Well, if we'd made any plans for our "Swim across London in a Day" extravaganza we might have been pretty disappointed how quickly they went awry...as it is (as usual) we left the logistics of the day to fate and showed (yet again) our flexibility, pluck and determination to complete the challenge.
Whilst we tucked into Sylvie's wonderful home made french biscuits and jam over a leisurely second breakfast (thanks to Graham for the loan of his superb city centre apartment) we should perhaps have been setting off in the direction of water instead of idling flicking through maps and grappling with the intricacies of the Oystercard.
Anyhow, the upshot is we FINALLY arrive at Swim #1 at 11:45; not quite the early start we'd had in mind! This was after surviving the long trek across the Serengeti/Tooting Bec Common .... half expected to see herds of wildebeest sweeping majestically.....
...instead it was local "character" Douglas who pointed us in the right direction across the Common and entertained us with tales of his 5am training regime ...something reassuringly expensive...
But here we are posing outside Stalag 17, sorry.... the Art Deco glory that is Tooting Bec Lido - if only we had a team of professional photographers and editors to soft focus our day a little!
Anyhow, after all the trekking and griping, this was a BEAUTIFUL swim and it's SO TRUE what everyone says about the friendliness of Tooting Bec. It's such a happy, upbeat kind of place and the swimming was sublime - cutting through the cool clear water with ease and big smiles while the first shower of the day bounced back up into our faces.
I could have stayed here all day happily, but we had a schedule to stick to ... (didn't we?)
Stay tuned for Pool #2....
1 comment:
Heh, heh - we do look pretty grumpy at the entrance here!
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