Sunday sun at Brockwell lido

Hooray - sunshine at Brockwell lido for the bank holiday weekend! And about time after a decidedly wintry feel to the water of late. (Yes I swam in the snow in January - but that was January! And therefore entirely normal and acceptable).

Still though, just over 14 degrees so not quite bath temperature yet. Today Candy (who featured in my previous post) was borrowing a wetsuit in order to build up some nautical mileage without contracting hypothermia. Wetsuits are by nature mischievous and uncooperative entities, a distant cousin of the erratic supermarket trolley, and this one proved no exception. While I have been known to stick my leg into my wetsuit arm, Candy fell victim to the full inside-out motif:

 

No sooner had Candy triumphed over adversity than another, much more serious development ensued. SHOCK HORROR the return of the spider to the girls' changing room!!! [Warning: the following video contains mild peril and is PG rated]

 

 

I beat a hasty retreat to the poolside, accompanied by my friend Hannah who dabbled in cold water swimming last year but is by no means acclimatized. At just over 14 degrees the water does retain a 'bracing' or 'invigorating' edge, shall we say, requiring an element of pluck for the initial plunge. Kitted out in inspirational Team GB togs, brave Hannah wasted little time in setting off with a confident breast-stroke, completing a triumphant 4 lengths in style (which unfort I almost completely missed owing to poor camera skills - sorry Hannah).

 

And hallo, who do we have here?

And now for some aquabatics: Rachel executing a flawless tumbleturn while keeping perfect time with the closing bars of Schubert's piano trio in E flat major:

 

All rounded off with some excellent Sunday baking offerings of raspberry bakewell cake (Peter) and rhubarb crumble (Candy) washed down with the wonderful Lido Cafe coffee.
 

The Swimmer Lite

The second Saturday of every month, I usually participate in theswimmer.org, an excellent swim-run adventure across London, encompassing four lidos and about 12 miles of running (more on that another time - it's a hoot). BUT, as part of the farce that is my life, I recently sprained my bum (at a picnic, egad), literally putting me out of the running for such adventures. Undeterred, I teamed up with three swimming pals from Brockwell lido to create... The Swimmer Lite!

A train from Herne Hill at the civilized hour of 8.30 dropped us within easy walking distance of the 'swimming end' of Hampstead Heath. We struck out cross country for the mixed pond first, weaving through droves of enthusiastic British Military Fitness conscripts and stopping to admire views of the London skyline confusingly reversed from this north-to-south perspective ("Oh there's the Shard!" etc).

The mixed pond turned out to be a bit, well, mixed. It's slightly exposed for my taste and there were lots of midges that get in your mouth if you (and they) aren't careful. But the water was nice (and a refreshing 13 degrees) and the changing rooms are huge and open air, so you can dance to birdsong while you get changed. We were surprised to see a few people there in wetsuits - seemed to jar with the pond vibe, although one family did have matching suits, which somehow made amends for the neoprene-based faux pas.

Anyway, this is where it gets really good! Next stop - the ladies' pond - a secluded idyll surrounded by trees, filled with silky soft water and the occasional coot. Plus at this stage of proceedings I introduced my shiny new underwater camera! The picture's a bit shaky as it's quite hard to be unshaky while holding camera with one hand and swimming with the other, but I'm sure I'll get better with practice.

Is it just me or did those mallards look singularly unimpressed?

Next we have Candy wielding camera, optimistically capturing the murky pond waters (and occasional flashes of my behind), followed by some Olympics-standard synchronized swimming from me, Sara and Talya. By this point endorphins were coursing through our veins, lending a slightly hysterical edge to the laughter.

A quick change and few warming star jumps, and we were off to our next stop: Parliament Hill lido.

Here the camera came into its own, for yea and behold, this lido is steel-lined (and the water isn't opaque):

And now prepare to marvel at Candy, Talya and Sara in full swim. The grace! The efficiency!

Time for a well earned blistering hot shower (no filming ha ha), before train back to our natural habitat. Whereupon Talya sauntered over to Brockwell lido and swam a mile, while the rest of us made vague domestic excuses and scattered (this is The Swimmer Lite after all).

Conclusion: Not only clouds but bottoms, be they sprained or belonging to a lido, can have silver linings.