Swimming With the Viking of Skye: A True Story of Overcoming Fear and Finding Hope by Richard Waters (Aurum £17.99, 255pp)
You can see the appeal of the Vikings, and you don’t even have to squint too much.
Ferocious, hugely courageous warriors, they were also traders, explorers, farmers, storytellers, designers of intricate jewellery and colonisers. And one of the main places these extraordinary Norsemen conquered were the Western Isles of Scotland, notably Skye.
For Richard Waters, an experienced travel writer with a taste for adventure and physical challenges, the discovery from a DNA testing kit that most of his ancestors were Vikings was immensely pleasing. As was the fact that they liked to immerse themselves in ice pools to improve their health.
Waters himself has loved swimming in cold water all his life. As he writes: ‘I felt the benefits during and straight after each swim, every pore on my body tingling joyfully. I could feel the blood rushing around my shivering limbs . . . but most of all I loved the calmness it brought out in me. After each swim I experienced a brief window of serenity.’
And for Waters, who has also co-authored books by boxer Tyson Fury and former Special Forces soldier Ollie Ollerton of SAS: Who Dares Wins, some serenity was much needed as the fragilities of human existence were bearing down on him.
In his early 40s he was diagnosed with early onset Parkinson’s disease, with its symptoms of a lack of balance, mental confusion, chronic fatigue and increasing palsy.
As if that wasn’t enough, not long afterwards his youngest daughter, Agatha, was found to have developed a degenerative brain disease, and much of the book is devoted to his daughter and her care.
With his braided hair, tattoos and physique, Matt Rhodes is the Viking of the book’s title
Swimming with the Viking of Skye is available now from the Mail Bookshop
He needed to find his inner Viking, and what better way to do that than to go wild swimming in Skye?
The nice lady from the tourist board tells him that the island has more waterfalls, pools and elusive mountain tarns than any wild swimmer could dream of. But he will need a guide, and she introduces him to Matt Rhodes, who knows the island like the back of his hand.
Matt is the Viking of the book’s title, or at least a lookalike with his plaited beard, huge, tattooed arms and long hair roped in dreadlocks.
It is their exploits on the magical island of Skye that form the core of this book. It is in a way part of an increasingly popular genre of books and, especially, TV programmes, which can be summed up as ‘Likeable Blokes Do Things Together’.
But much more, this is an inspiring and life-affirming story; a love letter to Skye, certainly, but also a profoundly moving self-help book about how we can live our best life.
For Waters, swimming is his lifeline, a means to connect with the natural world in an age when most of us are only too happy to sever our links to the world about us.
I thought I knew Skye a bit, but clearly had barely touched the surface. It is an extraordinary island and it makes you yearn to be there, torrential rain, midges and all.
He describes taking the plunge into the ice-cold waters of the Marble Pools of Elgol and the Healing Pool of Loch Shianta, overlooked by the Old Man of Storr, a colossal solitary column of basalt which is used in the opening shots of the classic horror film The Wicker Man.
Skye is a wild swimmer’s dream with its lochs, waterfalls and pools
‘The tremor had gone in my right hand . . . and that unhappiness I was carrying around because of my shame had disappeared,’ writes Richard Waters
This is how Waters describes his swim in the pool, which holds its temperature at around 7c (44f). By now, his marriage has broken down (it is his fault – an affair – and he is wracked with shame) and his Parkinson’s is tightening its grip.
‘There was something special about this water, as if I could feel an infusion of wellbeing soaking into my skin. A fresh beginning, a clearing of the slate . . .
‘The water was enchanted. For a few seconds it was as if I was transported to an ancient place of magic and paganism. When I rose, breathless to the surface, my body was on fire. My blood raced to my extremities to warm me up; every pore on my body tingling with glee. I had never felt so rejuvenated.
‘The tremor had gone in my right hand . . . and that unhappiness I was carrying around because of my shame had disappeared.’
If you can get all that from a quick dip, it strikes me as a reasonable bargain. But, as Waters and the Viking stress, do it in stages. First up to your knees, then your waist, finally your shoulders and neck. Anything quicker could cause heart failure. Not such a good idea.
Above all, this is a book about how to live life to the full, even when the odds are stacked against you. He recalls a statement from Marcus Aurelius – ‘Think of yourself as dead. You have lived your life. Now take what’s left of it and live it properly.’
For Waters, his recovery lay in the present tense, not the future. He wants to be happy, honest and fulfilled with the time he has left, whether it’s five years or ten. Rejoice in your self-esteem, not your depression, he says.
And we should never forget the presence of death. It is a quintessential part of life: to be aware of it is to be reminded that every day is a blessing. And to be in the ice-cold waters of Skye, that is a blessing in itself. As is this inspirational book.