Scottish aquatic adventures that go beyond wild swimming

As an author of six books about wild swimming, over recent years I've seen how swimming has developed its own subgenres, or combined with other outdoor activities to create fresh fusions, from swim-yoga to wild sauna.

For those who want to add extra adventure, mindfulness or challenge to their swims, therefore there are plenty of new workshops, retreats and holidays, as well as ideas to inspire expeditions. Here are just a few.

Swim from a sailing boat

Swimmers off Provident sailing boat (Image: Steve Jones)

While this may not be the cheapest way to get your swim kicks, the romance of plunging into the water from a sailing boat and swimming to a remote, idyllic shore is hard to beat. It's also a chance to swim in waters you might never otherwise reach. There are a number of crewed, classic sailing boats offering swim treks, often with experienced swimming guides. One of these is the beautiful Provident, the century-old Brixham Trawler that had a starring moment in The Traitors  show,  and which says it will anchor "close to remote islands", or pick swimmers up "after they swim through an interesting strait". There’s also the Stravaigin, which offers a trip around Skye and the Small Isles, guided by Dan the Merman and SwimTrek expeditions on the Lady of Avenel.  Most, however,  are now booked up for 2024, but there’s always, when it comes to living the sail-and-swim dream, 2025.

‘Find yourself’ in a cold-water retreat

Image from the Ripple Effect by Vicky Allan and Anna Deacon (Image: Anna Deacon)

“It’s always ourselves we find in the sea,” wrote EE Cummings in his poem ‘Maggie and Milly and Molly and May’. I often think of this line in relation to swimming, or even just dipping, as therapy. The water can be an ideal place to go on a journey of personal discovery and there is a growth in retreats designed as a kind of water therapy and escape from busy lives. One of these, for instance, is psychotherapist Ange Cameron’s Wild Compassionate Warrior retreat. Cameron, who knows how swimming can help through some of the toughest times, also delivers regular evening mindfulness and swimming sessions that help women take what’s learned in the water into their wider lives.

Go hot and cold at a wild sauna

Elie Seaside Sauna, Fife (Image: Suzanne Black)

The latest trend in swimming is to take your cold with some hot, and, with the sea in Scotland never much above 18C, it’s possible to alternate those thrills by visiting one of the growing number of shoreside saunas. My favourite regular towel spot is at the Soul Water Sauna right on Portobello promenade, just a hop across the sands to the North Sea, and providing spaces in community sessions as well as group bookings. But there are also the wonderful Elie Seaside Sauna, Haar on St Ninan’s beach, Shetland, and Wild Scottish Sauna at Kingsbarns, plus many more firing up this year.

Plunge with new pals

The Edinburgh Blue Balls group

You don’t have to swim on your own. A characteristic of the swimming community is how welcoming it is, and many dippers like to go on tour, visiting other groups, who are more often than not up for sharing a splash and a warming cuppa, as well as tips about their local waters. My most recent book, The Ripple Effect, co-authored with photographer Anna Deacon,  was all about the marvellous and myriad groups that have bloomed around Scotland’s shorelines, particularly since the pandemic. From Fife’s Pittenweem Menopausal Mermaids to the Blue Balls of Portobello or, dedicated ice-bathers, The Polar Bears, their names speak volumes about the playfulness involved. Best port of call  for those wishing to find such pals is a search on Facebook or Instagram.

Hike and swim

Hikers walking to a swim spot on Skye (Image: Anna Deacon)

A swim can be as much about getting there as it is about the dip itself – and there are few things more refreshing than a plunge after a hot, sweaty walk. Whenever I’m doing a long-distance walk, I try to locate a spot and schedule a dip. But some take a swim spot as a destination, whether Loch Skeen after the 2.5 hour hike up the Grey Mare’s Tail waterfall near Moffat, or a stroll around the easy trail around Uath Lochans followed by a dip in the delightful pools. My book, The Art of Wild Swimming Scotland, featured ambitious walk-swims by The Elaborate Swimmer, Lochan a’Choire via the two-hour trek from Creag Meagaidh, and Blackwater Reservoir, reached via an eight-mile walk. Both are strictly for experienced swimmers and hikers.

