13/52

If you are looking for a quick, free and easy adventure that you can fit into your day before work then this may well be the one for you.

Difficulty:

As long as you can swim and don’t mind getting out of bed fairly early, then this is a very straightforward adventure.

Time:

We completed this adventure in time to start work by 9. It is designed as a pre work adventure, however as with all of our adventures if you want to take longer you most certainly can!

The Adventure:

Now before we start it’s important to state that this adventure should be viewed as a template of sorts. What we mean by that is that not everybody will be within an hour of this exact spot on the river Thames, or even within an hour of the Thames.

However we hope this neat, really easy to achieve adventure will inspire others to head out for pre-work swims and enjoy the benefits of starting the day this way.

The hardest part of this adventure was by far and away getting out of bed at 5:30am. You know how it goes; you go to sleep full of enthusiasm and good intention, but when the alarm goes off the next morning you immediately reconsider… Is this going to be worth it?! Well this, like the vast majority of early kick off adventures, was most certainly worth scraping ourselves out of bed for.

So where did the idea come from? Last summer we had undertaken an adventure of slightly different proportions by canoeing the entire length of the Thames. On our first day we passed a string of WWII Pillboxes nestled into the banks of the river just outside Lechlade. This stretch of river is beautiful and with the addition of these stand out concrete structures, had really stuck in our minds. So this summer we had agreed that we would head back at some point and swim there.

Keeping one eye on the Met Office, we waited for the right summer conditions. In order to find the exact spot we used Google Earth to trace the curves of the river along from the small market town of Lechlade, searching for the unmistakable shape of the Pillbox roofs. Before long we had found them, where to park and mapped out how to get there.

The plan was simple: arrive just after sunrise, swim across, climb on the roof of the Pillbox, eat breakfast in the sunshine then swim it off.

For context, Pillboxes (named due to their shape) are solid concrete structures dotted around the country and were designed as a second line of defence during WWII but were thankfully never used for that purpose.

So along with a couple of mates we followed the map to the spot, filled a big plastic box with all of our breakfast stuff, stripped off and jumped into the water. The Pillbox was on the other side of the river and as we couldn’t find anywhere to park on that side, we used the plastic box and managed to get all of our things across, dry as a bone. Once there we climbed onto the Pillbox, laid out our rug and set about eating breakfast.

By this point it was 7am and the sun was hitting us perfectly, it was a warm July morning and there was not another soul in sight. By this time on a normal weekday we would still be in bed. Perched up there on the roof, neatly positioned in the meander of the river we were surrounded by nothing but green Oxfordshire countryside.

It was pretty glorious.

After we had filled our boots, we climbed back down and jumped into the water. It was the perfect temperature; warm enough not to take your breath away, cool enough to refresh you. We spent half an hour swimming up and down, taking in the experience before heading back to the bank near the car, drying off and heading off in our separate directions.

Starting the day this way was incredible. I’m sure we’re not the first ones to sing the virtues of an open water swim before work, however adding in the element of bringing a ‘posh’ breakfast and eating on top of the Pillbox  took the experience to the next level. It was the perfect way to cut through the monotony of the working week and we couldn’t recommend any higher.

As stated at the beginning you may well not live near the river Thames, however don’t let that stop you replicating something similar near you. Jump on Google and Google Maps even and find a swimmable body of water near you, keep an eye on the weather and then when the time is right get yourself in that water.

Pointers:

Breakfast - This is how to amp up the experience a couple of notches. Really not hard to do but for a sunrise start requires a little forward planning. Basically get yourself down to the shops the night before and buy what you need. We highly recommend a Thermos for coffee/tea and a small camping stove for bacon sarnies if you have the time! 

Safety - Unfortunately, the rise in open water swimming here in the UK has led to more drownings than any other year, so be careful. Do your research on where you plan to swim, go with mates and don’t get into water that you might not be able to handle. This is a really serious point - be safe please.

Conclusion:

If we had the climate and lived closer to swimmable water, we would do this every single week. It was such a good bite sized adventure that mixed up our week completely, invigorated us and putting us into a great mood. What’s more it is close to free!

The Numbers:

/ 1.5 hrs

/ 1 river swim

/ £7.50 Supermarket breakfast