Poolside Percy

Drizzly Thursday morning. Finally managed to drag my carcass outta bed and cycle over to The Lido. A patch of blue sky seen coming down Highgate West Hill looked promising. Nah. Sought shelter under the gazeebo thing, sod it, might as well be in the water. Turns out I had a lovely swim, did 16 lengths.

Water temp: 19 degrees Glorious morning at the Lido. When my alarm goes off in the morning I wish I could open my eyes, spring out of bed and pedal off to the Lido. Oh I dream of such antics, that's what I do. I arrived at 9am, time for 10 lengths in the inky, sparkly water. Lovely, lovely, lovely. Turns out that Med Man from work managed 10 lengths, he said it was too cold, the coldest, coldest water he'd ever swum in. He said he'd swim here again tho', I admire his bravery if not his brevity. Not long till the duathlon.

Water temperature: 19 degrees Bank holiday last swim, left it late. Overcast, could rain, sun could shine, maybe both, English summer. Water felt cold, I'm still not reacclimatised, please warm up again. Set myself a target of 20 lengths, struggled through the first four or five but I soon got a rhythm going. Thoughts of next weekend's duathlon, looming and daunting. Around length 15 or 16 with about 15 minutes till kicking out time I decided to go for the Big One, that's 27 lengths, an aquatic mile. I finished length 28 as the whistle blew. Bumped in to a colleague from work on the way out, he's a swimming nut, was here for the evening session.  I recommended The Lido to him a few weeks ago. He's very Mediterranean, I wonder how he got on with the English waters?

Managed a sneaky swim between downpours on Saturday afternoon. Pond deserted, chatted to Chris the lifeguard. Couple of big laps. Rushed home to watch Chelsea beat Newcastle.

Water temperature: 20 degrees A return to The Lido after a four week break. There was a knife fight last time I was here, won't dwell on that one. Finally managed to get my sleepy head out of bed for a pre-work swim. A perfect start to the day. Balance has returned to the universe.

Water temperature: 22 degrees (felt cooler) Beautiful evening, sun still out, occasionally. Training for Pondathon.  Decided to swim four big laps (323m each) with a breather and a dive off the springboard in between. Still don't know which way to swim so plumped for two of each. Have to say, anti-clockwise felt best, I love swimming towards the setting sun. Home to watch Chelsea thump Reading 4-2. Homemade dhal and rice. Perfect. Love the pic, John Conteh used to live on Croftdown Road opposite my sister.

Water temperature: 22 degrees Tuesday evening swim. Spain feels like a zillion miles away as I walk the familiar path to the Men's Pond. Glad to be back. I'm 'in training' for the pondathon, I'm still not sure which way round the pond I should swim so I swim one clockwise and the one anti-clockwise, yin and yang innit. Apparently that two lots of 323m. Had tzatziki and monk fish on my brain all day...

Magical.

Lovely cove at the end of a long, bumpy, dusty road. Beautiful clear, blue waters set against a volcanic coastline. Mick Webb tells the story well

Score:   ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ Visiting outlaws in sunny Spain. The  reservoir is empty so it's time to hit the local pool before lunch. Lovely community pool, water is warm and clean and sparkly. Perfect place to cool down. The green stuff around the pool is astroturf left over from when they laid the new football pitch, good thinking civil minded person. Dived and splashed around and ate Cheetos, the perfect pre-dinner swimming snack, free tattoo in every pack, well I thought I looked cool with my blue dolphin on my bicep. A few drops of rain, the locals scattered and the pool was empty. Time for dinner. Fantastic. Great atmosphere. Good times.

Poolside Percy is on holiday.