Can I use the swimming pool if im not great at swimming?

TLDR: stopping is fine, it’s actually required when you get really fast. Just be aware of others and do your best to slot in so everyone can achieve the swim workout they came to do, there’s always some patience involved. You have nothing to worry about and the day fact you asked the question means you won’t be walking up and down the fast lane in your own oblivious little world. ******** Yes it’s totally fine. I had to give up running for a bit and have self taught myself to swim reasonably competently the last 2 years. I still get smoked by people who club swim or have competed since childhood, but am okay got an adult onset swimmer. But I started learning crawl properly by waterboarding myself 25m at a time and I was exhausted each time. Stopping is totally fine. Just tuck in to one side of the lane. Don’t step on eggshells, everyone is different speeds and only one person can be fastest. But if someone is coming up behind you a bit faster, let them pass at the wall before you go again. Best rule of thumb is try to work with the other people and be considerate so you can all do the workout you came to do without impeding each other much. Anything goes in the slower lanes. If you end up in the fast lane people are more likely to be doing sets (swimming 50-200m at a time) anyway rather than endless lengths. So these have programmed stops and rests. There’s also often a bit of the pool that’s not laned off, so good for free swimming when it’s not too busy.