Swimhiking - The latest adventure in Lakeland!

Britains leading exponent of the sport, Peter Hayes says "With swimhiking you are freed from the constraints of hiking. On foot, rivers and lakes become a barrier, but if you swimhike you can go much further, or at least in more directions"

Peter has been swimhiking since 2002 when he cobbled together an old rucsac, polythene bag and childs armbands to create the 'Swimsac', an all pupose device that acts as an over the shoulder rucsac which converts to a double strapped flotation device that in turn fastens around the swimmers body, offering not only a dry place to keep your clothes and sandwiches but also an air filled life jacket type support.

The swimsac allows walkers to take on more routes, to visit islands on lakes, to cross rivers where there are no bridges.

I have seen swimmers crossing open stretches of water in the Lake District. I remember once watching a pair crossing Rydal Water, as we continued along the shoreline I remember thinking how brave they were ... and also, where were their clothes? Then we stumbled accross a pile of rucksacks and boots. I thought at the time they were risking it a bit by leaving all their valuables for all to see. Peters idea solves this problem ...take it with you!

I remember once working as a leader at an outward bound center in the Lakes. We had a group in from the army, and it was our task to set them a challenge. That challenge turned out to be crossing Brothers Water using only the materials they found lying around on the shore and a couple of plastic drums and some rope we took up there. Foolishly, as group leaders, we offered to cross the lake with them .....Not good. The raft collapsed ..... I have never been so cold in all my life!

Of course, swimhiking is not for everyone. You must be a confident strong swimmer, happy to cross open water and of course be able to put up with very cold temperatures. But if you feel this is for you, and you want to take your fell walking to another level, why not give it a try. Peter has written a book called Swimhiking in the lake district ... its a great read ...