Jessica J. Lee on her project to swim a different Berlin lake every week for a year…

In a region with thousands of lakes (Brandenburg is said to have over 3,000 and Berlin itself nearly 100), swimming feels as natural as cycling.

I personally enjoyed my first Berlin swim in the late summer of 2014. One afternoon after work, I pedalled my bike to the Grunewald and locked it to a tree on the banks of Krumme Lanke. The shallows of the lake were warm and golden in the sun. After swimming into the centre — clear, still, and fringed with grass — I sat on the banks, dipping my toes as I dried off.

I continued to explore the city’s lakes throughout the autumn and early winter, returning to Krumme Lanke for a New Year’s Day swim with friends. Thick ice creaked along the edges of the lake as we moved into the windswept, blackened water. A crowd gathered on the shore: families and their dogs, children and grandparents, young friends, all aghast that we were in the lake as they stood frozen on dry land. Perhaps, in retrospect, it might’ve seemed a bit mad to the uninitiated.

Between then and now I made the decision to swim a different lake every week for a year, 52 in total, cycling to parts of the city I’ve not seen before, hiking nearby trails to find exactly the right spot for a swim. I’ll take in local history, the quality of each swim, and whatever else catches my eye, from Arkenberger See to Zeesener See. Rain or shine, summer and winter.

The Rules are: no pools, no wetsuits and the lake must be accessible by foot, bike or public transport. By all means get in touch with any suggestions you might have either by contacting me through Twitter and Instagram, or using the hashtag #52Lakes.

Krumme Lanke

Krumme Lanke rests at the end of a suburban road, at the end of the U3, southwest of the city on the edge of the Grunewald. This was my first Berlin lake, and it is here that I’ve returned again and again, alone and occasionally with others, to mark my time in the city. In early June, the lake is getting busy again — on a weekday afternoon, there are a few young families spread out on the beach and young couples sheltering in the woods.

I’ve come here with Canadian friends, and as we walk towards the shore, along the eastern edge of the lake, we b…