Another sunny day and another swim, but this time in a different place. Marjory suggested that we go swimming at Gourock Outdoor Pool, which she hadn’t visited before. I have visited it with the boys, but probably about twenty years ago, so I was very happy to go again. My previous visit was during the school summer holidays and I seem to remember heavy traffic on the journey and a very crowded pool on arrival; that’s probably why we only went once even though we enjoyed the experience. Today, midweek during the school term, was very different. There were no delays on the forty-five minute journey, and when we arrived the pool was pleasantly quiet. The sky was still quite overcast (the sun didn’t come through properly until the afternoon) but that didn’t detract from the stunning setting of the swimming pool right on the edge of the Clyde Estuary, with views over the water to Loch Long and the hills of the Cowal Peninsula. In fact Blur have used a photo of the pool and its backdrop as the cover for their new album, The Ballad of Darren. The thirty-three metre salt water pool is heated, but to our slight consternation the pool attendant informed us that their boiler had been giving trouble that morning and had only just been successfully switched back on. We went into the water with trepidation, but actually it was fine, and we had a very good swim, with seagulls circling overhead. This made us quite hungry and we stopped for reviving coffee and scones at Port Glasgow on the way home. By now the sun was out and needless to say as soon as I got home I headed for my hammock! I was soon visited by a beautiful wee robin who perched on the fence beside me and sang to me.
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