Our favourite publishers Wild Things Publishing have sent us another book to review, this time a little closer to home covering walks and swims in the beautiful countryside of Dartmoor and South Devon.
The authors Sophie Pierce and Matt Newbury share their favourite swim/walks including wild waterfalls, secret lakes, river meadows and sandy seaside secret beaches. Rich with stories, photos and natural history, the book will appeal to wild swimmers, nature lovers and ramblers.
Like others in the series, the pages are crammed with detailed directions, maps and practical inspiration including downloadable route information which you can print out or take with you on your phone (a trusted Ordance Survey Map is also recommended). There are also handy tips such as checking the wind direction and tides before choosing a beach to swim from.
The first fourteen walk/swims take us into deepest Dartmoor and vary in distance from the short 3·5 miles Ivy Pools circular to the more challenging 12 miles Central Darmoor Lakes. All of them look amazing and incredibly sunny, but as it says on page ten “If you can see the moors clearly, it is going to rain. If you can’t, it already is”. Perhaps packing a cagoule might be a good idea.
Walking the moors is literally stepping back in time as you stride ancient clapper bridges, cross neolithic stone circles and swim abandoned stone quarries. Local legends abound, such as the mystery voice of Crazywell Pool that announces the name of the next person from the parish to die, and how touching the Tolmen Stone can cure whooping cough and rheumatism. Walk 11 looks particularly exciting and includes a climb up Elephant Rock before wooshing down ‘Sharrah Shute’ and popping out like a champagne cork into a huge pool of clear water.
The final fourteen walk take us along coastal paths and some stunning sea swims. These tend to be shorter, the longest being 6 miles, so you’ll have more time to splash around in the surf. There’s lots to see under the waves as well, including seahorses, sea slugs, pipefish and the occasional basking shark (they prefer plankton to humans so no need to be scared).
The area is not short of celebrity spotting either, both past and present. Audrey Heburn used to stay at Soar Mill Cove and Agatha Christie wrote two of her best sellers while staying on Burgh Island. The Cricket Inn at Beesands lays claim to Mick Jagger and Keith Richards’ first ever gig as the Rolling Stones and Kate Bush has a holiday nearby, all very Wuthering Heights.
Interesting for Brockwell Swimmers is Teignmouth Pier which in its heyday used to stage Water Polo matches where the local team competed and won in the Devon Championships for many years. Built in 1865, this magnificent structure once provided a landing stage for pleasure steamers and boasted a pavilion complete with ballroom. You could have marveled at the specter of Peg Leg Pete perform his daring stunt of setting himself on fire and diving into the waves below. A health and safety nightmare nowadays.
This is another inspirational book from a talented team of writers keen to spread their love of Wild Swimming. Thoroughly recommended.
Discount available to Brockwell Swimmers. Contact us for more details.