‘Salt mouth’ won’t stop record holder

● Swimmer sets new benchmark for the longest staged sea swim

A swimmer has broken the world record for the longest staged sea swim on the 74th day of his journey around the British mainland.

Ross Edgley, 32, has not set foot on land since he left Margate in Kent on 1 June on his 2,000-mile challenge.

He yesterday broke Benoit Lecomte’s record of 73 days spent swimming across the Atlantic Ocean, which was set in 1998.

Mr Edgley, who is now off Kyle of Lochalsh on Scotland’s west coast, has claimed he has swum around 1,000 miles so far.

He swims for two six-hour stretches a day when the tide changes and rests for the remainder of the time on his support boat.

However, Mr Edgley estimates he still has another 60 days of swimming to go before

0 Ross Edgley celebrates his record on board a boat off Kyle of Lochalsh

he reaches Margate to complete the challenge.

He said: “It’s exciting to be setting a new record, but we’ve still got so far to go.

“We’ve been having a mini celebration over breakfast, but there are still more than 900 miles to go.”

The new record for “longest assisted contiguous stage swim” will be verified by the World Open Water Swimming Association (WOWSA) once he completes his swim around the British mainland.

Mr Edgley, from Grantham in Lincolnshire, has long been

interested in British explorers. He was inspired to undertake the challenge because no-one had swum around the British mainland before.

The experience has taken its toll on his body as he experienced “salt mouth” where chunks of his tongue began falling off due to exposure to the salty water and painful chafing from his wetsuit.

Jellyfish are another hazard, but he has had some amazing experiences with wildlife, including being followed for around five hours by a minke whale and swimming alongside dolphins.

He has also experienced kindness from locals, who anonymously came out to leave fudge on the boat while he and the crew were resting in Devon.

While off the west coast of Scotland, a wild swimmer called Iona swam out with a freshly baked cake on her head.

Mr Edgley needs to eat up to 15,000 calories a day, refuelling with four to five super food shakes.

He eats everything from pizzas and burgers to fish and chips, and has eaten 356 bananas so far.

“Scottish water is a lot colder and tastes fresher and the Irish sea tastes nice and was an amazing turquoise colour,” he said.