Wild Swimming at Wolf’s Leap

Nothing finer than a day lazing by the river during the long hot balmy days of summer. Summer, you remember don’t you, all that warm sunshine, endless blue skies, day after day. Well you would if you were somewhere else in the world! In the UK such days were few and far between but back in early August we got one that coincided with a weekend and we took off to mid Wales to investigate Wolf’s Leap

I found this place in the rather excellent Wild Swimming guide by Daniel Start. There are several in the series including one on beaches and one dedicated to the South West (more treats from that book in upcoming posts). Rather unfortunate that I picked the coolest summer for a while to buy it but I now have an endless list of new places to visit

It’s tucked away on the lonely roads that lead across the Welsh Mountains between Builth Wells and the Cardigan Bay coast. The valley approach is just superb and after a cool wet summer the hillsides were a deep verdant green with the bracken in full growth. The river is broad and shallow for the most part but halfway along it narrows, dramatically in one section, and tumbles over a series of small cascades into deep pools

After a little explore and some close-ups of the bog (the hillsides in this part are very soggy) we found the perfect spot. Flat expanse of cropped grass next to a huge deep pool where the river emerges from an extraordinarily narrow gorge.

A picnic rug was spread out and while TBF and TJF dithered I plunged in. The water was astonishingly cold but clear and refreshing in a brown, bog drained sort of way. The sun however was warm and the sky blue so it was great to be able climb out and warm up quickly. Eventually TJF and TBF got in the water (TJS is not really into this wild swimming thing) and enjoyed their very cold dip

All that exercise set us up for what we do best, eat. We gorged on a fantastic picnic lunch, fresh crusty bread, pate, chicken and cakes for afters. I can’t think of a finer way to spend a sunny day than lazing on the grass with a good feast in spectacular surroundings with the chance of cool swim thrown in

To keep TJS happy (he was getting itchy feet by this stage) we took off for a walk. The edge of the crags above the valley looked like a good route and so it proved. After a short steep scramble we were up on the edge where the view back down the valley were superb.

We followed a series of thin sheep tracks along the edge before scrambling steeply back down to the road to return to the Funsters. Memo to self: mid-Wales is not best suited to walking in sandals!

Time for another swim to cool down. This time I took my camera with me and this time the water seemed to have warmed up considerably. I swam into the heart of the narrow gorge for a subterranean adventure. It was amazing that a river 20 feet wide for the most part, here flows through a cleft only a couple of feet wide. My photos don’t really do it justice (I still had the settings wrong).

A cuppa in the sunshine before we had to pack up and head home.

A cracking place for a lazy day and so far from anywhere that we only saw two other groups enjoying the facilities on such a perfect day. One for the future if we get a summer next year