MacTaggart Leisure Centre – a Warm Pool on Islay
A few hours.
The route
Islay's swimming pool is in Bowmore, right beside the distillery and looking over Loch Indaal, and on a wet day it's the place to take the children.
The water is kept warm, with heat from the distillery next door helping, and in the school holidays there are fun sessions and pool games. It suits families with children of any age.
Before you go
Book accommodation nearby
If you are staying over: here are ours nearest where the day starts and ends.
None of ours is close by: the nearest is The Hollies, 42 miles away. Sleeps 18.
The day
Bowmore
A swim in the warm pool, with a fun session if the holidays are on.
About two hours
MacTaggart Leisure Centre
The MacTaggart Leisure Centre is on School Street in Bowmore, beside Bowmore Distillery, whose waste heat helps warm the pool. The pool is 25 metres long with four lanes, and it slopes from 0.9m at the shallow end, which you enter by tiled steps, to 2m at the deep end. The water is kept at 29.5°C, and a little warmer for the parent and toddler sessions for under-fives. The centre is shut on Mondays, and public swims run on the other six days, mostly from about midday. In the school holidays there are fun sessions and pool games as well. The timetable can change at the last minute, so check the Hours page on the centre's site or ring 01496 810767. A swim is £5.80 for an adult, £4 for a child and £16 for a family of four, and a fun session is £5, at the time of writing. Over Christmas and New Year, check before going.
If it rains
It's all indoors.
Photograph by G Shaffer via Google