The end result

All in all we swam 26944m in total and so far we've raised over £500 for LEPRA with several more hundred still to come. Nearly everyone in the team swam in at least one pool that they'd never swam in before and we've already started making plans to revisit some of them when we can spend more time enjoying the experience. In addition we've advertised how great Lidos are to some of our more skeptical mates who although they wimped out of the swim have since seen the pictures and heard our evangelicism and are considering a trip to an outdoor pool sometime soon.


Initially this was just a silly challenge that Pete and Libs set themselves but as it spiraled out of control and the money started rolling in for LEPRA we've realised that we started something special. From cold water wimps we've learnt to take the cold shock and get our shoulders under, we've found some stunning new pools to swim in and we've introduced our mates to some of our old favorites. We met loads of fellow lido swimmers along the way who were interested in joining in a similar fundraising event in the future and now we've warmed up we'd even consider doing it all again... maybe!

The Team

Peter "The Challenger" Hutchin

Pete swam 5890m in 12 pools and thanks to all the lidos generosity was able to donate the £35.48 he saved on admission charges to LEPRA

Chris "Along for the Ride" Jamieson

Chris swam 4668.75m in 12 pools and thanks to all the lidos generosity was able to donate the £35.48 he saved on admission charges to LEPRA

Libi "Mr T" Hutchin
Libi swam 5221.5m and thanks to all the lidos generosity was able to donate the £35.48 she saved on admission charges to LEPRA








Jo "The Fundraisor" Whiteman
Jo swam 2560m in 6 pools and thanks to all the lidos generosity was able to donate the £17.81 she saved on admission charges to LEPRA.









Seb "Are All the Pools Outdoor?" Chamberlain
Seb swam 2560m in 6 pools and thanks to all the lidos generosity was able to donate the £17.81 he saved on admission charges to LEPRA






Ally "Tiny Trunks" Pamphilon
Ally swam 2980m in 6 pools and thanks to all the lidos generosity was able to donate the £17.81 he saved on admission charges to LEPRA




John "The Wetsuit" Moogan
John swam 1000m in 2 pools and thanks to all the lidos generosity was able to donate the £17.81 he saved on admission charges to LEPRA






Matthew "Torpedo" Harrison
Matt swam 500m in 1 pool and thanks to the lido's generosity was able to donate the £3.31 he saved on admission charges to LEPRA








Cat "Might Just Stay in Bed" Greene
Cat swam 500m in 1 pool and thanks to the lido's generosity was able to donate the £3.31 she saved on admission charges to LEPRA








Dorrie "Refreshment Angel" Spencer
Dorrie swam 980m in 2 pools and thanks to the lidos generosity was able to donate the £7.81 she saved on admission charges to LEPRA





Shirley "Who Said I Didn't Swim in Cold Water?" Hutchin
Shiley swam 100m in 1 pools and thanks to the lidos generosity was able to donate the 62p she saved on admission charges to LEPRA








Nikki "Cameratastic" Whiteman
Nikki didn't swim in any pools but came along to cheer us on and take video footage at 4 pools. Thanks to the lido's generosity she was able to donate the £9.50 she saved on admission charges to LEPRA

Saturday 6pm - Parliament Hill Lido

By the time we reached Parliament Hill Lido the sun was breaking through the clouds and glittering off the calm water. We were all so cold that none of us hung about instead racing through the changing rooms and jumping in as quickly as possible. Although we were all concentrating on the warm showers in store for us once we’d swum our 400m it was impossible to ignore how beautiful the pool was. With a metal floor the sun glitters in all directions and the art deco pool is stunning especially when it’s almost empty as it was for us. After the heavy rain only minutes earlier no-one else in London was thinking about jumping into the freezing Lido. Just like the Lido we had started in the water at Parliament Hill is icy and we all agreed that the metal flooring although stunning was sapping the pool of any warmth the sunlight might have provided. As we finished our final few strokes and took a celebratory photo Dorrie entered the Lido. She had joined us earlier in the morning at London Fields and had promised to join us later in the day. Since our other friends had politely excused themselves it was even more special to see Dorrie again especially when she produced bubbly and hot chocolate from her bag. It turned out later that she had been delayed joining us since she had been baking celebratory Lido themed cakes for our party later that evening. As Dorrie swam her 400 meters in a deserted pool the rest of us warmed up in the showers and headed back out to sit by the pool and drink prosecco in the fading sunlight. After the heroic feeling afternoon it was an amazing way to finish the challenge. Thanks Dorrie!

