Date: 2025 TBC
Swim Start: TBC
Start Location: Barmouth, Wales
Finish Location: George III, Penmaenpool
Distance: 10km River Swim
Charity Entry: £70 (+£250 fundraising target)
General Entry: £120
Age Limit: 18+
Swim Difficulty:challenging swim
Avg. swim time: 1h45m
The Hurly Burly/Bwrlwm Bermo
Set in North Wales on the edge of Snowdonia, this is one of the most beautifully wild river swims you’ll find. It starts on the sandy beach of Barmouth, and takes swimmers underneath Barmouth Bridge, a mile and a half wide iconic railway bridge. The first part of the swim is up the wide and sandy estuary with mountains on either side, and then it’s through ‘the narrows’ and into a more sheltered part of the estuary.
Participants will also have the option to take on a 11km run before the start of the swim. The run route starts at the finish, and finishes at the start of the swim. You'll see this incredible valley from the banks of this beautiful river and from it’s fast, exciting waters.
The whole swim takes place on a fast incoming tide that works like a bore to assist your swim. Past the narrows the water speeds up further, and the landscape becomes pastoral, the banks closer to you. Runners will run alongside the estuary on a flat gravel track, taking in the spectacular view along the way.
The swim ends at Penmaenpool, to change, gather for hot food and warm up around the fire pits.
Swim Difficulty
This is a challenging swim and is only suitable for experienced outdoor swimmers. It’s fast, choppy and the conditions are incredibly changeable. If you are new to outdoor swimming, or taking one on of your first outdoor swimming event, we would not recommend this swim for you.
Swimmers should be able to swim at least 7km confidently and be able to maintain a swim speed of 35 minutes a mile or faster (measured as the time it takes you to swim a mile of relaxed continuous front crawl in a pool, without big push-offs). We recommend that run-swimmers can run 11k in around 1 hr 15 minutes. Swimmers and runners should be ready for a bad weather day (choppy water or a headwind), and for cold temperatures in and out of the water – extra layers of neoprene for swimmers or a windproof layer for runners are suggested. During your preparation, please make sure you swim outdoors in different weather conditions, including in strong winds and chop.
“This has been the best of river swimming – A journey through a remarkable landscape. It was a new way of saying goodbye to summer too, taking its place among those other markers of the seasons such as the equinox and the solstice, and leaving us with a renewed appetite for further adventures once the long days return. ”
The Power of Swimming
The Hurly Burly has a life-changing impact on thousands of people, with all profits and funds raised going to Level Water. Each year the charity provides 25,000 bespoke 1-1 swimming lessons for children with disabilities in 100 pools across the UK. By taking part you will be giving those children the opportunity to learn to swim and fall in love with the water. An amazing gift.
It’s supported by volunteers from the local and swimming community, who make it one of the most special events in the swimming calendar. It’s a journey not a race in so many ways - the journey of training and preparation, of the weekend, of the swim and of the support that you provide to the next generation of swimmers. It’s a big distance challenge that attracts all types of swimmers; we have fast swimmers, skins swimmers, swimming families, swimmers with disabilities, newbies, butterfly swimmers. If you can swim a mile under 35 minutes and are dedicated to your training, there’s room for you in the river.
