chinny22 wrote:Talking about this last weekend with my mate (Another Aussie in London) We just don't get it.
Not camping in a campground isn't […]
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spiroyster wrote:Checkout 'wild swimming' (or at least thats what it's called in the UK), there are still many open air/sea pools in UK still in use (even in winter, nutters o.0).
Talking about this last weekend with my mate (Another Aussie in London) We just don't get it.
Not camping in a campground isn't "wild" camping, that IS camping!
"Wild" walking is just a hike
"Wild" swimming in natural water
We do understand there aren't many public areas where you can just set up camp or go for a walk without technically trespassing, but at least UK still has free beaches to swim in and wouldn't call it "wild" swimming.
OP's question.
I've Lived in Australia, Canada, UK, Italy and gone swimming in natural water with locals in each country.
I've visited many other countries and gone for a swim, Including the Nile in Egypt which we were told is safe up stream of the major cities
But my favourite and most surprised was Munich, Your in the middle of a large city and the river in the park is full of people and crisp clean water.
I've seen plenty of people in the rivers that run though Bern and Zurich, (Zurich does this especially well, with multiple swimming locations) but had broken foot so couldn't jump in 🙁
We are so far removed from nature, given any body of water in England there is a high probability its polluted, looks nasty or is owned by some bigoted tory land owner who keeps people off the land or phones the fuzz because they say 'they don't want to be liable in case of injury', but really its because they don't want their view spoilt or to see a pleb.
Walking and camping you just got to find something that looks wildernessy, wait for the rain, wind and clouds to come, and then you get the 'experience'. If you want to go swimming outside, you have to plan unless there is somewhere on your doorstep. It at least needs to look nice, water visibility greater than 3cm, and not leave you with weil's disease or something.
As a result I think a subculture has had to develop, there are books available and not only do they review places for 'wild' swimming, but also tend to give an indication of water quality. There are some gem locations still in England (not just costal) but you have to know them (quite a few in the south west, UK). Most of the water sports I have been interested in at some point in my life, certianly couldn't be done in a pool.
If you really want to 'get lost', this can only be done in Wales or Scotland. You never 'get lost' in England, just hampered by bad weather.