Gourock Outdoor Pool is Scotland’s oldest heated swimming pool – and also the only one to feature on number one album cover as it was used as the cover image for Blur’s ‘The Life of Darren’ this summer.

Gourock is on the west coast of Scotland is not to be confused with its next door neighbour, Greenock. You can tell the difference between the two because only one regularly features in crime reports (Greenock), while the other is used as an album cover. They may be side be side on the Clyde coast, but Gourock is definitely the better of the two. And the less set of their third neighbour, Port Glasgow, the better. Port Glasgow is where the criminals of Greenock fear to go at night…

Gourock Outdoor Pool is open for Spring and Summer and closed at the end of September. Every Wednesday night is also hosts a night time swim with the pool open between 10 and midnight. You have to buy tickets in advance which you can do here.

Water Quality

The pool uses sea water so the first thing you’ll notice when you swim is the taste of salt in the water. Other than that, the water is nice and clear and the pool is heated to feel like a nice dip on a warm summer’s day, which is not something that happens a lot on the west coast of Scotland.

Swim Quality

I started swimming and was sure I’d swum 1,000 metres only to check my watch to find it was just 700m. I tried again and again I was short. It was only as I was leaving that a man mentioned that the pool was 33m and not 25m. D’oh! I’d set my watch to record 25m laps. No wonder it was taking me 30 seconds longer per 100m! So, in terms of swim quality, remember the pool is longer than average.

As well as being longer than average it also adopt an

Other people

There’s two lanes for lap swimming and a larger open area for casual swimming. It was quite busy on a weekday morning between 9 and 10 but by 10, there was only one other person in the lane.

Overall

A great spot for a swim – a bit of a trek from Glasgow by car, but the train station is next door, which may be easier if you want to try it out.