Swimming 122km of the River Tweed – Scottish Borders
In 2021 while delivering a presentation on open water safety, and sharing pictures of the amazing swims I had completed, I was asked – what next?
Without hesitation I responded that I would love to swim the length of the Tweed through the beautiful Scottish Borders.
A voice from the room said – ‘You can do that! I could help you’.
It was the voice of Jim McPherson, a Rotarian from the Selkirk Club. I’m from the sister club in Galashiels. Jim had kayaked the river numerous times taking groups of young people on their Duke of Edinburgh Challenge.
And so, the planning began.
As far as we know this has never been undertaken before. We would be the first!
Tweed is a beautiful river and really has a special place in my heart.
It is a fascinating and historically significant river winding its way through the Scottish Borders and northern England. Its rich history and geographical significance have shaped the region for centuries.
The River Tweed has been an important natural boundary for centuries, particularly between Scotland and England. It is believed that the river’s name, “Tweed,” may derive from a Celtic word meaning “border.” The Tweed River and the lands around it have long been inhabited by people, with evidence of human activity dating back to along its banks.
The river is also famous for its salmon fishing, which has been a key feature of the region’s economy and culture for centuries, which was one of the challenges we needed to take into consideration when doing the swim. The river’s excellent fishing conditions make it one of the best places for salmon and trout fishing in the UK, and many visitors flock to the Tweed for this purpose. You’ll see below that weekends were chosen for our swim, so we had only one day out of the two to disturb the fishermen, with no fishing in the Tweed on a Sunday.
Within a short span of time, we had agreed the following:
- We would have on water safety cover for the route
- As a result of this we would start at Lyne station where we could get the water support in and finish at the mouth of the Tweed
- The aim was to enjoy the experience and time was not the factor
- We aimed to stay within the footprint of the riverbed for the entire swim.
- The swim would take place over 6.5 days – as it turned out we completed it over 3 weekends and a random Tuesday in July.
- We would open the event to 3-4 swimmers to join me for each leg of the journey.
- We wanted to raise awareness of water safety before, during and after the event and help clean plastic debris from the river as we explored it.
- We wanted to do the event for a cause. The Borders Water Rescue Team was chosen, and they agreed to provide the support. With safety in mind we agreed not to swim through the weirs on the river, nor would we swim through a section of the river just outside Kelso which was deemed as unsafe.
The route was planned as follows:
17th July 2021 – Lyne Station to Innerleithen (18.29km)
18th July 2021 – Innerleithen to Yair (16.87km)
24th July 2021 – Yair to Dryburgh (20.19km)
25th July 2021 – Dryburgh to Kelso (20.2km)
27th July 2021 – Kelso to Carham (9.9km)
31st July 2021 – Birgham to Norham (20km)
1st August 2021 – Norham to Berwick Upon Tweed (17km)
Once all the initial planning had been completed what was left to do was to promote the event to swimmers who wanted to join, create awareness for the water safety element, raise funds and get training.
The weekends we had chosen in July were perfect weather wise, warm and dry. The support and enthusiasm from the local community was superb and the BWRT were incredible with their professionalism.
The challenge we had was with the warmth resulted in the river being low. Much of the river was trekked or commando rolled as opposed to swum, but all added to the adventure and the day to day to day experience which I am going to relive virtually for you.
The River Tweed offers a blend of natural beauty, cultural heritage, and historical intrigue that makes it one of the most interesting rivers in the British Isles.
Stay tuned as I take you in the day-to-day experience as we travelled down the Tweed taking in its historical and natural beauty, and fisherman.