shit as I recall." Apparently it solved the problem of having only a tin bath in the kitchen at home.

Mini Percy at Parli Hill lido in the 70s

Poolside Percy and Lola took turns to recount the journey they embarked upon last summer to create the book - amazingly covering 3,500 km in their 20-year-old camper van over 6 weeks, and researching all the swimming spots themselves (through a clever combo of Google maps and speaking to locals), with Percy as photographer extraordinaire to boot.

Of the many anecdotes, for some reason the one that's stuck most is the tale of the sleeping bag that escaped from the van and went for its own wild swim one night.

Swim Lola Swim

The book is all about ditching the bland hot beaches for secluded and verdant inland swims in rivers, lakes and waterfalls. And a top tip from the  horse's mouth: if a swim spot seems crowded, head a couple of hundred metres upstream and you'll probably have the place to yourself.

I won't go into a detailed description of the book's many and varied swims, which of course all look mouth watering, but top of my wish list would be:

• pretty much the whole region of Galicia - known as 'el pais de los mil rios' or 'the country of a thousand rivers', which sounds like a hundred heavens to me. It includes the Rio Tambre, "a place to release your inner otter." I like to think my inner otter is just below the surface, leaving a trail of bubbles
• Lago Ubales in the Asturias region, a glacial mountain lake that is a natural infinity pool egad!
• the Pantano Del Porma reservoir, with its designated nudist swimming spots and "stunning views across the lake", presumably whichever way you're looking
• Embalse de Mediano in the Aragon Highlands, which still contains a church tower from when the village was flooded. At high water you can swim through the open belfry!

And Percy's favourite? A wide sweeping bend in the River Mino in Galicia, where "you can swim forever."

Interspersed with all the swimming infos are little snippets of Spanish customs and folklore, such as the traditional Cabrales blue cheese served with 'sidra' (cider) poured from head height in Asturias, as well as fragments of Spanish poetry on a watery theme, highbrow literary references (Laurie Lee - Sidra with Rosie?) and a touching photo of a goat on p.32.

The book also contains a brilliant Spanish swimming phrases/glossary section, so you can ask such useful questions as "Where is the river/waterfall/pool/lake/reservoir?" and "Where is the nicest section for swimming?" helping you to avoid "la molina/presa" (the mill/weir) and generally make the most of "natacion en la naturaleza"!

Congratulations John and Lola!

Wild Swimming Spain costs £15.99 and is published by Wild Things Publishing www.wildswimspain.co.uk/