Midsomer Norton Swimming Pool

Heading from Clevedon to Bath, I decide tonight is the night I finally get Midsomer Norton on the list. I’ve tried before, it’s never quite worked out. It’s a 25 minute detour and you couldn’t pick a better night to roll over the Mendips on the Combe road, past the Rock of Ages, the limestone cliff that inspired Rev. Augustus Toplady’s hymn, which Hollywood later spun into the 2012 Tom Cruise movie.

As soon as I cross the cattle grid onto the Mendips, the fog comes down. Proper fog. I’m calling this the second thickest I’ve ever driven in. I’ll never forget a late night back from Sheffield around 1999 in the VW Golf, almost home on the lane off the A38 to Canwell, I actually had to stop the car. Spooky. Tonight I can just about see the cat’s eyes reflecting in the headlights.

Over the Mendips and into town with perfect timing for the 8:30pm lane swim. I know the pool only has four lanes, so I’m not sure what to expect. I’ve tried to swim here before but either man flu or a schedule clash got in the way.

Park up, dash through the rain, and from reception I can see the Bath swim club finishing up. Pay the very reasonable entry fee and head for the changing room, complete with nice modern PIN‑code lockers. Good start.

Out on deck there’s a busy 25m, four lane pool (rope lanes, but hey‑ho) with lane speed signs. There’s also a sauna and a cold shower on poolside, possibly a steam room too. I head to the far fast lane. Five swimmers already, pace decent, but with that many bodies passing might be tricky. I nearly defect to the medium lane, a bit quieter and moving at a similar clip. Midsomer Norton has some committed evening swimmers.

Work through a steady 1600, skipping the odd flip turn at the very shallow end when people stop at the wall - it's a very shallow, shallow end! One mile done, I start a 400, 300, 200, 100. Just as the 200 begins the lane ropes start coming out and half the lights go off. The timetable shows a 45 minute pure lane swim with a split lanes/public swim after, but this turns out to be a ‘twilight’ session. Interesting choice: make it dark so the lifeguards can’t see as well. I stick to the centre, following the tiled lane line.

Then, sense prevails. The bright lights come back on and the lane ropes go in again. I think the lifeguards realise the remaining swimmers are all running laps and lanes just make more sense! Well done Dragonfly Leisure. You rarely see a centre deviate from their plan on the fly to make it better for the people in the water.

Swim done, shower, and back in the car for the short hop into Bath. Another Somerset pool ticked, fog and all.