Ripple effect

Actress Miranda Richardson tells LISA SALMON why she's become addicted to the endorphin rush of wild water swimming

- LISA SALMON

MIRANDA RICHARDSON was a late convert to open water swimming - but now she can't get enough of immersing herself in freezing cold water and being at one with nature in our rivers and lakes.

In fact, the Bafta-winning and Oscar-nominated actress confesses that open water swimming is rather addictive.

“The thing is that once it gets you, wherever you are you're looking askance at a puddle and thinking ‘I could get in there, yeah, I could, just for a minute. It'd be all right! It’s a bit like that,” she says with a chuckle.

Good Omens actress Miranda, 67, who was also Reeter Sklita in the Harry Potter films, Queen Elizabeth I in Black Adder and starred in Damage, Sleepy Hollow and Made in Dagenham, was first introduced to open water swimming during filming in Ireland, when she took an exhilarating dip in the Irish Sea.

“I got very lucky on that day, and I was in the water for about half an hour thinking, I can’t believe this, I can’t believe I’m here,’ she recalls.

“And then I started going regularly in my time off, and it becomes somewhat addictive - the endorphin rush is good, but also the rhythmic nature of swimming is great. And what you see around you is great, and there’s a healthy dose of jeopardy as well in open water swimming - you haven't got the same infrastructure that you have in your local municipal pool or lido.

“It’s all very healthy - it’s really wonderful for both mind and body.”