READ MORE: 

• A sweat with a view: The wild sauna trend sweeping Scotland
• Stone cold sober: Wild swim groups helping alcohol recovery
• Scotland's secret and spectacular waterfall swimming spots

Swim to an island

Some island swims are relatively easy - a short stretch across a loch, like the castle-island of Loch an Eilien in the Cairngorms– but others are more of a challenge. For such a trip, a swim guide and coach operator is particularly useful. My favourite island swim, of those I've done, was to Pabbay, off Lewis, on a trek with Norma Macleod of Immerse Hebrides. The sun shone, one of the swimmers turned out to be an opera singer who sang under the giant rock arch of the isle, and the trip included a trek to a pick up boat in an idyllic cove at the other side. Immerse Hebrides even offers a swim tour from the north to the south of the Outer Hebrides, taking in ten islands.

Dip in a tidal pool

Pittenweem Menopausal Mermaids from The Ripple Effect book (Image: Anna Deacon)

If your mood is for something safer and more protected,  there’s no better way to get a glide through the brine, with a little more security, than a tidal pool. Many of these old coastal features, relics of a time when these were the local outdoor swimming pool, have been restored recently, including a series along the Fife Coastline: St Monans, Pittenweem and Cellardyke. Under restoration, and partly tidal, is the magnificent Tarlair outdoor pool complex near Macduff, Aberdeenshire.

Swim-yoga

Yoga on the beach (Image: Simpsinns)

Twinning yoga with swimming has long been a trend, and there are increasing numbers of retreats dedicated to the two. West Coast Wellness, for instance, offers day retreats that combining in its geodesic dome with dips in Loch Fyne, a sauna and locally produced food. Wild Roots Highland Guiding mixes walking, swimming and yoga at Loch Ossian, or there’s SwimWild, run by legendary open water swimmer Alice Goodridge, which is taking a break this year but will be back in 2025 with its swim and yoga retreats.

But it may also be that you are in easy reach of a local swim-yoga session, as these are popping up all around the country. Top go-to session to try has to be one of the Soulful Sundays run by Natalie Valenti on Loch Lomond, and now at seven more locations across Scotland. Don’t be surprised if you see TV stars and presenters of Jules and Greg's Wild Swim, Greg Hemphill and Balamory’s Julie Wilson Nimmo down at the shore.

Go waterfall bagging 

Vicky Allan at Rha falls from the book  Taking The Plunge (Image: Anna Deacon)

The pursuit of a great waterfall plunge pool is one many swimmers delight in – and Scotland has a wealth of them. Skye, of course, is particularly great for this – and not just the Fairy Pools – as I discovered on one trip with the swim guide, Matt Rhodes. The joy of waterfalls is also about finding the more secret pools, and that's what the true waterfall-baggers are all about.

But it's worth pointing out that waterfalls are changeable and sometimes dangerous things. Their mood alters depending on whether heavy rains have driven them into full spate, or drought reduced them to the whimper of an old-fashioned shower. Take a good swim around and check what’s under that dark or roiling surface, before you consider any jump or dive in. Great waterfalls for swimmers include Eas Chia-aig, Lochaber, Lower Pattack Falls in the Cairngorms, Campsie Glen waterfall, Falls of Falloch near Stirling and Linn Falls near Aberlour.

Wim Hof it

Cold water immersion, from The Ripple Effect book (Image: Anna Deacon)

Though Scotland’s waters are not exactly warm at any time of year, for some, come summer and autumn, they simply aren't cold enough - and the question is how to get their chill fix. These are the truly cold obsessed, and, with ice baths and tubs all the rage on social media, their numbers are growing.. Cold immersion therapies, especially the Wim Hof method, are becoming increasingly popular, particularly following the Ice Man’s Channel 4  show, Freeze the Fear ,and other media attention. It’s possible to book into workshops, or even retreats dedicated to developing the method. A list of certified instructors can be found at www.wimhofmethod.com