The Ripple Effect

Description

Please Note: This book is currently available for delivery to the UK only.

A Celebration of Britain’s Brilliant Wild Swimming Communities

Each of us is just a drop.
But together we create ripples.

Wild swimming isn’t just an activity. It has been a movement, a wave that has surged in popularity across Britain, rippling out and spreading joy. And at the centre of it all are the groups and communities that gather at the water’s edge . . . to dip together, scream together, laugh together, and share stories and support.

From menopausal mermaids to student dippers, male mental health groups to Wim Hof enthusiasts, addiction recovery communities to skinny dippers, The Ripple Effect dives into what makes these groups tick and why so many people say it’s not just about the water but the marvellous pods of people they find themselves swimming with.

Product Details

Published: 28 September 2022
Format: 246x189mm, hardback
Extent: 256 pages
ISBN: 9781785304712

Authors

Vicky and Anna have been swimming together since 2018 when a mutual friend introduced them, saying, "You two both like wild swimming, maybe you should even write a book together". Within a year they had travelled the country, going on swim safaris, plunging into waterfalls and dipping in bays with some of the remarkable swimmers featured in Taking the Plunge. And they didn't stop swimming and writing there. They drew together the hive mind knowledge of the swim world in their The Art of Wild Swimming guides to Scotland, England & Wales and Ireland.

All the way through they have been dipping away with their own local groups, big and small, and marvelling at the joy and support swimming with others can bring. But it was a dip with a community in Ireland called the Ripple Effect that inspired this book and its title. From then on they started to see ripples of infectious love everywhere. They wanted to spread the news, to turn those ripples into words and images and put them out onto the ocean as a book.

Vicky Allan is a journalist who writes chiefly about the environment (and especially watery issues) for the Glasgow Herald. She is also the author of a book about the menopause, co-authored with television star Kaye Adams, titled Still Hot! and a creepy cat novel, Stray.

Anna Deacon is a photographer and writer who has also written a popular travel guide book titled Wild Guide Balearic Islands with her sister Lizzie, and published articles for The Guardian, Scotsman and many more. She also hosts the popular Instagram page @wildswimmingstories from which these books began.