Swimming with the Viking of Skye

‘The book will leave you yearning to visit Skye, and inspired by the author’s refusal to allow ‘Parky’ to boss him about. Ill health and death come for us all, Waters observes with admirable zen, but if we can accept that we are in a constant state of flux, ‘our days will be happier and freer’.’

– Daily Mail, 9 Best Health Books of 2025

‘Richard Waters, a man that shows no mercy to his illness, strives to better the lives of all that have the pleasure of knowing him, both personally and professionally. We all have mountains to climb, Rich delivers his story, that compels you from the heart, proving mental robustness that leads by example. An incredible read, I couldn’t put down.’

– Ollie Ollerton

‘A beautifully written book full of life lessons by an inspiring human being.’

– Christian Lewis

‘A stirring story of one man’s attempts through cold swimming to stand up to Parkinson’s Disease, an illness that also has its teeth in me. And as he plunged into each freezing loch and burr, I was right there with him.’

– Sir Ranulph Fiennes

Richard Waters is an international award-winning writer. For fifteen years, he worked for Lonely Planet, authoring some twenty books for them. He also contributed regular stories to The Independent, The Financial Times, The Telegraph, Elle, and Wanderlust.

He has co-authored books with Tyson Fury, Ollie Ollerton, and Major General Paul Nanson, all of which were Sunday Times bestsellers. Richard also wrote The Gladiator Mindset with Adam Peaty, which was shortlisted for the 2022 Sunday Times Sports Book of the Year in the ‘Performance and Motivation’ category.

He is the bestselling author of Finding Hildasay.