Loch Insh Credit: Bernie McGee
Take a dip in one of the stunning lochs of the Cairngorms, splash around in the river pools on Arran, step out from a deserted white sand beach on remote Great Bernera, swim right up to a waterfall on the River Pattack, or, for something a little different, swim in flooded quarries on Easdale or delight in the easily accessible tidal pools in Fife. Scotland is a wild swimmer’s paradise, as long as you like cold water! There are over 25,000 freshwater lochs and lochans, along with more than 125,000 kilometres of rivers and streams, varying from deep, wide Lowland rivers to small Highland burns. There are also around 18,000 kilometres of coastline (including numerous sea lochs). With so much water, we are certainly spoilt for choice when it comes to swimming.
Swimming Wild in Scotland is the culmination of two years of writing and research (with many more years of swimming around Scotland before that), personally testing out thousands of locations before narrowing the selection down to just over 100 of the best river, loch and sea swimming spots around Scotland’s mainland and islands. I have loved swimming in every place I have included in the book, all for different reasons. I hope you enjoy them too!
Loch an Eilein
With its fairy-tale castle, spectacular mountain scenery and ancient Caledonian pine forest, Loch an Eilein really is the quintessential Highland swimming location. This used to be my lunchtime swim spot when I worked in an office down the road. Not many people can say they just popped out for a swim around a castle in their lunch break! Loch an Eilein (pronounced Loch an Yellen) is Gaelic for ‘Loch of the Island’. The castle on the island was probably built in the fourteenth century and added to in later centuries. It was used as a place of safety, where locals could hide from raiding clansmen who used the Thieves’ Road to sneak down into Strathspey to steal cattle.
THE SWIM