Swimmingpod

There is a strong tradition of outdoor swimming in Oxford. Writer Iris Murdoch said something like this “On hot days in the Oxford summer my husband and I manage to slip into the Thames, a mile or two above the city. The art is to draw no attention to oneself, but to cruise quietly by the reeds like a water rat". A recent exhibition in Oxford showed a map of bathing places in or close to the city centre, and there were many. There was Wolvercote, Black Jack’s Hole, Fiddler’s Island, Tumbling Bay, the Sheepwash, Boney’s Bridge, St Ebbe’s. Stump Pool, Sunny Meade, St Clement’s, Milham Stream, Deep Martin, Long Meadow Bush, Codger’s Island, Astons Eyot, Saunder’s Bridge. There was also Parson’s Pleasure, Long Bridges, Port Meadow, and Iffley.  In this podcast, there are accounts of swimming in the latter four swimming spots in Oxford, extracts from 'Memories Like Water, Swimming in 65 Places at the Age of 65'.

Darrin Roles started the Lock to Lock a single swim event in the Thames in 2015, and it has grown into a series of events and distances. The first year the event was from Eynsham to King’s Lock (4 kilometers), and in subsequent years, swims from Farmoor to King’s Lock (6 kilometers) and from Farmoor to Godstow Lock (10 kilometers) were introduced. This Wild Swim series is known for being set in locations of natural beauty in West Oxfordshire. In the course of setting up and running these swims he set up two swim-runs, along the same stretch of the River Thames as the Lock to Lock swims. In this podcast Darrin talks about the Lock to Lock series, and what an amazing stretch of river the Thames is, from Eynsham into Oxford.

This podcast is about my practice of swimming to work, the last of which took place in 2022 when I retired. A swim to work for me was 8 kilometers, from Eynsham Lock to Port Meadow, Oxford. My final swim to work was on a Friday, when I had been accompanied by several friends, to make it a memorable one. While previous swims to work had started early in the so that I could get to work on time – my work place has a shower and I keep a change of clothes there – this one started at the civilised time of nine am, and was followed by a royal welcome by Neil Scott onto his boat on Port Meadow. A red carpet, someone to help me change, pastries and fresh coffee. The extract is from the book, Memories like Water, an account of my swimming in 65 places at the age of 65 years 

Jeremy Wellingham and Mike Harris are both open water swimmers, Jeremy in Oxfordshire, Mike in London. Both swim nationally and internationally too. Both write swim-inspired haiku. In this podcast they talk about their swimming experiences, and what it takes to write this Japanese short-form poetry. Water features widely, and thinking poetically shapes their awareness of the environment as they swim.