Although the building is a nice old Victorian one, the accessibility is much better than Warrender, Leith Victoria or Dalry. The entrance to the pool faces the beach, and there is a permanent wheelchair ramp straight to the front desk. Everything is on the ground floor, so there aren’t any of those horrible dumb-waiter style lifts, and the gimp factor is non-existent. The well-equipped gym is opposite the desk, through one set of slightly heavy double fire doors. There are some seats so you can put on the blue pool overshoes provided, and then another door to get into the changing area. There are two decent disabled changing rooms, both equipped with a shower and handy pull-down seat, lots of support bars, and a garden chair to get changed on, and every time I’ve been they have been lovely and clean. The only problem is that they close with a very heavy sliding door, which may be difficult for some. There are lockers opposite one of the disabled changing rooms, and then disabled-access doors straight to the poolside.

In fact, there are two pools – one small one that seems to be for kids, so laneless, and another bigger one (25m) with a couple of lanes and then a general swimming area. To get into the small pool, there are steps with a railing. To get into the bigger pool, there are ladders (which I prefer). I haven’t tried out their Turkish Baths because warmth does bad things for my inflammation, so I’m not sure about their accessibility, but there are several baths of various temperatures (see the virtual tour).

Another bonus of the Portobello Pool is that it’s on the beach! I find being by the sea incredibly relaxing (which is great with all the stress associated with reduced mobility and chronic pain), but walking in the sand is also a really good low-impact way to build those leg muscles during rehab, and the beach wall is just the right level for sitting. So although getting to Gracemount involves roughly the same amount of walking and less travel time, I’ll go for Portobello because it’s a hell of a lot nicer.

The Dalry Swim Centre is so far my favourite, but has one fatal flaw: the gym is upstairs and there’s no lift. It’s an old Victorian building (like Leith Victoria and Warrender) and I guess they haven’t got around to putting in a stair lift.

The pool itself is pretty great, though, and there’s a permanent ramp up to the front door for wheelchair access (otherwise it’s a couple of steps) as well as a couple of on-street blue badge parking spaces right outside the front door. From the front desk it’s only a few metres to the first changing room, or about 15m to the disabled changing room and showers, and as the changing rooms surround the pool, not far to get in.

It’s a beautiful, bright building with the changing rooms all around the poolside, but unlike Leith Victoria and Warrender there isn’t a step up to the cubicle, it’s all gloriously flat. The floors are textured, so not too slippery. The cubicle I used (closest to the entrance) had inside not only a bench but also two support bars, which made changing a lot easier. Furthermore, the door wasn’t a horrible heavy self-closing make-you-fall-on-your-ass one – you can actually open it, take your time to get inside, and then close it at your leisure (joy). The cubicle I used was not big enough for a wheelchair, but there is a wheelchair-friendly changing room/shower on the far side of the pool by the communal showers (which also have a handy pull-down seat).

To get into the pool, there’s a functioning hoist, or steps with railings on three corners. Personally I prefer ladders to steps because they have something to hold onto on both sides. The steps are quite steep and the railing is at quite an acute angle which makes it a little difficult to hold on, so may not be suitable if both your legs are unreliable. For a one-legged cripple like me it’s manageable. Another nice thing about the pool, at least when I went, was that it was eerily empty, so I wasn’t constantly in fear of people kicking me by mistake, and the risk of embarrassment (or worse) is less than, say, the more well-attended Leith Victoria. Also, the water was very cool, which is great if you’ve got problems with inflammation.

To get there, there are the aforementioned parking spaces, but if you’re not a blue-badge holder there are on-street parking spaces not too far from the front door. If you’re relying on buses, it’s quite a walk from Dalry Rd (about 3.5 blocks coming from Princes St, and 1.5 going back) since it’s off the main road on Caledonian Crescent.

I think this is my favourite because the gimp factor is so low – they don’t shunt you around in special dumb-waiter-style wheelchair lifts that are inevitably blocked by baby buggies and random doors, or make you go around the back of the building, and if you’re on crutches you can use the regular changing rooms. There aren’t any careless obstacles or unnecessary doors. It’s not so much that they have accessibility provisions, it’s just all accessible. It’s easy. If they had an elevator to the gym, it’d be perfect.

Edit: After emailing Edinburgh Leisure, I’ve been informed there are no plans to install a chair lift to the gym.

If you’re interested in finding a disabled swimming club near you, check out Ableize’s list of swimming clubs in the UK. There doesn’t seem to be one in Edinburgh yet.