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We eventually found our way to Ilkley by late afternoon having to attempted to swim Hathersage pool in Derbyshire (more of that experience later!). The Ilkley pool had a great feel to it with a wonderful backdrop of the Yorkshire Dales, a truly lovely setting. It turned out that the young lady at reception had a granddad who helped to dig build the pool in 1936 and her mum was a well known local swimming teacher. Mick the pool manager was called and he very readily invited us to swim. The pool itself had a fairly irregular shape so we decided to swim for half an hour (beats counting lengths!). Also there was plenty of space for people to sunbathe, have a picnic or generally watch the world go by. Mick took our photo with great enthusiasm even getting us to pose. After Hathersage it was wonderful to feel welcome once again.

Our picture shows the irregular shape, which enabled me to pick where I turned. Dave never did lap me on this occasion. I wonder why?