My love for Wild Swimming continues to grow. I could go on, AND on, about how much I love that I’m finding new locations, and, how I’m getting brave enough to go on my own, and how much it’s helped my mental well-being… which I will, just probably in another blog post another time.

This blog post is about Wild Swimming in Exmoor.

Why Exmoor?

Because I’ve just returned from a lovely week away with my Mum and Padfoot (our family dog) in Exmoor.

Now even though Periton Park Court (our accommodation for the week), had a very lovely outdoor pool of its own, with an undeniably fantastic view, the three wild swims I found on our holibobs win every time.

Cow Castle, Simonsbath, Exmoor

Cow Castle is not really a castle… it’s more of a mound (technically a hillfort from the Ironage). But the mound isn’t the important part, the important part is the river Barle that sits beside it.

We went on a super soggy wet day, so not the most inspiring day for a swim, but that didn’t make it any less enjoyable. And hey, I was only going to get wet anyway…. it just made redressing a little bit more ‘exciting‘ trying to keep everything dry.

I hadn’t done all that much research into the swim here. In fact, there wasn’t all that much online about it. The only piece of information I found (which was actually the most important bit of information I needed), was to swim in the bend of the river on the northern side of the mound, otherwise known as Cow Castle.

Thank you River and Lake Swimming Association: On a summer’s day (prior to all the rain we’ve recently had), this is probably the only deep enough section of the river to swim in and I possibly would’ve missed it if I wasn’t looking for it.

I bloomin’ loved this swim. We had only seen one other person on the walk to get here and so it felt super remote, especially with only green hills and a river in sight from this spot, despite only being an hour or so’s walk from the car.

This was also the first swim that Padfoot has ever properly swum with me in. He likes to paddle his feet, but until this day, he didn’t really enjoy the swimming aspect and would instead try to climb up onto you in the water rather than swim comfortably beside you. This day was a game changer.

Highly recommend this swim, and it’s always more fun when you get a hike out of it too.

Location: Cows Castle, Exmoor

How to get there: Follow the Two Moors Way footpath which is fairly well signposted, but I’d always recommend taking a map.

Where to park: We parked at Ashcombe car park in Simonsbath and walked from there along the Two Moors Way footpath.

Watersmeet (East Lyn), Rockford, Exmoor

With a bit of overexcitement, I got in at the first stretch that was deep enough for me to swim in with only the occasional bit of bashing my knees on some of the slightly bigger rocks. My Mum (hi if you’re reading), had done the walk we did on this day a few times and had seen people in this section, so that was enough convincing for me and I got it.

The dog did too!

This was a super lovely spot and just off of the main footpath so there weren’t many onlookers which was nice as it is a popular trail.

There are some probably nicer, and deeper spots just a bit further along, but clearly, I was over-eager, and actually, this gave us a little bit more privacy too.

Location: Rockfrord, Watersmeet, Lytnon, Exmoor

How to get there: We followed the main footpath the Coleridge Way along the river.

Where to park: We parked at County Gate in Malmsmead which is a National Trust car park (so free parking if you are a member like us). It took around an hour to get to this swimming spot from there and roughly 2 hours in total to get to Watermeet. There are a few pools along the river so maybe trust your gut and pick which one you fancy taking a dip in — of course remember to assess whether it is safe to get to and swim in.

Badgworthy Water, Doone Valley, Exmoor

This swim actually took place on the same day, several hours of walking after the swim at Rockford. We had done a hearty 20 km by this point so I was very excited to whip my walking boots off to cool down my feet which were feeling rather sore in still semi-new walking boots.

I think the dog had decided I was going in before I had, as he ran into the water and then straight back to me, and then back to the water once more.

Badworthy Woods is a beautiful spot, and again we didn’t really see anyone (not until after I had got out of the water), so it was a really peaceful swim. Although, I have to admit we did get a bit midge-ed when I got out of the water.

Location: Bagworthy water

How to get here: Follow the public footpath over the ford, and follow it to Badgworthy Woods where you will find an open patch of grass with easy access to the river.

Where to park: Park at the County Gate National Trust car park. It’ll take roughly 20 mins to walk to this spot

Did I miss any good swimming locations? Do let me know, I’d love to go back to Exmoor and find some more.

Whilst away we also did lots of hiking so I’ll be sharing some of those over the coming weeks, so stay tuned if you want some Exmoor walking inspirations.