Wild Swimming in the River Wye

I spent 2 lovely hours wild swimming in the River Wye on Sunday. I explored this part of the river for the first time last week and thought I'd have another go this weekend. Starting at the bridge in Glasbury-on-Wye I headed upstream following the river as it weaved through the town. Although the water level was relatively low it was still deep enough to swim in comfortably. The steady flow provided a nice bit of resistance (I would guess probably about 2km/hr) but I managed to make steady progress and by the time I reached the end of the town I was swimming with only sheep, cows and the spectacular Brecon Beacons as my backdrop.

The previous week I had swum for probably just over a kilometre upstream before the river got too shallow to go any further. This week as I approached the end of my stretch I was waved over by a fisherman who politely informed me that that particular bit of the river was for private fishing only. I pointed out that I had been swimming in the river for nearly an hour at that point and had not seen any fish in the river worth wasting his Sunday on, but he seemed keen to continue his sedentary activity. As I made my way back downstream in the glorious sunshine and with the quiet, yet spectacular countryside all around me I couldn't really blame him.