Like a duck to water, an open water swim is a wonderful way to unwind
I'm never happier than when I am swimming, be it a pool in the cold weather or as soon as water temperatures hit double figures, in open water.
It could be lakes, rivers, the sea or with Swim Ellesmere in the mere - when there is no algae.
So it was great to join a group of swimmers and paddlers who are working to gain bathing water status for two sections of the River Severn in Shrewsbury and part of the Teme in Ludlow.
When you swim in open water you know it is not going to be pristine clean, no chlorine, no filter system.
You get used to the duck poo, the slimy mud or hard to stand on stones on the bottom, even an odd jellyfish sting.
But open water users are far more worried, and rightly so, about sewage pollution.