In total we swam 3300m at Parliament hill and thanks to the support of the Lido we were able to add the £40.50 we saved on admission fees to the sponsorship pot.

Saturday 5pm - Kenwood Ladies' Pond

Blue Green Algae almost threatened to call a halt to the girls challenge having been detected a week earlier at Kenwood Ladies' Pond. After being told about the algae by a staff member at the mixed pond he cheerfully informed us that it wouldn’t necessarily stop experienced outdoor swimmers such as ourselves swimming in the pool at our own risk. Though chuffed that our apparently adept performance at the mixed pond had given the man the impression that we were anything close to experienced wild swimmers the fact remained that, had he seen our pitiful performance at Uxbridge Lido, he may have quickly revised his calculation of our expertise.

After absorbing as much information as possible about avoiding the algae Jo and Libi decided to do the only thing possible and swim with our heads held high and their mouths tight shut. Well mostly quite shut. Libi and Jo aren’t renowned for their ability to keep their silence and a certain amount of water was swallowed before they realised that chatting might have to wait till they were back out of the water. Although the ponds aerators bubbling away had lowered the levels of algae in the water we had the whole pond to ourselves apart from a couple of coots who watched us closely as we swam our 400m.

At Kenwood Ladies' Pond the girls swam 880m and, thanks to the management were able to donate £6 to the sponsorship fund.

Saturday 4pm - Highgate Men's Bathing Pond

As we crossed the Heath the drizzle that had been falling when we left the Mixed Pond suddenly became a downpour and those of us who had opted to change out of our wet swimsuits for the short walk realised our mistake since we were all so wet that getting into the next pond wasn’t going to get us any wetter.

There had been warm showers at neither the Serpentine nor the Mixed Pond and without a tube journey to warm ourselves up we all found ourselves feeling the cold especially as we faced two more unheated pools before the warm showers at Parliament Hill. For the first time we found ourselves losing much of our humour and texts from fair-weather swimming friends excusing themselves from the challenge did little to lift our spirits.

We came to the Men’s Pond first and the boys turned off down the path only realising later that Pete, who had stayed behind at the Mixed Pond to chat to his family, had taken a wrong turning in the downpour and was wandering round the Heath lost in the rain and feeling even worse than the rest of us.

He was eventually found by some friendly park rangers north of the ladies pond and made up for his late arrival diving from the board and cutting a few corners of the pond.

For some reason the boys told us Highgate Men’s Pond

was the warmest of the unheated pools and warmer by far than the supposedly heated Park Rd Pools although we don’t know if that was just to make Jo and Libi jealous since they found Kenwood Ladies Pond anything but warm!

At Highgate Men’s pond the boys swam 1480m and, thanks to the management were able to donate £10 to the sponsorship fund.

Saturday 3pm - Hampstead Heath Mixed Bathing Pond

The Ponds on Hampstead Heath are the closest most Londoners are able to get to wild swimming – albeit watched by a friendly lifeguard.

Surrounded by trees and set back from the heath the Mixed Pond is a stark contrast to the chlorinated indoor pools that many of us usually swim in. After braving so many unheated pools we were finally getting better at getting over the cold shock but the shade of the trees meant that the mixed pond was particularly cold and despite his wet suit John found he just couldn’t get in.

The rest of us found the swim even more beautiful than the serpentine although we found that the sun on the surface of parts of the pond led to warm patches which were lovely to swim through but made the cold patches even harder to brave. The sun shone on our swim making the whole pond even more beautiful. Noone felt like taking a cold shower after the cold of the pond and since the next stop was just across the Heath most of us decided to do a bathing suited dash. As we left pond the rain started to fall and the black sky made the trip across the Heath to the single sex ponds look less inviting than the summer stroll we had imagined when we were planning the challenge.

Thanks to The Mixed Bathing Pond we were able to add £16 to the LEPRA fund and between us we swam 3105m.

Saturday Midday - Serpentine

After the chilly nature of the heated water at Park rd pools we were all a little nervous about dipping our toes into our next Lido – the roped off swimming section of the Serpentine.

As we waited for John to get his wet suit on Jo tested the warmth of the nearby kids paddling pool and was disturbed to find it even colder than she expected. Seb and Ally decided to cool down in the freshwater showers before jumping into the lake but they were too cold for the rest of us.

