Love the London Royal Docks and Watersports Centre

08/10/2022

Love Open Water has many venues across the country. We tested the Royal London Docks and the London Watersports Centre.

Over the summer of 2022 I joined regular Thames and Docklands swimming friends to try out their local favourite spots. Geographically the Royal Docks and Watersports Centre are close but the swimming experiences were very different.

At the Docks you change on the waterside in the open, with tourists passing and swim in choppy open water almost under the London Cable Car. Planes pass low overhead either taking off or landing at City Airport and hotel and bar guests on balconies overlook the water.

The staff are super friendly and helpful: my goggles pinged off my face and broke as I was on the jetty about to jump in and there was a bucket with spares to borrow. You should wear a brightly coloured hat and in winter tow floats are compulsory too.

There are routes marked by massive buoys to swim around, from 150-750m. There were lots of people swimming despite our joining the last session of the evening, and the swim back towards shore was in blinding low sun - no complaints, it was lovely!

At the London Watersports Centre the buildings around the side are low rise and the water is more sheltered. I've since visited again and both times it was mirror-flat. On the second occasion a heron watched us from a nearby rooftop; a far cry from planes, tourists and bars!

Again, big buoys mark the routes of varying distances, and here a lifeguard sat in a kayak while we swam.

Mackerel skies and calm waters at the Watersports Centre on the Isle of Dogs