Swimming

I quite enjoy swimming, but don't seem to do as much of it as I would like. One of the joys of living in a (slightly) warmer climate is that it is more tempting to go swimming and Lyon is blessed with a plethora of pools (quite a few are olympic size ones as well) but they all seem to have different and weird opening times - especially in term times when there is school swimming and hour long staff lunch breaks to take into account.

Several of the pools close in the summer, I suppose it must be too hot to go swimming and several close in the winter - 'Ah, it's -5c outside, time for a refreshing dip.' Having been so dismissive, there is a method in the madness in that the ones that close in the summer are the indoor pools and instead the city opens up the outdoor pools. There is something lovely about swimming in the open air as it automatically makes you think that you are on holiday, even if you are only putting in a few laps on the way home from work. Unfortunately for someone as unmotivated as me, the open air pools are quite a trek from my house, where as my local indoor pool is within walking distance.

Also in France and most other countries in Europe, there is a lot more freshwater swimming than in the UK. This makes sense, the UK is an island and a hot summer's day means a queue in a traffic jam down to the coast. Imagine trying to do that in a country as large as France. Consequently we don't really do lake and river swimming the way the Europeans do it. There is a large lake outside of Lyon, that is packed every summer weekend with families having picnics and barbeques. We also have several rivers in the area and there are plenty of places within an hour or so's drive that are safe and clean for swimming. (But they don't have fish & chip shops, rock and kiss me quick hats either) The other weekend I was swimming in the Rhone - anyone fancy going for a swim in the Thames? Doesn't quite bring up the same image, does it.

Then there is something even better than outdoor municipal pools or lake/river swimming. It is the friends who have their own pool in the back garden. I was fortunate enough to be invited to afternoon at one of these on Saturday. It was heaven, a quiet pool, lounging around in the sun, drinks available, catching up on the gossip. What more could a girl want?
Oh, a pool of my own!!