St. Luke's Swimming Pool

I'm in Exeter tonight and arrive with just enough time for the Tuesday evening lane swim session at St. Luke's campus pool.

I've park in the Waitrose two hour free customer parking (I will go and buy a sandwich when I come out!), then it is a two minute walk over to the pool.

You don't find many 25 yard pools in the UK these days. Whilst they're pretty much the short course standard in the US, they are now a bit of a novelty over here, something from a bygone era.

The pool is right in the heart of the University of Exeter's St. Luke's Campus. I believe it opened in 1934, so in my book it just about qualifies for a 'historic pool' tag.

Arrive at reception, staffed by a super friendly guy who gets me booked in quickly and lets me know it is a 25 yard, not metre, pool.

I am expecting an older style pool, but the changing rooms feel quite modern. I completely fail to figure out the electronic PIN code lockers, so I stuff my clothes in my swim bag and stash it on a bench poolside.

The pool hall looks and feels a bit like a garden greenhouse. The pool deck is surrounded by canoes and water polo kit, clearly a well used uni facility.

Whilst I am certain this is a 25 yard pool, the slim three lane format and pool deck give it a longer look.

There are three lanes with a couple of swimmers in each. I really dislike pool edge lanes, but with only three to choose from, and after surveying the other swimmers' speeds, the near side lane is the pick of the three.

Jump in for a quick stretch, then make a start. The water is slightly cloudy, but not too bad. The shallow end is super shallow and calls for a sort of side flip turn. On most turns at that end, I seem to plant my foot right on the filter inlet pumping hot water straight into the pool.

I am planning just a short 2000 yard-ish swim tonight after yesterday's 4:45am start for a sunny Monday morning swim at my favourite Portishead Lido, a poor night's sleep at Cadbury House last night, and with the real Exeter swim still to come tomorrow morning with swim in the Exeter University outdoor pool.

I end up doing many more hundreds than planned. After a 3k plod I switch to 100s to finish with a 4000 yard swim, and apparently a new 1650 yard personal best!

I am back out in open water again now that my local Powells Pool is up to a more reasonable 13 degrees. I get a decent 2.8km first swim of the season in on Saturday, now I need to build that up as the water temperature increases, and get the wetsuit off ready for Coniston 8.5km skins in June.