This page first signposts organised events and venues, then informal groups, then places that are listed where people swim in the Broads Authority area. It gives links to safety advice from various sources, so that you can treat open water with respect by learning how to assess the risks and enjoy the water safely.

Please note: all swims are at our own risk. Including a location does not indicate that it is recommended or that it is safe; each must do their own risk assessment each time they swim or travel to a location. I accept no liability for the choices that people make. There is Swim Safety info on this website, and on Outdoor Swimming Society website, Survive section.
Please follow the Outdoor Swimmers Code, and Outdoor Swimming Society advice on responsible swimming at this time.

The area covered by the Broads Authority is shown on the map on their website

ORGANISED places and events

Find Organised outdoor swimming venues from Outdoor Swimmer website

Local triathlon groups organise swimming at venues nearby, including Tri-Anglia at Whitlingham Adventure, Norwich, and TriHarman at North Walsham

INFORMAL groups and places

Informal groups, any swims attended at your own risk

Bure Babes; Crazy Ladies (women only); Norfolk and Norwich Wild Swimmers; Norfolk & Suffolk Open Water Swimming.

Outdoor Swimming Society Facebook group (National/International) where people post swim or asking for recommendations or for people to meet to swim.

Places people swim

People swim in some of the rivers and quieter Broads. If you do swim, be aware of boats, keep away from them, and make sure they can see you. And follow all the other safety advice for outdoor swimming – see note on Getting Started in Outdoor Swimming.

Maps and guides:

Outdoor Swimming Society wild swim map, wildswim.com – note this is currently closed, and all wildswim.com links below are inactive

Wild Swimming map

River and Lake Swimming Association

Where to swim (historic and current places) from Hung Out To Dry website.

Swim places

Some ideas:

http://www.tournorfolk.co.uk/canoeing.html

http://www.bigearth.com/location/wild-swim-the-norfolk-broads/

Some listings and details:

https://wildswim.com/river-ant

https://wildswim.com/south-walsham-broad

https://wildswim.com/horstead-mill

http://www.britainexpress.com/counties/norfolk/properties/horstead-mill.htm

https://wildswim.com/caen-meadow-wroxham-norfolk

https://www.imogensriverswims.co.uk/blog/places/caen-meadow-wroxham/ ; Caen Meadow on this website

Trowse, Norwich on this website

Wayford Bridge on this website

Several locations on this page on this website are in the Broads area: Bungay, Wainford, Ellingham, Geldeston.

Geldeston lock is a historic swimming place, as this map you can download shows, Reference map (downloads PDF,  272.8kb), from this page, which has lots of interesting information and maps: http://www.broads-authority.gov.uk/learning/broads-curriculum/online-resources/geldeston-lock-project.

Geldeston on wildswim.com map; https://www.ivygrangefarm.co.uk/do/swimming

Outney Common, Bungay, is very popular

https://wildswim.com/the-sandy

https://wildswim.com/outney-meadow

http://www.wildswimming.co.uk/map/outney-common/

Some do longer swims along the river Waveney

http://www.tri-anglia.co.uk/reports/2016-08-river-waveney-swim—bungay-to-geldeston-4

Is swimming allowed in the Norfolk Broads?

Yes. The Broads Authority advise against swimming, but give advice on risks and links to guidance on their webpage about outdoor swimming (recently revised).

See this page with more about swimming in the Broads

See my note on Getting started in open water outdoor swimming (download, Word.doc, 4 pages) for advice on legality and safety. This explains how you can treat open water with respect by learning how to assess the risks and enjoy the water safely.

See also my note on Swimming in Tidal Rivers and Estuaries

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Note compiled by Imogen Radford, Oct 2019. Please note that I have included information and advice that I believe to be accurate and helpful, but I take no responsibility for swimmers. All outdoor swimmers must be solely responsible for making their own assessment as to the risks of any sort of any particular swimming or related activity.