Berinsfield, Oxfordshire

Berinsfield, Oxfordshire

Back in Oxford, and apart from St Edwards School's outdoor pool, there's not much on offer as the rivers aren't too clean round here. However I ventured out at 6am to the Queenford Lake at Berinsfield yesterday and did a couple of laps. It's a very warm quarry-lake where triathlon swimmers go to train early on Sunday and Wednesday mornings (06.00 - 8.45), and on Monday evenings (18.00-20.00).

A bit weedy, pretty busy (100 people by the time I left at 8), but not crowded. Not sure about the £5 fee, and it's taken two days to get rid of the acrid taste in the back of my mouth. Better than a swimming pool in allowing momentum for a glide, though the challenge of dawn swims, as I discovered, is that you can't inhale to the East without being blinded!