Hilton Cardiff

Always great to find a Hilton hotel with a lap pool long enough to qualify for the challenge! In Cardiff tonight as a change from the usual scenery. I've stayed at the Hilton before many years ago but not used the pool. I think I only recently realised they had a pool and that it was a 20m lap pool.

After swimming in another local Cardiff pool last night, I was up early with just enough time for a very quick swim in the hotel pool located on the second floor. Checked with reception the night before and they confirmed it opens at 7am — later than I was hoping but still just enough time to squeeze in a swim before breakfast, then heading back over the bridge to England.

Sign-in at the leisure club reception, grab a free towel and head to the lockers. I'd only brought my jammers, goggles, watch and poolside dry bag — no padlock for the lockers, but figured I was pretty safe leaving my things in an unlocked one.

The pool deck itself feels a little claustrophobic thanks to the low ceilings and lack of natural daylight, though the glass windows through to the gym help. The 20m pool has a single roped-off lane, which two people were already using at a steady pace. At the far end there's a hot tub, with sauna and steam room along the side wall.

I slipped in alongside the rope and kept things easy, trying not to make too much wake. For a hotel spa pool, I was expecting tropical water temperatures but was pleasantly surprised it wasn’t too hot. The pool itself is one of those metal aluminium tub styles, with visible welds and rivets piecing it together.

I finished up 1km at a steady pace, then worked through another 200m varying strokes to try and ease my sore shoulder. Afterwards, it was a quick shower back up in the room (love the convenience of room and pool in the same building!) followed by a forage through the hotel breakfast buffet.

From the window, you can literally see Clevedon across the Bristol Channel — no more than 10km in a straight line, yet the drive back this morning took over an hour looping around South Wales and across the Prince of Wales Bridge before joining the M5 into Somerset.