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If sunken e-bikes, raw sewage and dangerous tides are the first things that come to mind when you think of London’s mighty Thames, well, we wouldn’t blame you. But it turns out that not all of the river’s stretch in the capital is quite as filthy as you might think.
If you’re a sucker for an outdoor dunk, you’ll remember back in February when we caught wind of government plans to add 13 new wild swimming sites around the UK, one of which would be in the Big Smoke.
Now, the Thames at Ham in the southwest of the city has officially been deemed clean enough to become the river’s first ever London bathing site.
In an attempt to drive a clean up, local campaigners have been fighting for bathing pond status under the EU-derived bathing water directive for six years. Having been declared biologically dead in the 1950s due to pollution, the site’s arrival marks a big milestone in the Thames’ water quality.
Once a popular Victorian swimming location, it welcomed its first modern day Londoners hearty enough to brave a cold dip last Friday (May 15).
The Thames at Ham dipping spot will be open until the summer swimming season ends in late September. And to make sure its water quality is up to par, officers from the Environment Agency will visit the site each week to monitor samples and publish them online for swimmers to check before getting your cossies on.
Wild swimming fans will be happy to hear that the new location, opposite the length of Trowlock Island in Teddington, is free to use. That’s more than can be said about some of the capital’s most popular open water swim spots. Last week, the City of London hiked the cost of swimming in Hampstead Heath by as much as 30 percent.
As for the best way to get to the site, it’s accessible by car or on foot via access points near the Burnell Open Space in Ham and opposite the Kingston Hawker Centre. Plus, it’s about a 24 minute walk from Hampton Wick station.
The full list of new bathing spots opening around the UK from this month
- Canvey Island foreshore, Essex
- East Beach at West Bay, Bridport, Dorset
- Falcon Meadow, Bungay, Suffolk
- Granville Parade Beach, Sandgate, Kent
- Little Shore, Amble, Northumberland
- New Brighton Beach (east), Merseyside
- Newton and Noss Creeks, Devon
- Pangbourne Meadow, Berkshire
- Queen Elizabeth Gardens, Salisbury, Wiltshire
- River Dee at Sandy Lane, Chester, Cheshire
- River Fowey in Lostwithiel, Cornwall
- River Swale in Richmond, Yorkshire
- River Thames at Ham and Kingston, Greater London
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