Luckily the water was warmer than any of us expected – even John managed to get swimming - and being able to swim in such stunning scenery was well worth all the apprehension. While the scenery is stunning the disturbing squelch underfoot was less so and Libi felt smug having bought a pair of jelly shoes to swim in. The rest of us simply did our best to avoid putting our feet down.

Jo was slightly intimidated by the local swan who was unimpressed to be sharing the lake with us and sadly (or hilariously) Jo also found herself, along with Seb, being heckled by some tourists in a boat. Despite the tourists, swans and murky water it’s beautiful Lido and it's understandable to hear that a few hard nuts swim there all year round - sometimes breaking the ice to get in. Even better, while we waited for John to change out of his wet suit we were given a donation to LEPRA from an interested passer by.

Thanks to the Serpentine's support we were able to add £8.00 (plus £2 from a passer by) to the sponsorship pot and as a team we swam 3300m.

Saturday 10am - Park Rd Pools

After the luxury of London Fields we had to confess to the rest of the group that temperature-wise the pools on Saturday could only get colder.

Our next stop, Park Rd Pools, is partially heated with water from the indoor pool but as caught our first glimpse of the pool it was hard not to notice a number of wetsuited swimmers. Although John had bought a wetsuit the rest of us were suddenly very aware that our skimpy bathers weren’t going to conserve much body heat. While Pete, Jo, Libi , Chris and John wimped about taking photos Seb and Ally and jumped in and got started.

We all eventually managed to get our shoulders under apart from John who had decided not to crack out his wetsuit for the partially heated pool and unfortunately found the water just too cold to brave. As we left the rain started the fall something that would have worried us if we hadn't been too busy contemplating the waffle stand at Finsbury Park station.

Thanks to Park Road Pools support we were able to add £35.00 to the sponsorship pot and between us we swam a total of 2700m.

Saturday 8am - London Fields Lido

We started Saturday with an early morning meeting outside London Fields Lido. Since only Shirley had managed to join the three of us at one pool on Friday it was exciting to find ourselves joined by a whole group of swimmers on Saturday morning. Jo, Ally, Zeb and John were planning to swim all of Saturday with us while Matt, Cat and Dorrie had sacrificed a Saturday lie-in to swim London Fields with us.

The 10 of us found the pool filled with early morning lap swimmers and there was a real buzz as industrious swimmers powered up and down the lanes. London Fields is another Lido that had been derelict for many years before local residents fought to reopen the pool in 2006.

The early morning bustle of lane swimmers at 8am on a Saturday morning just shows how well used the pool is and it seems ridiculous how difficult local residents found it to reopen. After the distance they’d swum on Friday Libi and Chris were surprised at how tough they found it to swim only 400m on home turf. In contrast everyone else made light work of their first 400m and even Pete’s efforts the day before seemed to hardly slow him down. We grabbed a coffee and some toast and jam at the Lido’s “Hoxton Beach” café while we filled out Libi’s favourite paperwork. After each pool we would record how for each swimmer had swum and how much each Lido had enabled us to add to the sponsorship pot.

At London Fields we swam a total of 4500m and London Fields support meant we were able to add the £33.10 to the LEPRA fund.

Friday 7.30pm - Brockwell Lido

Brockwell Lido shut at 8pm and although we had contacted the Lido to tell them about our challenge they were the only Lido to offer us no support of any kind. If we missed the 7.30pm deadline for last entries we knew we wouldn’t be able to swim in Brockwell and the risk of failure due to the deadline had been hanging over us all day.

In the end we arrived at the Lido at 7.27pm and once through the gate we able to relax for the first time since the Northern Line threw us off schedule earlier in the day.For some reason Libi had assumed Brockwell was another heated pool and the discovery that it was another 17’C dip this time with no clean fluffy towel at the end of it hit her hard. While Pete and Chris jumped in as if Mr T was still on their case she lurked at the edge and came close to giving up before finally easing herself into the pool with the rest. Once again we discovered that however hard it is to get into cold water once the cold shock is over the feeling is truly amazing. Brockwell Lido is another Grade II listed building and probably the most beautiful of the manmade pools we swam as part of the challenge. In the evening twilight we all felt like we’d been transported back to the 1930’s. Sadly a twin to Brockwell Lido was also built in Victoria Park but it has long since been demolished along with countless other London Lidos.

After the anticlimax of getting to Brockwell just in time none of us wanted to head home although we knew we had a long day ahead of us.

