Aquaphobe’s 1,800-mile swim around Britain

● Scot’s attempt to set record could take her seven months

A Scot who was once so frightened of water that she was unable to walk near a loch hopes to become the first person to swim around the coast of mainland Britain.

Despite only recently learning to swim, Paula Mcguire plans to set off from Land’s End next April and follow a 1,800mile route which is expected to take her seven months.

Having struggled with anxiety and panic attacks, the Glaswegian is hoping to use her challenge, dubbed the Big Mad Swim Around Britain, to raise awareness about mental health.

After reaching a crisis point in 2013, the 36-year-old set herself the challenge of taking part in all 17 sports featured in the Glasgow Commonwealth Games.

“It got to the point where there was really nowhere else to go with it,” she said. “I’d tried

0 Paula Mcguire says her Big Mad Swim Around Britain ‘will be a real challenge for someone with anxiety’ all the therapies, counselling, medication ... I could barely leave my house, I couldn’t answer the telephone, I’d started cutting out family and friends.

“It sounds ridiculous but I wanted to terrify myself out of the anxiety and see if it either killed me or cured me.”

Ms Mcguire said her proudest moment had been completing a triathlon, despite repeatedly falling off her bike and having to do the water section with a float because she could not swim.

“I crossed the finishing line and they gave me a medal. My dad was there and he cried,” she said. “That was kind of the turning point for me.” However, she said such moments disguised the fact that most of her training had been “absolute torture” due to her illness, prompting “meltdowns” and panic attacks.

“There were tears on badminton courts and standing at the side of a swimming pool bawling my eyes out like a child,” she said.

After completing her sporting challenge, she decided to work her way through the 15 jobs children most often say they would like to do when they grow up.

Using only “pester power”, she managed to do stints as a police officer and a firefighter, fly with the Red Arrows and even test her abilities as an astronaut in a centrifuge machine.

Her swim around Britain will see her enter the water for six hours at a time, sometimes beginning a stint in the middle of the night to beat the tides.

“I’ve been aquaphobic for a long time,” she said. “I couldn’t go over a bridge, I couldn’t walk near a loch or anything. But I’d been looking for a big endurance challenge and it just seemed perfect.

“I’ll have to be in my own head for a long time. That’s a real challenge for someone with anxiety. But I have every belief that I’ll complete it.”