241 Pizza

Al Alvarez, 74, poet, author and poker player. He swims in the Men's Pond on Hampstead Heath, North London

“I have been swimming in the Hampstead ponds since I was 11. They have a timeless, Edwardian ramshackle-ness about them, which is part of their charm. I’ve been an athlete all my life but in the past ten years my ankle has collapsed due to an old climbing injury, so I can’t walk far. Swimming is one of the only forms of exercise I can take and I love it.

“I go swimming about five days a week; I won’t do it seven days a week because then it becomes a job. It gets you going brilliantly and works miracles for the immune system.

“There are two temperatures in the water: cold and very cold. It makes the unheated showers seem warm. I do the crawl to the end of the barriers and then return on my back, admiring the sky. I come out reborn.

“The ponds are under threat of closure and, if that happens, I and countless others will be devastated. They are a national treasure.”

Suzy Brooks, 53, runs a guesthouse in Newlyn, Cornwall. She swims in the sea in Mounts Bay

“It was only when I moved to Cornwall two and a half years ago that I started swimming in winter. Summer turned to autumn, then to winter and I just carried on. I swim in the harbour if the sea is rough. You have to be careful of the boats, though; I nearly ran into the Scilly Isles ferry once. I wear a bikini because it makes me feel summery, a big flowery hat to prevent an “ice-cream headache” and synthetic rubber shoes.

“Cold water swimming gives you the ultimate high: it wakes up every cell in your body and makes you feel euphoric. The light really cheers you up and the salt water is uplifting in itself; it supports you. Swimming focuses me and motivates me to get things done. It has broken through my fears about trying new things; if I can swim in an icy sea, I can do anything. I have suffered from depression since I was 18 but it was not until I started swimming regularly in Cornwall that I realised how much it helped.

“I sometimes sing while I swim — mainly songs from musicals. There was a Welsh opera singer who used to go down to Battery Rocks, have a swim and sing his head off at 3am. I guess some of us winter swimmers deserve our eccentric reputations.”

Ruth Littlejohn, 33, art student. She swims in the sea in Brighton

“My former boss Andrew got me intrigued. I thought: “Who swims in the sea at Brighton? He must be crazy.” But I went and tried it in the summer and gradually started coming in winter. This is my second winter swimming off Brighton beach, by the Palace Pier.

“There are some really interesting people in the Brighton Swimming Club. We have an arch near the Palace Pier and there is a hot shower, a kettle, a changing area and lots of banter. In the summer David, who is 72, sometimes swims out with a bamboo fishing line and comes back with a bag of mackerel. The sea can be pretty wild so you have to be careful and look after each other. It can also be fun; we all play like children and surf the waves. You do see people staring at us from the pier as if we are mad.

“It makes me feel really uplifted. It’s almost like a drug; it gives you this buzz that comes from the sea. I feel flat if I don’t go for a few days.

“Sometimes I feel quite smug because few people get to experience the city from this perspective. My friends think that I’m a bit bonkers but over the new year I was in the Lake District and I persuaded ten of us to go into Derwent Water. Everyone loved it.”

Get in the swim

Times recommends

• How I lost the gift of joy for a while
• How to get Coleen Rooney's post-baby body
• The A-Z of winter style rules