We’d seen the fairy lights of the Lido café as wed swum and despite ourselves we knew we were all thinking about the rumours of Champagne that Dabbie at Hampton Court had related. We had to investigate. If Brockwell Lido had been slightly chilly in more ways than one the Lido café was the absolute opposite. The food was amazing, the manager was welcoming making space for us even though he was fully booked and there was even champagne!

Unfortunately Broackwell Lido did not provide any support to the challenge and we were unable to add any more to the sponsorship pot but despite the chilly 17’C we managed to swim 1300m.

Friday 5.30pm - Tooting Bec

Tooting Bec is the second largest pool in Europe at a whopping 90x30 meters. It’s also freshwater, unheated and bit of a legend in the world of London Lidos. Before the challenge the three of us had all been a bit wimpy about unheated pools as our reaction to Uxbridge temperature confirmed however when we arrived at Tooting Bec we were still running late and so just didn’t have time to be wimps.

The size of the pool is slightly awe inspiring and at 6pm on a Friday evening after torrential rain there were only a couple of other swimmers in the water. Considering the brisk nature of the water their speed was impressive and when Pete saw one of them break into Butterfly we decided they were definitely Triathletes.

Gritting our teeth we jumped in and swam 5 lengths trying to go as fast as possible before we froze and sank to the bottom. Once again the temperature actually felt quite good once the cold shock had worn off but we were all chuffed that we’d saved our second dry towel for Tooting Bec.

The huge pool seems to dwarf even a large number of swimmers and with so few of us in the pool it almost felt like we were alone in the pool. After the heavy rain the sun was making an evening appearance and there was a feeling of calm and stillness broken only by the sound of trains passing every so often. Overall it was a seriously amazing experience although on the way back to the Tube stop Libi did confess that in both Uxbridge and Tooting she had been keeping as close to the edge as possible just in case she got so cold she sank and the Lifeguards didn’t fancy jumping in to rescue her!

We swam a total of 1402.75 m and thanks to the Support of Tooting Bec Lido we were able to £9.60 to the Sponsorship page.

Friday 3.30pm - Oasis Sports Centre

Oasis Lido is hidden in the centre of London just between High Holborn and Shaftsbury Avenue. It’s not the prettiest Lido in London but it’s central location makes it pretty special.

A runaway train on the Northern Line earlier in the day meant that as we travelled in to central London from Hampton we found ourselves diverted on to the Bakerloo line running late and in danger of arriving too late to gain entry to Brockwell Lido later that evening. The three of us raced into the pool full of post-work swimmers. Libi appeared to be channelling the spirit of Mr T at the pool side as she instructed Pete and Chris to cut their jibba jabba, swim 16 lengths and get moving! Looking back she may even have warned against the dangers shilly shallying in the showers. In the rush we failed to get any great pictures of us at the Lido but Pete did film a lot of the “Challenge Aneka” magic of us racing between Lidos.

Due to a slight misunderstanding between Chris and Ms T Chris swam slightly less than 400 meters but overall the three of us swam 1265 meters. Once again the support of the Lido meant that we were able to add another £12.15 to the LEPRA sponsorship pot. Thanks Oasis!

Friday 1pm - Hampton Pool

From Richmond we hopped on a bus and headed to Hampton open air pools. The heated pool, which is open 365 days a year, is at the edge of Busy park not far from Hampton Court Palace. We were already hungry when we arrived and decided to swim first and then grab lunch at the café and terrace looking over the pool. Like Richmond Pools on the Park the Lido was busy with families on one side of the pool and lane swimmers on the other. After we’d each completed our 400m we joined the kids at the mini slides and started a water fight before retiring to the café.

In the Café we met the owner Dabbie who told us about groups of swimmers who had visited Hampton pools earlier in the year racing each other round several lidos and their tales of champagne to be found at Brockwell Lido. While we didn’t really believe these tales of bubbly and Lido luxury we couldn’t help holding on to a small hope that they just might be true…. As we sat down to eat the rain started pouring down and by the time we left to catch the bus into town we were huddled under anoraks trying to keep our warm clothes dry.

Thanks to Hampton Pools support we were able to add £16.80 to the LEPRA fund and between us we swam 1440m.

Friday 11am - Richmond Pools on the Park

Richmond Pools on the Park include a heated outdoor pool run as part of the Spring Health Leisure Centre. To get to the Lido we walked through the busy indoor pool where Lifeguards were being trained and families were splitting their time between the indoor and out door pools.

