A marathon reading of Arthur Ransome’s classic story Swallowdale is happening at Windermere Jetty Museum on June 24th & 25th, and you can now sign up to participate in it.

Swallowdale follows on from the great adventure of Swallows and Amazons and finds the brave crew of the Swallow, plus one parrot, beginning another summer of adventures on Wild Cat Island, finding out what has become of the Amazon Pirates, and discovering what happens if you turn out to be a duffer after all.

Due to the length of Swallowdale, the reading has, for the first time, been split over two days on Saturday 24th and Sunday 25th of June. The reading will begin at 10am and end at around 3:30pm on both days.

The book’s thirty-six chapters are expected to take approximately 10½ hours to read in total, and some of the longer chapters may be allocated two readers, depending on overall demand.

Further details and a registration form may be found here.

Chris Routledge. Credit: University of Liverpool.

The two-day event has been organised by writer and photographer Chris Routledge. He also staged a similar readings of Swallows and Amazons on the shore of Coniston Water in September 2017, Pigeon Post at Coniston Coppermines in September 2019, The Picts and the Martyrs online in May 2020, and Winter Holiday at Windermere Jetty in January 2022.

You can also buy a copy of Swallowdale from the Nancy Blackett Shop.