All things bright and beautiful

My August lido roadtrip, in which I swam home from Lincolnshire

Deepest darkest Lincolnshire. Every single piece of wall space in this hotel where I am staying has been given up to a painting of an RAF bomber, a handsome squadron leader, or a bomb. Public rooms have names like ‘The Squadron bar’. Rarely have I felt more uncomfortably out of place. I walk out of the door and five minutes later I have never felt more at home: it’s 7am and my lido road trip has begun.

What did you do this weekend, Sally? In homage to John Cheever’s The Swimmer, I have driven over 100 miles and plotted a course back to London, intending to swim in as many lidos as I can in one day, while wending my way back home.

Hundreds of miles driven, and six lidos later, I’ve run out of time. I throw my kit into the boot of my car and head home. What a great lido road trip.

Every lido I swim in tells a story — of the history of the place, of the community it serves, of the people who habituate it. They are secluded sanctuaries; large and showy fun palaces; places to dissolve your stresses; places faintly embodying the spirit of another age. Above all they are populated by the people who love them. Nobody goes to a lido because they have to. These are the places that I, and many others, feel at home.

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