On Sunday the 10th of July Harold Wyber and I took on the challenge to swim 1/2 a mile in every Lido in London and to cycle between them. This undertaking would mean a cycle of over 50 miles and 5 miles in the water.
The day started very badly as I had an unrepairable puncture to my rear tyre and neither of us had brought spare inner tubes! Time was ticking on so instead of cycling to the first Lido in Richmond I ran my bike for 3 miles from Victoria Park to Whitechapel. The store opened at 10am and within half an hour we were on the road to Tooting Bec.
Here we managed to swim double the original distance (1 mile) in water not warmer than 13 degrees.
Now we were well behind schedule and had to pedal fast to Brockwell to try and make up time.
Brockwell bore a similar story with us swimming nearly 3/4 of a mile because of misjudging the length of the pool.
Next was on to the Serpentine in the middle of Hyde Park. On route we travelled down the famous Knightsbridge road bypassing the stationary cars and found ourselves surrounded in a skating party with people of all ages adorning 8 wheels and listening to music on the go.
After taking a wrong turn in the park we eventually made it to the first open water Lido in our challenge. This was 100m long and so thankfully swam the correct distance.
A short ice cream stop later we were back on the bikes making tracks northbound to the hills of Hampstead Heath.
Once you have paid your £1 Hampstead mixed ponds is a calm mix of patches of grassy areas and still water twinkling in the sun. With a Jetty protruding into the deeper water it was easy to take the plunge into another 1/2 mile swim.
The time now was 5:30 and after swimming 3 and a half miles in 4 of the 7 Lidos time was against us to make it back to London Fields before it closed at 6pm. We pedalled furiously but it was unachievable. Instead we opted to head back to Victoria Park and relax in one of the many Public Houses.
40 miles on the bike, 3 miles running and 3 1/2 miles swam our journey was over. We didn’t manage the whole lot but we have both vowed to try it again soon allowing more time and being more prepared.
Watch this space!
joshjenner.wordpress.com 
Hey Josh
Your lidothon looked like a pretty full on day – great stuff.
Me and few mates do a similar thing every year to mark the demise of our childhood lido – usually end up in London Fields so that we can replenish our energy at Broadway Mkt afterwards (less than two meals is fronwed upon).
We’re a little less ambitious than you guys were as we only aim to swim 1/4 mile at each venue, but we do ‘race’ between pools – one team by bike and the other on public transport, which tends to raise a few eyebrows in the process.
Currently trying to work out if we have enough interest for our fourth event this summer.
Have a look at our website if you think you might be interested in joining us – love to involve some new blood.
http://lidothon.wordpress.com/