A review is ongoing about whether Penarth Beach should be given official bathing status
A FEW miles east of Barrybados and just south of Cardiff lies the Penarth seafront, which has long been popular for its pier pavilion, cinema and pebble beach.
Temperatures near freezing, a gloomy sky and fog aren’t your typical conditions for a quick swim in the sea. However, if you turn up at 7.30am any day of the week, you’ll find at least a dozen swimmers taking a dip – even in January.
The Welsh Government is currently reviewing whether Penarth Beach should be given bathing status. This would mean the beach would be tested for water quality in the summer. A bathing beach is then graded “excellent, good, sufficient or poor” to inform bathers of potential hazards and protect their health from sewage.
I have swum in the wild before but never at Penarth – Wales’ “garden by the sea” – and certainly not in the middle of winter.
Along with the bathers, the popular mobile coffee stall Stol Coffee is also present, and many are gathered around socialising. Needless to say the water was extremely cold. It takes a minute or two to get over the shock, but once you’re out and have several layers back on, you can see why wild swimming has become such a trend in lockdown.
Chris Williams, 30, from Riverside, goes wild swimming every week either at Penarth or in Jackson Bay’s.
He says: “I started last June during the warmer months because a few of my friends had started doing it before me. They would just talk about how cool it was getting into the water so early in the morning before sunrise.
“I thought I’d give it a go and then continued doing it about one or twice a week.”
Online searches for wild swimming increased by 94% between 2019 and 2020 across the UK. Google searches reached their highest ever peak in July 2021, as Wales came out of the last lockdown.
James Tennet, 34 from Penarth, was the one who requested that the Welsh Government consider Penarth Beach for bathing status. “I’ve been swimming for 14 months and I have seen a big increase over that time, but in Penarth, the Dawnstalkers have driven a lot of that,” he says.
A swimming group was set up in Penarth called the Dawnstalkers, who go down to Penarth beach every sunrise for a swim. Some swims, including the one for World Mental Health Day on October 10, had hundreds of people going into the water.
Lene Hops, 25, who co-runs the group with Grant Zehetmayr, 43, says: “I like that there’s someone here all the time. It’s my daily dose of socialising before I go and go to work.”
Mr Tennet submitted the request as he currently swims at Barry, the closest beach to Penarth with bathing status.
He says: “I’d like to swim more. I can’t go to Barry during the week because of work and baby duties. If Penarth had bathing status, I would go more often.”
He also thinks that water testing would encourage more people to swim there.
“There are people hesitant to swim there because no one actually knows what the water is like. The only criteria is the number of people in the water and we are seeing large numbers in Penarth. I feel the council and the government have an obligation to make sure it’s safe for the people swimming in there,” he says.
Local swimming groups like the Penarth Blue Tits, the Taffy Dippers, and the Dawnstalkers have helped bring attention to the consultation, as well as providing evidence for the initial request.
Mr Tennet says he was told by the Welsh Government that the consultation had received a large response.
Ms Hops says: “A rating would obviously be great because sometimes people ask what the water is like and honestly I don’t know, so it would be nice to know what we’re swimming in.”
Mr Zehetmayr added: “I think the fact that the water would be monitored would be fantastic. It would mean we have answers when people ask about the quality of the water.
“I’ve been getting in every day for over a year now and I don’t get ill, but that’s not necessarily a good measure for people.”
Other residents are not as concerned about water quality.
Gail Seaford, 70, who was born in Penarth says: “It has always been a bathing beach. We used to swim there as children. I think there was sewage when we were young but it didn’t do us any harm.
“There used to be sewage coming onto the beach near Lavernock but we just went in the water at the other end.” However, Ms Seaford isn’t opposed to the review.
Ms Hops says: “I wouldn’t be in there everyday. I’m from Germany so I grew up landlocked. I just see the sea and I go in. I don’t think about it.”
She says she does not know anyone in the Dawnstalkers whose health has been affected after swimming.
The Welsh Government states: “Bather numbers is the criteria which the Welsh Government will apply when considering whether it is appropriate to designate a site and in particular, to any infrastructure or facilities provided, or other measures taken to promote bathing at the site.”
In Wales, the official bathing season runs from May 15 to September 30, with 105 identified bathing beaches. The consultation ends on February 15 and can be found online.
Mr Tennett says he doesn’t see any reason why the Welsh Government won’t give Penarth bathing status.
“It’s only in the best interests of keeping people swimming there safe. Swimming has built a sense of community in Penarth, and a rating can only be a good thing for tourism.”
