Egham Orbit

Detour on the trip from Bristol to London last night via Southampton to visit the youngest at Southampton University. Back on the road this morning and heading into London; we're onsite at WTM (World Travel Market) at ExCeL London this week- My favourite event in the UK events calendar.

I initially plan a swim closer to Southampton, but I arrive, try, and completely fail to get the car connected to the charger in the car park. After 15 minutes of faffing about and not in the best mood, I realise I won't have time for a full session, so I continue north for about 30 minutes into Surrey.

Egham Orbit is definitely a pool with a memorable name. It's just south-west of Heathrow in the leafy Borough of Runnymede, bordered by the Thames where the Magna Carta was signed in 1215. My route skirts the impressive Royal Holloway, University of London.

I arrive at the pool — impressive from the outside. It's a fairly new build (opened in 2019), so I'm hopeful for a good swim. I pay the very reasonable entry fee and head to the changing rooms. They've got a neat layout I've seen somewhere before: the communal changing room has rows of cubicles. At first I'm confused because I can see rows of lockers but the ends of each row are walled off. Then I realise you enter a cubicle, lock the door, and exit on the other side straight to the lockers. Smart way to keep dry side and wet side separate.

Out onto the pool deck. It's busy with school lessons, but eight lanes give plenty of room. I jump in the fast lane and make a start.

I want to keep up the weekly distance after my month of swimming in the southern hemisphere, so I plan a full session: start with a 1-mile swim (1600m), then work down through 400, 300, 200, 100. After that, 4 x 150s and 4 x 100s. I'm past the usual 3200m target and enjoying it, so I keep the 100s going to round up to 4km. Always good to get a decent distance session done at around 1:28/100.

Swim done, on to central London.

It's Bonfire Night, one of the big dates in the British calendar, so a walk past the Houses of Parliament later en route to Hilton Westminster is on the to-do list (check it's still there!). Read the real story behind Bonfire Night.