Full Description
Why do so many of us step into the water? Compiled and edited by Rachel Jones, Toes in the Water explores the life-affirming and healing power of wild swimming. With insights from a wide range of swimmers, the book explores the community around wild swimming, interwoven with the mental and physical health benefits which swimmers gain from it. The featured swimmers share the connection they feel with the natural world, and how this can lead to a positive impact on the environment around them. Packed full of inspiring stories, Toes in the Water is a book that could change your life.
The featured swimmers include open-water coach and year-round outdoor swimmer Ella Foote, who describes how the swimming community has supported her and given her skills and confidence in the outdoors; meanwhile, Beth Pearson, co-director of the Outdoor Swimming Society, explains the motivation behind and evolution of creating a wild swimming community. Also, Yorkshire-based wild swimming guide Les Peebles reflects on how healing he finds being in the water and how much joy he finds in helping others to discover wild swimming; and Lindsey Cole, mermaid, adventurer and environmental campaigner, explains how she raises awareness of river pollution through storytelling and activism.
Contents
Introduction
COMMUNITY
Anna Deacon: A sense of belonging
Johnny Hartnell: Wheelie bins and swimventures
Beth Pearson: The OSS community
Ella Foote: Strength from strangers
CP Robinson: The coast is queer
Pauline Barker: The Polar Bear Challenge
Wendy, Lisa and Julia: Hampshire Open Water Swimmers
Colin Hill: The antisocial swimmer
Louise Owen: Friends old and new
Simon Harmer: The benefits of an outdoor swimming community
Katie Richards: Cold-water connection
Deb Phillips: Channel swimming
Stefan Hargrave: See you next week
Sara Barnes: The ghosts of Cow Pool
ENVIRONMENT
Alice Kloker: River bed
Sarah Shreeve: Sewage in our seas
Chris Thomas: 365 Sea Swim Challenge
Lindsey Cole: The mermaid, the otter and the big poo
Emma Harper aka Mischief the Mermaid: Aiming for an ideal - the ghost hunt
Susanne Masters: Tastes of water
MENTAL HEALTH
Catherine White: Waves of freedom
Beth French: The glacier
Dr Heather Massey: My life through outdoor swimming
Jo Clement: Rhythm of the ocean
Les Peebles: Helping others discover wild swimming
Kate Steels: The Ice Sevens
Mikayla Guidera: Freezbrury
Kathleen Wotton: The sea saved me
Loretta Cox: Discovering open-water swimming
Sarah Kennedy Norquoy: Swimming to reset
Rachel Ashe: Trying to fit
Contributors
About the editor
