Cliff Lakes

First wet-suit swim on the list!

The youngest kid wanted to take some friends to the Cliff Lakes Aqua Park for his birthday; fortunately, this coincided with a blazing hot UK mid-summer day!

Cliff Lakes is an outdoor swim and boating lake located approx. 20 minutes from home, the aqua park looks great fun, and the kids had a fantastic time, but I was more interested in the 50m floating pontoon lanes setup in the lake.

Wild swimming is the currently trendy topic, I wasn’t sure I would be able to get an ‘open water’ location on the list as they typically don’t have lanes or a measured length, but here I have a floating pontoon with four clearly marked lanes.

The rules state you must wear either a wetsuit or swim buoy; I had both with me and didn’t fancy blowing up the buoy, so I opted for the wet suit, even though the temperature was roasting!

Jump in and make a start. Can’t touch the bottom, so it’s definitely deep enough! But also, can’t see more than 2 inches past my nose as the water is sludge brown. I’m no more than 10m in before I’m tangled in the first set of reeds/weeds - this continues 4/5 times each 50m length. As I reach the end of the first length, I decide a tumble turn probably isn’t appropriate, so I make a leg-swing-around and go to push off; only the wall is a floating pontoon, and there is nothing to push off from, so find myself sucked half under the floating deck.

Somehow battle through the weeds and faint taste of fuel in the water to complete a surprising 2km.

Swim Stats

  • 2000 meters total swim
  • 1:27 pace / 100m
  • Garmin Swim 2 Watch

Review

(2/100)

Not exactly 'wild swimming' but it's no pool swim! The expereince wasn't great, the lake is full of reeds/weeds and the faint taste of boat fuel!

Pool Details

  • Length 25 meters
  • 4-lane pool
  • Outdoor (Unheated)

Cliff Lakes
Tamworth Rd, Cliff, Tamworth B78 2DL, UK

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