Quick Dip in the Rhine

Just a quick dip? Ok then!

My good friend and I cooked up a plan a few weeks ago. We had been sending each other pictures and videos of people swimming in unlikely places, one of which was at the Basel Rhine Swim. Basel residents float and swim down the river after work, to cool off and also to get downstream - and they then relax in the evening at a buvette with a nice drink and a snack, chat, and then make their way home. This sounds like fun!

I researched the trip and found it was possible to get there and back in a day, and also found a day for cheap plane fares. It coincided with my friend’s last day of the summer holidays. He is a teacher, and will be in school the next day, preparing for the start of term. A perfect activity for the last day of freedom?

I spent the night before in a hotel, with a picnic for dinner and a small bag. The idea is, you float and swim down the Rhine with a floating waterproof bag of your possessions with you. The bag is closed to the water, so your possessions stay dry. If you use the bag to float yourself on, it might become waterlogged! You can only take a few things with you - a towel, change of clothes, shower gel/soap, and a small purse… nothing else will fit!

You also have to be careful. The Rhine flows fast, and only strong swimmers should attempt the swim. You can swim between three bridges in the city centre, but beyond the 4th there is a weir and danger - so you must get out before the 4th bridge. It’s also too dangerous to do when the river is flowing too fast, too deep (flood) or too cold. You have to avoid boats and cargo ships, avoid bridges, and keep away from buoys. And it’s unwise to swim in thunderstorms. All week I was checking the weather and all week it said there would be thunder…

After a non-eventful flight, we were stuck in the immigration queue for nearly an hour, which didn’t help so much! The passport control police had a big laugh when we said what we were here to do, and how long for - they had lots of tips and were very enthused!

After that we made our way, via bus and tram, to Museum Tinguely. At the side of the museum there is a beach, where it is easy to access the river from. The museum also has toilets and changing rooms, and some lockers to store bags and belongings. My friend stored his laptop and large bag there, I stored my phone and passport and most other things there too. We bought Wickelfisch - the Basel-designed floating bag, so our dry clothes and towels could come with us, and wrapped them closed.

We made our way to the river, and stepped in, in the blazing sun, with a few others - chatting with them about life, swimming in the Rhine, the weather, and tips for navigating the swim…

And off! The water was cool, apparently around 20 degrees, the air was around 25 degrees. As we waded out into the stones, the river was pulling you down and in, and it was impossible not to get swept along with it. I wanted to swim, not just float and chill, but it was so strange to be swimming in such moving water. Hilarious at times - being pulled away from the direction you were trying to go. And also hilarious that the city swirls around you, as do ships and boats up the big river - although they keep to their own shipping lane, as long as you keep to their right of the buoys.

I had no idea how deep the river was below, or even how deep it might be at the side, but watching people on the banks swoop past, and watching the city buildings float along was fab. Interesting too, to float through bridges whilst trams and buses zoomed over your head. We coo-cooed like pigeons under the bridges, the echoes chanting about, and I laughed as aa we swam with the ducks and geese nearby. It was so fun and life-affirming to just throw yourself in a river and see what happened!

Also so strange to just be swept away, the currents running in the water were so odd - if you were a metre or so to the left or right, the river speed would change. One second my friend was 10m in front, the next he was 50m in front! You couldn’t swim against the flow- you could only slow down slightly…

Two and a bit bridges down, the rain began. It was impossible to get more coated in water and felt very joyous to be in the rain, however as some thunder rumbled in the distance, we were plotting where to get out. Thankfully we found a shallow area by chance just past the 3rd bridge, swam hard diagonally out of the deep water flow, avoided boats, and clambered up the beach and bank and steps, and back into the city world. Around, on the waterside there were normal people reading books, or eating lunch, who didn’t just swim downstream for forty minutes. It was weird being pulled back into their world.

We hid under a bridge whilst the storm passed, and followed other swimmers to the ice cool showers on the side of the street - taking a swimming costume shower in the middle of the city. We were clean and drying, and changed at the buvette on the riverbank, and had some snacks and a drink to get back to normal life. Normal life being just not “that was amazing can we do it again” type life!

We walked back to the museum to pick up the bags and supplies left behind (I left my phone there, so no pictures of just getting into or out of the river!). We took a meandering route, looking in markets and the Hauptbahnhof and around on the trams, and then took the bus back to the airport.

Flying back, the plane was full. My friend and I couldn’t sit next to each other (we took a gamble and lost!) so the journey was slow to pass with no conversation. The sunset from the window was really epic though (see extra!) and it was also amazing landing on runway 27L at Heathrow- we were treated to the gorgeous flight over central London, with all its brilliant views and sunset clouds framing the sky.

Soft landing, back home in a daze, what a wonderful, wonderful day!