I love swimming outdoors. On the last three occasions I've been in a sea (The Irish), a British river, (The Lug), and a Bavarian River (The Isar).
Outdoor swimming is fun, and it feels right. As I live in Birmingham though, it means that I have to travel a distance to get near swimmable water that's outdoors.
After countless searches on Google for the closest wild-swim spot I was surprised to find a lido just down the road in Droitwich. (It makes sense; Droitwich is after all a spa town!)
The lido has only just recently been restored and re-opened. At 44 yards by 22 yards, the pool is huge. On the day that we went, the weather was mixed, but that was fine as the pool is heated to 21 degrees. Although it feels a little cool when you first get it, your body soon adjusts. Once in, its an absolute joy to swim big long lengths in a sheltered area with daylight shining on the surface of the pool and the tiles, with bright blue beneath you and all around.
For young ones there's a 'beach area' at one end of the pool with fountains, water gun turrets and a wet-play area.
After an hour, we drank some reasonable and frothy instant coffee and munched on toasted teacakes from the on-site cafe. Then we were back in the water. If you enjoy outdoor swimming then its worth traveling to this fantastic facility. If you live in Droitwich, then I envy you!
A word on the lifeguards-These ones are at the top of their game. As the lido wasn't very busy, (there were passing showers, sun, showers, repeat!), we were offered free deck chair hire, and the lifeguard even bought them out to us. The duty lifeguard watching from his tower did what a lifeguard should do, (look out for swimmers in difficulty), and he didn't blow his whistle once over the two hours we were there, as is often the draconian way of the lifeguard. He SMILED, even.
The lido is open 2nd June-4th September. (Check website for opening times as they change depending on high-season or low-season.) read more