{"type":"rich","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Transistor","provider_url":"https://transistor.fm","author_name":"In At The Deep End","title":"Swimming with strangers: Lindsey Cole on the wild swimming community, drowning cows and giant poo","html":"","width":"100%","height":180,"duration":3259,"description":"This episode of In At The Deep End is sponsored by Brulo Beer.\nMermaid. Adventurer. Swim coach.\nLindsey Cole has cycled across continents, walked a thousand miles along the rabbit-proof fence in Australia and swum the length of the Thames in a mermaid tail to campaign against plastic pollution. Somewhere on the way she rescued a drowning cow and ended up on page three of The Sun. It sounds made up. It isn’t.\nThat Thames swim led Lindsey somewhere she never planned. Strangers began messaging with offers of a warm bed and a favourite swim spot, and Lindsey followed the invitations on a six-month journey around Britain and Ireland. Her new book, Swimming with Strangers, tells that story. In this episode she talks to Salim about the people she met, what the water strips away and why the wild swimming community may be one of the best things going.\nTogether, Salim and Lindsey explore:\nHow a Saturday coaching job at 14 grew into a lifelong love of teaching swimming\nWhy swimming as a mermaid is far harder than it looks, and what it takes to swim a whole river in a monofin\nThe unlikely chain of events that took Lindsey from the rabbit-proof fence to a plastic-filled sea in Bali and then to the Thames\nHow a cold-water swim community can turn strangers into friends, and how the invitations she received shaped her open water journey around Britain and Ireland\nWhat the swimming world strips away, and why shared water can bring together people who might never otherwise talk\nWhy sewage in our rivers may be one issue everyone can agree on\nLindsey’s coaching approach, from pushing off the wall like a rocket to bringing play into your stroke\nTaking the unscripted route through life, from Ironman triathlons to the Edinburgh Fringe\nUseful Links\nLindsey’s website: lindseycole.co.uk\nFollow Lindsey on Instagram: @stompycole\nPre-order Swimming with Strangers: Bookshop.org\nSwimming venues and communities mentioned: Tooting Bec Lido, Clevedon Lake, the Outdoor Swimming Society\nBook launch...","thumbnail_url":"https://img.transistorcdn.com/FpnWipFnX7j-_6lV_aI5Q9A6Au1CU8O6osUzKr79alA/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:400/h:400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS9mYzU5/ZjY1N2QxNGQxZjZk/MTcwZTRiYmIyZDhk/NWVkYi5wbmc.webp","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300}