Fancy a dip?

The sun is shining and a chill wind is blowing round my bare knees. It's mid-May and I am about to plunge into the sparkling and surprisingly clear sea at Mwnt, a fantastic little cove just north of Cardigan. Oh, and it's about 14 degrees. My husband wisely decides to opt for the child-care option and sits there with the baby, slightly aghast as I splash into the water and then run out screaming.

"It's brass monkeys," I gasp, desperately trying to fill my lungs with air, my chest seeming to have imploded upon contact with the icy water, "b-b-b-bb-blimey!"

But I stagger shivering back into the waves, then launch myself into the surf and get my shoulders underwater, before performing a very fast and comically desperate breast-stroke/butterfly manoevre in the hope of getting my heart started again.

We have had a lovely drive through country lanes, verges bursting over the road with wildflowers and butterflies in the sunshine; Dan driving, baby playing with his favourite dustpan and brush and me clutching my already treasured copy of Wild Swimming Coast, by Daniel Start, and a tin of travel sweets. (I do not like the red or orange sweets, preferring green and yellow. Fortunately Dan does not have a preference).

I loved flicking through this book when it first arrived just for the amazing pictures, evoking long heady summers and picnics, paddling and rockpooling, but now I've actually used it properly I can fully appreciate all the hard work that has gone into putting it together.

Each region has a map identifying the top locations for wild sea swimming, then individual sections for each swim provide OS references and, ideally for us, (whose road map was published before the onset of motorways), postcodes for the SatNav. The walk to each site is graded for difficulty and length of time to get there, and the details are clear and accurate. What also makes the book really good fun is all the extra information Daniel provides on seaside games, cooking outdoors and useful stuff to take with you, plus an excellent section on water safety.

We also visited the Blue Lagoon near St David's yesterday; in Daniel's photos the water looks emerald green and very enticing, but as I stood on the black cliffs above it, wind whistling past my cold damp ears and the clouds skating low overhead, I thought I might give it a miss and come back another time......

This is a great book for armchair swimmers, but I'm really looking forward to exploring some of the beaches near us on the South Coast which I had no idea existed; the joy of Wild Swimming Coast is in taking you to some of Britain's most wonderful places which you would never find otherwise! Go and take a look at the website too, http://www.wildswimming.co.uk/, for lots more swims, tips and events.