Water temp: 15 degrees
Night time swim at the Lido. The sun had just about set when I arrived. Scores on the doors said 15 degrees in and 15 out of the water, equilibrium. It got dark very quickly after I arrived and the Lido lights came on. Well, most of them were lit, the deep end was still pretty much in darkness. I've never experienced a floodlit swim at the Lido before.
The water felt icy, it took ages for me to catch my breath. Swimmers zigzagged their way down the semi-illuminated pool narrowly avoiding each other. I literally bumped in to a bloke named Frank who I'd met at Ironmonger Row last year. He's swum the channel. We chatted at the shallow end but the water was too cold for chit-chat, my teeth were chattering. I swam a length with him, I don't suppose a length of the Lido is much to a channel swimmer, always leaves me breathless.
The Lido looked really beautiful this evening. Two days till the end of the summer season.
This is a film about Frank's attempt to cross the River Firth: