If you’re ready to expand your horizons beyond your local beach or river, you’ll find the advise on planning a swim particularly useful. It covers how to conduct a DIY risk assessment, including restrictions on timing (due to tides), where you’ll enter and exit the water, and notes on ability levels within your group. How to find a place to swim is also covered, which is particularly useful in a climate of fraught access rights, where many swim spots feel like closely guarded secrets. Kate Rew started The Outdoor Swimming Society in 2006, long before the wild swimming craze had taken hold. She’s seen it move from a relatively niche activity to the mainstream. As someone who is “messianic” about outdoor swimming, she’s thrilled to see this surge in interest.

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A treasured guide for anyone who wants to venture into rivers, estuaries, lakes and seas for a dip, a moonlit swim or a great adventure. I loved this book! Fear of the deep is very widespread,” Kate explains. “There are so many stories about water. Like Jenny Green Teeth, a witch who would come out of the depths and drag you to your death if you went swimming - that was a way of keeping kids out of water in the past." Kate: “Reluctantly. Among OSS members, I’m known for not being very good at cold, but I just can’t miss my swimming. I’ve been trying to work on building up my internal fire before getting in and I have a new qigong routine to help with that. I like to get in, put my hands in, dab water on my cheeks, my chest, and all the places that might make me gasp, then one big exhale and the path is set: I’m getting in.” This is a wonderful – in the old sense of that term – and joyful romp of a book. Roger Deakin would have approved. Dive in.” It’s arguably the thought of that cold water that prevents people taking the plunge, especially on a cloudy day. But Kate has plenty of strategies for coping with the cold.

Hafsa Mughal went from complete beginner to English Channel relay swimmer, all in the space of five months. Now an open water lover, she tells us about her incredible experience being part of Optimum Nutrition’s Channel More project News from the world of outdoor swimming. Stay updated with stories and events that matter to the swim community. The United Kingdom is not renowned for its sunny weather, which means that outdoor swimmers are going to be immersing themselves in cold water for most of the year. As Kate explains in The Outdoor Swimmers’ Handbook, “British outdoor swimmers have to embrace 12 to 16°C as their home territory - from May to October, this is the river temperature in the UK.”

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There's something about a swim that's so freeing and so resetting," Kate says. "It makes life technicolour and it makes emotions resolve themselves without overthinking.” Night Swimming’ is a love letter to “the hour of the day when colours fall out of the world, day slips into the water, and a rich inky-blue night slides in, bringing with it a stillness, a quietness.” From practical pointers - such as how to be more visible in the water to poetic descriptions of moon bathing and bioluminescence, it’s pretty much guaranteed to inspire you to hit the water after dark. Today marked the first day of UltraSwim33.3, a brand new swimming event that has attracted 120 athletes from 23 countries to the picturesque shores of Montenegro. The Outdoor Swimmers’ Handbook is, to use Kate’s own words, “both poetic and practical.” Chapters one to four are dedicated to understanding lakes, rivers, seas and estuaries respectively. They contain everything from musings on toponymy to species field guides for particular habitats. Through her profound creativity and enthusiasm, Rew’s efforts and publications have literally encouraged, guided, and inspired millions of people – first starting in the UK and then expanding globally – to take to the open water.

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While the fear of being grabbed by a monster and pulled underwater while swimming might sound laughable on dry land, when you’re swimming across a cloudy lake, it’s far more pervasive. According to Kate, this fear doesn’t go away, but the anxiety can be managed. Swimming with your head up helps prevent fear of deep water. Photo: Getty. Between now and then our community has shared adventure and misadventure, philosophy and practical tips, as we have discovered and articulated what we need to know to swim in lakes, rivers and seas, from how to read weather to how to survive cold. Now Kate has wrapped this collective knowledge on the art, sport and science of swimming in a new book, The Outdoor Swimmers’ Handbook (Rider, also available signed in The OSS Shop).

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The Outdoor Swimmers’ Handbook is an accessible, knowledgeable guide to outdoor swimming. It is a brilliant balancing act between practical tips and a passion for the open water. Best of all, it emphasises the sport’s inclusivity; everyone, regardless of age or ability, is encouraged to try outdoor swimming. After you’ve finished reading it, you’ll be inspired to take the plunge too.There is a perception that you need lots of kit when getting started with wild swimming - in particular, the much maligned Dryrobe. This is not necessarily true. It’s important to be aware of the fact that you are going to be much colder ten minutes after you get out of the water than you are in it, so err on the side of caution. If you don’t feel cold at all when you get out, that simply means you can stay in for longer next time. There are no hard and fast rules on how long to stay in the water for - some people have far higher tolerance for cold than others do. Even experienced swimmers like Kate still feel the cold! Photo: The Outdoor Swimming Society.