“Wild swimming”, as it is now known, is growing in popularity across the UK. It is increasingly featured in the press and on social media, often coupled with intensely romantic language. I’ve never been a fan of the phrase “wild swimming”; in Snowdonia, where I grew up, we always just called it swimming. Now you can buy a Wordsworth-themed wild swimming package holiday and join her. Are we swimming while Rome burns, projecting our own 21st century narcissism on to a natural world we’ve treated with contempt?

Source: The Guardian January 29, 2020 08:00 UTC