Charlton lido

With the waters of Brockwell lido increasingly resembling a cream of mushroom soup (complete with proverbial hair in it), fellow Icicles Sara and Noelene and I decided to skip the crowds for a calmer, more secluded spot last weekend. Cue school trip to Charlton lido in deepest darkest south east London, which reopened this spring after a £2m refurbishment. Cor.

Taxi in form of Sara's racy fiat 500 set us on Noelene's doormat in Lewisham at 8.30, where we marvelled at the charming surroundings:

No time for sight-seeing though as we jumped into Noelene's car and sped on to Charlton. The entrance to the lido is unprepossessing to say the least, and gives little away about what lies beyond:

A dark portal

And the security arrangements are very eco-friendly:

Electric fence full of water?

Arriving a good 20 mins before the 9am opening (too keen), we diligently formed an orderly queue with the two other ladies who were waiting. We soon fell to exchanging lido stories as you do, culminating in the more forthright of the two women telling us how she came to blows with a man in a wetsuit last week who insisted on swimming into and indeed over her - at which point a lone man who had now joined the queue behind us nervously piped up that he was away all last week.

 Next a life guard came roaring into work in some style, causing quite a flutter amongst the girls:

And then with a friendly greeting from the man on the door and tickets procured for six pounds sterling, we were in!

On entering you come first to the children's pool going acrossways, adjacent to the main lido beyond, which stretches away up ahead. While the pools are all redone the accompanying changing rooms etc are still works in progress, giving a pretty cool scene of the clear blue expanse of water surrounded by scaffolding and a distinct impression of hard hats. The lido is -ahem- heated but we were relieved to see the temperature display showing just over 25 degrees, so not too much over what it would be anyway in this heatwave. (We were also amused to see the temp dial didn't actually go *below* 25 degrees...incomprehensible).

Quick change in the little cabins on the poolside, and in we went - Nolene in the fast lane while Sara and I opted for the Zone of Bewilderment. It's 50 m like Brockwell, slightly narrower, and with an overcast day there was plenty of room for all. Even the water temperature was fine - I mean you're obviously not going to get the cold water buzz but it was infinitely more pleasant than any heated indoor pool. It's also filled to overflowing so you really can feel Entirely Surrounded By Water and also Not Scrape Your Knee when you turn in the shallow end. Just having the space to swim and swim without crashing into anyone or needing to sight was such a luxury.

Hot showers on the poolside, return to civilian clothes and then back to Noelene's for coffee and breakfeast to rival the finest offerings of The Lido Cafe. Here, Sara took the opportunity to demonstrate the optimal front crawl technique:

High elbow on the recovery

Firm grip on the croissant

Just time for Sara to make off with some of Noelene's bamboo and raid the neighbour's cherry tree before speedy departure in the getaway car.

A very successful and civilized trip - highly recommended if you fancy a little change of scenery and a bit more elbow room. Maybe just let Noelene know when you set off so she has time to get the pastries in.