Early morning swim at rural pool just outside of Bristol.
The pool and building are well used (have seen better days), but not bad for its rural location and features everything needed to keep the local community swimming - plus, unlike many of these style pools now, it does at least still have water in it! Give an extra 5 points for the best post-swim showers yet!
Early morning swim at a pool on the back roads route between central Bristol and our Clevedon, Somerset office. Previously I’ve never quite managed to catch the timetable right - and I did plan a swim here last week, but they had a power cut!
It’s an older 60’s style 25m pool with a seemingly wider than usual profile - and ridiculously shallow, shallow end; hard to believe it is the stated 90cm! The pool has a look and feel not unlike the Burnham-On-Sea, a couple of swims back, which is located 15 miles further down the coast.
The pool is currently set up with three double-width lanes, but not a major issue thanks to the few other swimmers, unlike my recent swim in Kidderminster! My only real moan rope lane ropes! The lack of wave breakers and old-style high-side pool walls make this a choppy swim - it feels like I’m in the Bristol Channel!
Complete a 2km swim, then head to the changing rooms to discover, surprisingly, one of the best showers (temperature and power) I’ve found at a public swimming pool yet!
Swim Stats
- 2000 meters total swim
- 1:31 pace / 100m
- Garmin Swim 2 Watch
Review
(30/100)
The Pool and building are well used (have seen better days), but not bad for its rural location and features everything needed to keep the local community swimming - plus, unlike many of these style pools now, it does at least still have water in it! Give an extra 5 points for the best post-swim showers yet!
Pool Details
- Length 25 meters
- 6 (three during swim)-lane pool
- Indoor
Backwell Leisure Centre
Farleigh Road, Backwell, Bristol BS48 3PB, UK
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