It’s like you’re being pulled into this world – IG019 - a podcast by Karen Parry outdoor swimming

Do you remember your first intentional wild swim?

When it was a 'thing'. That needed thought and preparation, and possibly came with a like-minded group of people. Something beyond what we did as kids at the beach or lido.

For me it was like tentatively stepping through the wardrobe into Narnia.

I found a world of possibility, and strange folk who were friendly, and welcoming and open.

This week’s guest is at the beginning of that journey. And I almost envy her all the new experiences she has ahead of her, which will never be new again for me.

She says, “it is like you’re being pulled into this world” as she peeps beyond the fur coats inside the wardrobe to the other world beyond.

I can already feel the hold it has over her as she talks. Like a current in the water threatening, or promising, to sweep her away.

I smile as she recalls the envy she felt as she heard about a friend completing a long distance swim. I can remember looking at skin swimmers while I was still in neoprene, wondering what it was that set these other-worldly folks apart. Those who were capable of so much without any protection other than a swim hat and goggles, while I shivered inside my suit, fearful of asking anything more of my body within the cold water. I remember that envy. That peering. That feeling that the world through the wardrobe was where I should be. If I could only be brave enough to take the first step.

My experience is, that once you’ve taken that step, the pull is strong enough to sweep you away forever. Venturing further and further into a journey that is limitless.

I’m so looking forward to catching up with Isabelle again after she has completed her first open water swimming event and finding out in which direction the current is going to take her next.

Things we talked about

Serpentine swim, Box End, Bedfordshire, London Victoria Docks, Scafell Pike, Durdle Door, Galway Winter Swimming Club, Galway Bay, Tow Float Dry Bag, Killary Fjord swim, Lindisfarne, Barnburgh, Fausto Bathing Club, Sunderland

Further episodes of Swim Wild Podcast

Further podcasts by Karen Parry outdoor swimming

Website of Karen Parry outdoor swimming