Quirky Guide

Strap on your snorkel and mask, but don’t bother cleaning it. You won’t glimpse any fish or coral here: just pure, unadulterated sludge.

Every year on August bank holiday Monday, contestants in the World Bog Snorkelling Championship strip down, strap on flippers and breathing apparatus and compete to kick, splash and writhe their way through a dense peat bog – without using any conventional swimming strokes.

First held in 1985, this down-and-dirty sporting event takes place near Llanwrtyd Wells in Powys, Wales.

And if the main competition sounds quirky, just wait for the mountain bike bog snorkelling race and the subsequent bog snorkelling triathlon.