I can’t believe its taken me this long to finally go wild swimming on Dartmoor but I have now official done it and I loved it. We visited Sharrah Pool which is situated on the River Dart in Dartmoor National Park just before the summer skies retreated to behind the clouds in mid September.

We packed a blanket, books, snacks and our swimwear (We didn’t fancy a 40 minute walk in swimwear) and headed along the well maintained foot path from the car park. The walk itself was really nice, there is something so peaceful about walking through the trees along side a river. It was obvious when we had reached Sharrah Pool, it’s the one point of the walk where the path runs right to the water, plus the wild swimmers who clearly got up before us were a big indicator. We set out our blanket on the rocks with views up streams towards the rock rapids and I started to comprehend how cold this water might actually be. I’ve heard of people jumping straight into the river however I wasn’t quite brave enough for this so I went for the dipping a toe approach and yes, it was freezing cold. I didn’t give up, after all I’d walked 40 minutes to get here so I continued to get more of my body in the water and actually after 5 minutes it was honestly fine (or I just couldn’t feel anything now) in fact I felt a sense of happiness and bliss of being in the river. Once fully submerged the trick is to get swimming and keep swimming, one thing you will notice is how it’s naturally more challenging to swim upstream so just be careful. After climatising I headed up stream and to the point where the rocky rapids meet the peaceful river at this point there is a great little section where you can safely lower yourself into the water into a fast current, it only lasts a few metres before it slows to the rivers pace but it feels like natures theme park for those few seconds.

After climbing out of the water and drying off I felt reinvigorated and refreshed and climbing back into my clothes gave me a great warming comfort. We ate snacks and read as the river continued to flow and just before leaving a launched the drone to get a better perspective of where the 40 minute walk to this spot on the river had led us to which was incredible. We then headed back a long the foot path the same way as we came and back civilisation.

Details on how to get to Sharrah Pool are below.

Location: Sharrah Pool, River Dart
Car Park Postcode (Nearest): TQ13 7NT / £2 All day.
Journey:

1. From the car park head over the road bridge back towards Ashburton. Immediately after take a right over a small wooden foot bridge, from here follow the foot path keeping the river on your right hand side.

2. After 5-10 minutes you’ll reach a fork in the path, keep to the right hand side closest to the river.

3. Continue a long this path, you’ll reach a pretty large hill which you’ll need to ascend before heading down the other side and within about 30-40 minutes you’ll reach a waterfall, be careful crossing the water using the logs and stones which feel like they’ve been strategically placed.

4. After the waterfall, you’ll head through some woodland before the path becomes narrower. Continue for 10-15 minutes where you’ll reach a stile, head over the stile and continue a long the path with heads down to the river side and Sharrah Pool.