Starlight Swim

Beneath the surface of Jackdaw Quarry, twenty-four metres of clear freshwater conceal an extraordinary submerged fleet of airliners, helicopters, and a Royal Navy minesweeper. This deep flooded basin is the setting for the Fireworks 500, an open water night swim held in the lake at Capernwray Dive Centre, located in Carnforth in the county of Lancashire. The site was originally a 22-acre industrial limestone quarry that was subsequently abandoned and allowed to fill with water. Reaching a maximum depth of 24 metres, the sheer limestone walls enclose a deep aquatic world. Suspended above the bottom, swimmers glide over an eclectic underwater collection resting across the quarry floor. Underwater training platforms sit positioned at depths of two metres and six metres for divers.

Farther down in the deep water rest the fuselages of a Hawker Siddeley HS 748 airliner, a Cessna 150 light aircraft, and two submerged helicopters. Alongside the aircraft, the sunken installations include the former naval minesweeper HMS Podsnap, a Gypsy Moth sailing yacht, various smaller boats, a cannon, an underwater devil statue, and a submerged gnome garden. The basin is also populated by an array of freshwater fish that move between the submerged wrecks. The water is stocked with perch and trout, alongside at least two large sturgeon that patrol the quarry floor.

The Fireworks 500 and Starlight Swim at Capernwray

The competition, organized by T2 Events, takes place after dusk in late October as an atmospheric night swim. The event was originally titled the Fireworks 500 because a celebratory fireworks display followed the open water race once swimmers stepped out of the water. For recent seasons, the fixture has been renamed the Starlight Swim, preserving the traditional format of a nocturnal circuit. Swimmers line up to complete a single 500-metre lap around the flooded quarry basin, with the race starting from a recognizable waterside structure known locally as the rocket. Paddling out into an ink-black quarry on an autumn evening can be an intense physical encounter, and swimmers who have raced the 500 metres in the dark report that the water feels seriously cold.

However, the event is specifically organized to provide the thrill and visual drama of night swimming within a closely controlled, safe environment. The course is restricted to a single 500-metre lap to keep the time in the water short and prevent competitors from suffering excessive chill. In past editions, swimmers have noted that a good wetsuit provides dependable thermal insulation and helpful buoyancy, with the brisk plunge even soothing aching joints and shoulders. Guided through the gloom, the sprint across the water turns into a brief, invigorating surge of adrenaline.

After dark at Capernwray: the lap, the prize and the firepits

At the Starlight Swim at Capernwray Dive Centre, swimmers can race the 500 m lap of the quarry or complete it at leisure. The fastest male and the fastest female swimmer of the Starlight Swim receive an award, and their names are engraved on the Hudson memorial award. Instead of glow sticks, the organisers of the Starlight Swim ask swimmers to bring a tow float to be seen in the dark. After the Starlight Swim at Capernwray, swimmers can warm up with a hot chocolate and enjoy the firepits and sparklers.

Pine Lake and Hawes Water: marl lakes and sunken castles

The flooded history seen at Jackdaw Quarry repeats itself across the surrounding Lancashire countryside. About two kilometres away lies Pine Lake, another open body of freshwater with a submerged heritage beneath its surface. The lake was created when gravel extraction flooded the historic site of Mourholme Castle. A different freshwater landscape survives at Hawes Water, accompanied just to the northeast by Little Hawes Water. It holds an exceptional status as one of only two natural freshwater lakes in all of Lancashire. Local folklore long spoke of a fearsome serpent that was said to lurk in the lake and feed on stray sheep wandering along the banks. In reality, the peaceful shoreline provides a haven for wildlife, harboring elusive bitterns among the lakeside vegetation and rare lady's slipper orchids on the surrounding ground.

The River Lune and Leighton Moss across Morecambe Bay

At the Crook o' Lune, the River Lune winds through a dramatic horseshoe bend bounded by green meadows, low hills, and a wooded gorge. Two historic railway viaducts constructed in 1849 and altered in 1882 span the gorge, now serving walkers as pedestrian bridges. The Lune is renowned for fly fishing, providing a healthy habitat for migratory salmon, rainbow trout, and wild brown trout. Kingfishers hunt from overhanging branches and otters swim along the banks among native oak, wild cherry, hawthorn, holly, wild garlic, and bluebells, alongside patches of introduced Japanese knotweed and Himalayan balsam. The River Wenning flows for 14.09 miles as a tributary of the Lune, formed by the meeting of Clapham Beck and Austwick Beck before joining the main river one mile west of Hornby.

About seven kilometres from the dive centre, the countryside meets the sea within the Arnside and Silverdale National Landscape, a 29-square-mile protected area bordering Lancashire and Cumbria. The local River Keer begins on Docker Moor and flows for ten kilometres through coastal salt marshes to reach the Kent Estuary, with its mouth situated directly inside the designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. These coastal marshes are constantly shaped and threatened by the shifting channels of the Kent Estuary. Out in Morecambe Bay, about eight kilometres away, extensive tidal sand flats emerge where workers harvest cockles at low tide, especially near where the Keer and Kent channels meet. Sheltered inland from these tidal mudflats, about six kilometres from Capernwray, lies the Leighton Moss RSPB reserve.

Leighton Moss preserves the largest reed bed area in north-west England, an internationally recognized wetland designated as a Ramsar site in 1985. The area had formerly been drained for agriculture, but when pumping became uneconomic the ground was deliberately allowed to flood again by 1918. Today, conservation teams manage the water levels to block salt water from entering the freshwater reed beds from the nearby coast. While wild red deer graze among the reeds, occasionally causing damage to the dense stands of vegetation, the reserve forms an important stop along a planned cycle route that encircles Morecambe Bay. Back in the calm depths of Jackdaw Quarry, the still waters offer swimmers a sheltered, peaceful encounter with the watery heart of the Lancashire coast.