make my rucksack lighter and the march up the hillside easier on the quads. But a small, shallow body of water’ s temperature will wax and wane with recent weather.
I’ m sure at the end of a long hot spell the water would be very pleasant. But after a fortnight dubbed‘ the second winter of 2026’ the reservoir was suffering from a chill. Suddenly, at this proximity,‘ brave’ appeared to more closely resemble‘ stupid’. It demonstrated that even after all these years spent snorkelling the length and breadth of Britain, I have managed to retain the ability to mess up.
But this is where I found myself and not getting in seemed an even worse idea. So, I duly donned my wetsuit and strode forth with my snorkel buddy, the shore cover watching with the quiet gratitude of someone who doesn’ t have to get wet.
Those parts of my anatomy not covered in neoprene suffered immediately. Hands stung and I very much regretted the absence of a wetsuit hood as I plunged into the lake and suffered that initial piercing headache that comes with the sudden immersion into cold water, or the rapid consumption of ice-cream.
Fortunately, the cold, dry weather had minimised run-off from the surrounding hills and the visibility was well over two metres. Which is considerably better from the zero I have found in most reservoirs I’ ve had to operate in. I spotted sticklebacks and I’ m confident I even witnessed a small, darting brown trout amongst the branches of shoreline-trees that bent low to dip below the surface. Regardless, after less than 20 minutes, with fingers, feet and
lips numb and the rest of me beginning to shiver, I decided to extricate myself and enjoy the stunning views down the valley.
The trip goes to show how valuable the intelligence gathered by the growing wild swimming community can be for the exploratory snorkeller. Anytime I read‘ Caution – Deep Water’ on a wild swimming site description, I translate it as‘ potential for snorkelling, subject to risk assessment’.
However, yes, I should have taken a thicker wetsuit. And yes, I should have taken gloves and most definitely a hood. It would have been safer and given me longer to explore the whole area. But snorkels like
Snorkelling around a half submerged tree branch
these can be as much about the landscape and location we experience in reaching the dive site as the site itself.
And higher altitude, remoter locations such as Carding Mill serve to highlight the lightweight advantages of snorkelling over other forms of diving. Taking the tube allows us to access bodies of water that would otherwise be logistically prohibitive. Although I concede that on this occasion, I may have gone too lightweight. As with all forms of diving, from lightweight, upland snorkelling to deep, exploratory cavediving this much is always true – use the right kit for the dive. �
Brown trout in the shadows
For more information on snorkelling with BSAC go to bsac. com / snorkelling Looking to introduce snokelling into your club? Find out more at bsac. com / snorkellinginstructor
Don’ t stickleback in anger
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