Book Review: Waterlog

For those of you that have been reading my blog for a while, you'll know that I reviewed Roger Deakin's Wild Wood a while back. I felt that the book was around double the length that it should have been and that Deakin was just adding stories to pad the book out.

This book, however, was different. Waterlog is known by many as a classic of natural history writing. As such it doesn't need much introduced, suffice to say that Deakin sets out to swim in many places wild and tame through Britain.

The first one hundred and fifty pages were like soaking in a hot and relaxing bath, but again I found the water getting tepid and cold. I don't know what it is about Deakin's writing, but I know it must be me. Plenty of people read and rave about Deakin and while I can see why, after time the writing gets a tad monotonous. However, I can say that I finished the book, and that I'm glad I did.

Those first hundred and fifty pages really got me thinking about swimming again. I'd tried the local pool a few months prior to beginning the book and found it too hot, too crowded, and too corrosive. This book got me back outdoors, to familiar haunts and new ones.

Shortly after the point of perseverance, I was remembered what I do like about Deakin's writing. Starting with his wicked sense of humour in the story of animal tracking and otter spraint being passed around. I also enjoy that Deakin really lets us in to what must be deep feelings of worry and joy that he experiences throughout his journey. I feel that you can tell when Deakin  is at one with what he's writing because we are presented with silky smooth writing such as

'To feel its balmy softness in every limb, at every stroke, was a kind of heaven'

Reaching the last chapter had me feeling like I'd been there. I'd taken an epic journey across Britain. Deakin manages to pack in layers and layers of facts, but they're totally digestible and don't feel cumbersome. They're surrounded by local tales and left me wanting to visit umpteen places described in the book. The final chapter sees Deakin 18 months after his fist book-related swim. He needs one more swimming adventure to settle him. That adventure is a bike-swim. Starting at the moat outside of his home, he then bikes to many places in his county of Suffolk that he can swim. Eventually we leave him swimming in the sea.

This is a classic. It's natural history writing combined with autobiography. Deakin lets us get to know him through his writing. He also passes on his infectious desire to swim wherever water can be found. Thanks to him there have been a wave of wild swimming books and a community of outdoor swimmers has steadily built up online, providing lots of local knowledge about places that we can swim throughout our lovely country.