OWS near London

What end of London are you in, that makes a huge difference.  I am in Stratford and have a couple fairly close to me, mind you they would be at best half an hour for you.
Lakeside, and Wildwood. 

I'm pretty much in central London which means about 15 mins to get to the city limits in any direction...

I don't mind a short drive (less than an hour) as I can pack the family up ad make a mini-day trip out of it.

In the summer, every other Monday, people from MSZ go to port stanley to swim (with a buddy system and car pool.  if you are in central london, it should be a pretty close distance.

Every wednesday in the summer, Sherry Fraser runs a splash and dash series at the conservation area near putnam road and the 401, can't remember the name.  I've heard good things about it.

There is also a good quarry at Innerkip, so i have heard, but I can't confirm this.  Pittock in Woodstock is good from May to June, but I think it is usually closed to swimmers after July 1. 

My friend has also swum at spring water, but I can't attest to the water quality.  If you are going that far, you might as well go to port stanley.

I scuba dive and have for 15 years. DON'T go to innerkip without ear drops. The nickname with scuba divers is  INNER EAR. for all the ear infections that come out of there once it warms up.

Spring is ok. Now take this with a grain of salt that is going there and scuba diving 2-3 times in one day for 30-60 mins a time.

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Great suggestions Kevin,

I am an hour south of london and I like some of those ideas even for me. I swim in Erieau a lot about 30 mins from me.

I never thought about Canatera Beach, My brother in law goes there all the time. But the swim with the current would be a good workout. Not as good as the swim under the blue water bridge but close...

I have also been thinking of putting my trailer up in Grand Bend for the summer and this just might help promote that.

Thanks for all the suggestions.   A lot of places I didn't even think of checking out.

Hey Laura, the lake where Sheri Fraser has the Splash and Dashes is called Lake Whittaker. Even on nights other than Wednesdays there are two floating bleach bottles.  If you leave from the day beach and swim out to one bleach bottle, across to the other and back to the beach it's 800 m.  I like to swim there because I know how far I've gone.  It does get yucky and sometimes closes for a few weeks in Late July or early August if I remember correctly. 

What about Fanshawe Conservation Area?  Would that be a swimmable option?

I am very new to this sport (2011 will be my first races), and I too will be looking for some OWS locations in the London area (I live in Lucan).

Overweight dude from London here, just weighing in.. (hehe did not intend that pun)

Fanshawe has a no swim-restriction due to green algae. Looks pretty horrible. If you can deal with it. Pt. Stanley should be good.

Cheers
H.

You might as well swim in the Thames instead of Fanshawe. Word on the street is the bacteria levels in the Thames is approaching acceptable, but given the recent toxic blobs, I'll never swim there.

I lived in Grand Bend for a summer. Swimming south of the pier is nice... nicer than north of the pier. I would prefer Grand Bend over the pinery solely because you can spot the lighthouse ahead to keep you straight. Although the pinery has a smoother bottom.

What's the name of the beach... port stanley? It's on Lake Erie. I think that's technically the closest great lake to London.

St. Mary's has a quarry too.