By the time we arrived the clouds had cleared and the sun was streaming down on the already warm pool. After Uxbridge the warm water was a luxury although in the smaller busy pool we missed the space and freedom Uxbridge had given us. We easily completed our 400 meters and more and it was a struggle to leave the greenery-surrounded pool and head back indoors to get changed. On our way into the pool we had noticed a 70’ style orange pod in the changing room which we were eager investigate after our swim. Watched by bemused children and ignored by their mums, the three of us crowded into the pod which we had named a Dryomatic to be dried by a full body hairdryer and infra red bar heaters. Great fun! Although we got some great film footage of us swimming in the pool we forgot to take a photo apart from on the train to the pool.

Jo the manager at Richmond was one of the most supportive of our challenge and after our luxurious swim we spent some time chatting about the importance of pools both indoor and outdoor. Jo told us about the threatened closure of Saltdean Lido in Sussex and explained how many pools across London and the UK are threatened with closure. Since we had just travelled from such a stunning pool that had been until recently shut down and vandalised for over 10 years the conversation was even sadder.

Thanks to the fantastic support of Richmond Pools on the park the three of us were able to add a further £12.60 to the sponsorship pot and Between the three of us we swam 1267 meters.

Friday 8am - Uxbridge Lido

We were due to arrive at Uxbridge at 8am on Friday. Unfortunately due to some metropolitan line confusion Chris and Libi ended up getting a second breakfast in Costa while they waited for Pete and Shirley to make it to the end of the tube line.

Uxbridge Lido reopened earlier this year after closing down in 1998 and it was one of the few pools that none of us had seen or even swum in. The original 12 sided star shaped pool is a gradeII listed structure which has been refurbished and it was certainly a stunning pool to start our adventure in.

Despite the dire weather predictions the sun was breaking through the clouds as we arrived and the sun glittering on the water of the empty pool made the water look attractively summery and inviting. Any illusions we might have had about how easy the

challenge was going to be were shattered pretty effectively when we dipped our toes in the water. We’ve definitely been spoilt by the heated luxury of London Fields Lido which is a balmy 26.5 ‘C throughout the year. To our unhardened bodies the Uxbridge Lido water was icy and we knew it was just the start! All three of us found the cold a real struggle and while Pete forged ahead Libi was worried she wouldn’t even manage to complete her first 100m however she’d warmed up by 300m and it was Petes turn to start flagging. Chris called it a day at 300 meters – it was after all Pete and Libi who’d vowed to complete 400 at each pool Chris was just coming along for the challenge. In the end Shirley surprised us all by jumping in to join us on our last lap and adding her own 100 meters to the tally. As we finishing our final lengths we were joined by another swimmer who’s speedy laps made our 400 m look a just little feeble. He was training for a triathlon in September and we left him powering up and down thebeautiful pool enjoying the wide-open space of the otherwise empty 50m pool.

Although we’ whinged about the freezing cold when we’d jumped in to the pool we were all slightly sad to leave so quicklyand as the warmth flooded back to our skin we all felt more alive than we had for ages. But we had 5 more pools to swim in before 8pm and we didn’t have time we would have liked to lounge around the beautiful pool. By 9.10am we were heading back to the tube stop – next destination Richmond Pools on the Park.

Between the four of us we swam 1600 meters and thanks to Uxbridge Lido’s concessionary entry we were able to add £2.50, the amount we saved on admission, to the Sponsorship pot.

And they're off!

Well it's 6am and we're just leaving the house. The weather looks bad, the pools look cold but our Tshirts look ace :).

We're starting with Uxbridge Lido and they're so excited that they're greeting us with cameras of their own! So glad we picked such a positive centre to start the challenge with.

Shirley is also getting out of bed to cheer us on at the start and we're hoping to pick up recruits from Oasis onwards as people knock off work.

Lets go!

Why Swim Outdoors?

Libi has always been a committed exercisephobe and she has lived most of her life with the firm belief that exercise was not just uncomfortable but downright dangerous to your health. Since becoming a Physiotherapy student she’s coming to the realisation that exercise might just be the most important thing anyone does each day.

The Chartered Society of Physiotherapists have launched a new move for Health campaign in the hope of encouraging everyone to get more active and they point out that; “Physical activity can help you prevent or manage over 20 medical conditions, including heart disease, type 2 diabetes, cancer, back pain, osteoarthritis and depression. Physiotherapists recommend that adults exercise at moderate intensity for 30 minutes, 5 times a week, and that children are physically active for an hour every day. If you don't have time for a 30 minute session of exercise each day, it may suit you better to break it up into three or four smaller chunks. Just being a little more active throughout the day can benefit your health."

