---
title: "Waterside Pool Ryde"
description: "Quick swim before ferry dash!"
canonical_url: "https://havegoggleswilltravel.com/pool/waterside-pool-ryde"
last_updated: "2026-08-16T10:55:07.667Z"
---

It's another spectacular, hot hot morning, this incredible British summer continues! The perfect day to get pool number 300 on the list!

The day starts with a well put together cappuccino on the beach from Pebbles Cafe in Sandown, and that's saying something from the AeroPress kid!

Keen to get another Isle of Wight pool on the list today and I have one in mind, the only (sort of) outdoor pool on the island. But it's Saturday and the lap swim schedule is a single 1pm hour slot, and I need to be in the Red Funnel ferry boarding car park by 2pm, which is a 25 minute drive away... I'm sure it will be fine!

Getting back to Southampton this afternoon is the highest priority as I'm off to see my favourite band The Wildhearts tonight at The Brook in Southampton. I've lost count of how many times I've seen them. I know they appear in relation to pools already on the list, and I think the last time I saw them was the Ponds Forge swim in Sheffield.

Head over to Ryde an hour early, park near the pool and pass by reception to prebook the lap swim session. The online swim booking is extremely complicated, or just doesn't work properly!

Have some time before the session to watch the hovercraft come and go, then take a walk down the pier and train station, grab an iced latte at the cafe next to the pool, quick drone flight, then it's time to head back to the pool for the lap swim session.

Waterside Pool is located right on the Esplanade at Ryde, sitting at one end of the boating lake and open all year round. The outdoor pool was built in 1974 and roofed over in 1994. After facing closure in 2010, it was saved by the local community and is now run as a charity.

Back to the pool right on 1pm. Quick change in the very fancy + hto and humid changing room then out to the pool deck. I'm planning just the basics to get this one on the list!

This is a five lane 25 metre pool with a difference. The roof, currently open today, can be opened or closed depending on the weather. I think this is only the second pool on the list with such a feature! The other one, as far as I can remember, is the Only Fools and Horses pool on the North Island in New Zealand.

The pool is set up with a single fast lane in the middle and double width slow and medium lanes either side.

Hop in with the couple of other fast lane swimmers and make a start. The water temperature is way too warm for my liking, but otherwise fine. The rope lanes and nothing to break the waves along the pool edges mean it quickly turns into a choppy mess with the ten or so swimmers.

Get the required 1km on the watch plus a couple of 100s for good measure, and that's pool number 300 done!