Swimmingpod

Caitlin Kraemer is a graduate student in Berlin and has written an article 'Swimming in the City'. In this podcast we talk about Berlin as an outdoor  swimming city, and city swimming in general. A citizen-swimmer, she knows a lot about the Flussbad Berlin, which will open up the Spree Canal to open water swimming right in the heart of the city.  

Music is 'Noe Noe' by  Castro and 'Vienna Beat' by RadioPink, both on Blue Dot Sessions.  

Anna Deacon is co-author, with Vicky Allen, of the book 'Taking the Plunge', She is a photographer of considerable repute, and has a number of swimming-oriented projects on the go. She talks about these, and more.

Darrin Roles started and runs, with acknowledged support from many friends and family, the Lock-to-Lock events in the River Thames upstream of Oxford. These swims are variously from Eynsham to King’s Lock (4 kilometers), from Farmoor to King’s Lock (6 kilometers) and from Farmoor to Godstow Lock (10 kilometers). In the course of setting up these swims, he revived the Oxford Mile (renamed the Oxford Classic Mile) and set up two swim-runs, along the same stretch of the River Thames as the Lock-to-Lock swims.

The Lock-to-Lock events are now regular features in the swim calendar, and they show-case the River Thames as it flows through Eynsham and towards Oxford, this little corner of paradise. Darrin’s paradise – a man who sees the beauty of the local, of the thing before him, rather than chasing a far-off butterfly. And the local, the Thames at Eynsham, is astonishingly beautiful, growing more so the more you look at it. In this podcast, we discuss Darrin’s swimming life history so far – he is in his fifties and has much swimming him yet. We discuss the Lock-to-Lock events, their origins and their  development, and his plans for future swimming events in the River Thames in Oxfordshire.

Sian Richardson, Founder of The Bluetits Chill Swimmers, talks about how this social enterprise, with now more than 6,000 members across three continents, started and grew. From Wales, at the beach near the farm where Sian has lived all her life. Sian has style, panache and a passion for winter swimming which she is taking to the world. 

Alex Foster spent the winter months of 2019-2020 learning about winter swimming and cold water immersion at the Serpentine Swimming Club, in Hyde Park, London. This is podcast is about his immersion in the club and its waters, and his MPhil thesis in Medical Anthropology on this topic. The thesis is available at www.lxvswim.org. 

A nostalgia conversation between Jeremy Wellingham and Stanley Ulijaszek about the Lake Bled Winter Swimming World Championships which took place a year ago, February 2020. We could not have anticipated how the year would unfold, so full of optimism was this event. Helped by the full-to-the-brim enthusiasm of the thousand-plus participants and their friends and family, there was seriousness, friendliness and fun in equal measure. ‘It’s wonderful to be here, it’s certainly a thrill…’ 

Sandy Burnett is a Man of Music, especially amphibious in classical waters and jazz streams of consciousness. He is one of the most authoritative classical music broadcasters in the UK, with a huge and impressive CV, which he wears lightly.  He is also an outdoor swimmer, Summer and Winter. In this conversation we discuss great rivers like the Thames and the Rhine, the ocean at Aldeburgh, Suffolk, and music that has been inspired by the flow of water. The music in this podcast is Sandy himself, improvising, opening of Sea Interlude III, 'Sunday Morning by the Beach' from Benjamin Britten's opera Peter Grimes (Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Conducted by Sir Colin Davis), opening of Bach Cello Suite I (played by Pieter Whispelwey),  and Noe Noe and Vienna Beat, both of Blue Note Sessions. Find Sandy at - 

www.sandyburnett.com

https://www.sandyburnett.com/listeningclub

https://twitter.com/sandy_burnett?lang=en

Bada bada bada, Varje dag

Bada bada bada, Varje dag

Bada Ja, Bada Ja

Bada bada bada, Varje dag!

Less of poetry than  trance chant –

Swimming, swimming, swimming, every day

Swimming, swimming, swimming, every day

Swimming Yes, Swimming Yes

Swimming, swimming, swimming, every day!

Three women in Gothenberg, Sweden who swim every day, and bring joy, candles, bubbles and yoga on a surf-board, as well as their friends, to their project of a hundred swims into winter.  

Anne Katrine Kleberg Hansen is an all-seasons swimmer in Copenhagen, a city of the future where outdoor swimming is not just allowed but encouraged     

Judy Pearsall and Kristie Waller are two women who swim together regularly in Oxford and Oxfordshire. They both have a passion for swimming and they share some of their swimming thoughts, memories and plans.