We’ll be honest right now. The three of us aren’t going to be joining a gym anytime soon but swimming is something we all enjoy and it’s one of the best all-round cardiovascular exercises. Even better, in a Lido we get to have fun, get some exercise and still soak up the sun (or wind or rain or snow - we’ve seen it all). Swimming outdoors is one of the best ways to improve your mood, get a tan and help reduce your chances of developing diabetes or suffering a stroke in later life. Apart from cycling or walking to the pool we can’t think of more enjoyable way to boost your health.

BBC gets in Sync

It almost feels as if the BBC are cheering us on with a timely week of swimming related programs. From wild swimming to synchronised swimming it’s perfect viewing to get you in the mood.

Preparations.

We wouldn’t want anyone to think we are doing this challenge without due care and attention. On no, we’ve been pulling this together for months in our typically laissez faire manner.

In 2008 Libi and Chris found a flat just round the corner from the London Fields Lido enabling them to swim outdoors all through the year. Quitting her job and becoming a student gave Libi even more time to spend at the Lido and she’s enjoyed making Pete jealous with well timed texts telling him how she’s been swimming before breakfast.

In March Chris and Libi went for their first wild swim in the River Wye. Yes March! We didn’t actually think about that until we were stood on the bank stripping down to bathers. We even got a crowd of silent spectators who refused to move on until we’d actually got our shoulders into the water. It’s possible they might have stayed longer but Libi’s customary piercing screeches as the water froze her fingers were probably more than they could bear. We’ve since learned it’s supposed to be one of the coldest rivers in the UK and we’re not disagreeing.

In April Pete ran a marathon. Even more impressive considering a knee injury meant his training was patchy in the extreme. He’s now avoiding bananas and sports drinks at all costs and looking forward to sitting alongside the course next year wearing his finishers medal and enjoying a tantalizing Bar-b-que as he waves the runners on.

June saw Pete, Libs and all the family in the sea at Ferring finishing up with ice creams on the beach and hot chocolate in the Blue Bird Café.

Chris and Libi visited Amsterdam for a spot of cat sitting and managed to find a few dutch Lidos to visit.

Over the past month we have been contacting Lidos asking for their support to complete the challenge. We’ve had a great response from many of them with the offer of reduced admission fees and offers to queue jump helping us get round the pools on schedule. Any money we save on admission fees we will be adding to the donations and we’d like to say a special thanks to London Fields Lido, Park Rd Pools, Richmond Pools on the Park, Oasis Sports Centre, Uxbridge Lido, Serpentine Lido and Hampton Heated open air pools.

For those not swimming

For everyone geographically challenged or just too lazy to join us on the day please please sponsor us. We've a Just Giving page which you can use to donate directly to LEPRA which is much the best way to fritter away your hard earned money.

If you'd prefer then you can give Libi your cold hard cash and she promises to hand it over to the relevant authorities. We suggest you avoid handing any actual cash over to Pete - not because he's not honest just because he'll only lose it before you've even said goodbye! It's a gift he's been blessed with.

Timetable

We've finally managed to pull together a timetable for the day. It's going to be tight getting round all the pools on public transport but if the northern line behaves itself we're going to get 13 Lidos done and dusted in 2 days.

Friday

8am Uxbridge Lido

11am Richmond Pools on the Park

1pm Lunch

2pm Hampton Pools in the Park

4pm Oasis Swimming Pool

6pm Tooting Bec Lido

8pm Brockwell Lido

Saturday

8am London Fields Lido

10am Park Rd Lido

Midday Serpentine

1pm Lunch

3pm Mixed Bathing Ponds - Hampstead Heath

4pm Single Sex Bathing Ponds - Hampstead Heath

5pm Parliament Hill Lido

7pm After swim party and screening of “The Swimmer” at Libi’s flat

For more information on the Lidos check out our map.

View Lidos in a larger map

The Plan

On Friday 13th and Saturday 14th of August 2010, Pete and Libi are hoping to swim as many London Lidos in one day as possible. We plan to swim 400 meters in each pool and raise money for LEPRA supporting rural healthcare in Eastern Africa.

We need you to help us either by sponsoring us, joining us at your local lido for a quick dip, ferrying us to further out lidos or all three.

We plan to finish up with a screening of the swimmer at Lib's flat in London Fields and/or a barbeque which everyone is invited to.

Since physios say "move for health!" no honestly they do! Libi says get your bikini on and come join us.