Cheese and onion sandwiches

River dips in the Swale in what felt like an endless summer. Jonathan Cowie shares his memories of river swimming. 

One of my earliest memories of river swimming is in the upper reaches of the River Swale in Swaledale in the Yorkshire Dales. It was a hot summer day and I remember my mum and grandma lugging our big blue cool box and bundles of blankets and towels through narrow stiles and across fields, past grazing sheep. With my brother and sister – and two dogs in tow – it must have been the school holidays, a day out in the Dales to keep us occupied as the weeks of what seemed like endless summer holidays stretched ahead. 

When we talk of river swimming we often think of big rivers and long swims: challenges like the Dart 10K, the Thames Marathon and the Bantham Swoosh are all bucket list swims for UK swimmers. One of my favourite river swims ever was the Little Red Lighthouse 10k in New York in the River Hudson. But swimming is more than distance and challenge, it is playtime, setting aside our daily worries and cares, reconnecting with nature and ourselves. 

I can still feel the cool water that pushed against my body as my brother and I played in the river on that summer day 40-odd years ago. The Swale is Britain’s fastest flowing river but as the young river tumbles down Swaledale from its source there are rapids and small waterfalls to play in. We pushed against the current, holding on to cold and slippy rocks, as my sister played in the shallows, our skin the colour of tea in the peaty water. No doubt there were cheese and onion sandwiches for our picnic lunch on the grass by the river, spread out on our massive picnic blanket that was always covered in sand and dog hair, watched over by beady-eyed sheep. 

While you might not want to eat cheese and onion sandwiches on a dog hair-covered blanket, playing around in the shallows of our smaller rivers is a happy way to spend some time thinking of nothing but the present. Especially in a summer heatwave, why not follow your local river to its upper reaches where the water is cooler? Rapids and waterfalls, sudden deep pools where you can lazily float as the sunshine dapples through the trees, explore how reconnecting with playtime makes you feel. Take your friends, build a dam, find a rope swing and launch yourself into the water, enjoy the feeling of slippery rocks under your feet.

My local river in Cumbria, the Kent, and its tributaries likewise affords many opportunities for play: from death-defying leaps into deep pools to waterfall jacuzzi tubs (which in the winter are bone-bitingly cold) and short deep stretches where you can swim into the current and not get very far at all! This month I challenge you to forget your Garmin, tow float and training plan and to just dick about in the shallows for an hour. Cheese and onion sandwiches are optional!