Great British Swim: 500,000 strokes done, 2 million more to make

16 Jul 2018

Photos: Red Bull UK

Endurance swimmer Ross Edgley estimates he still has another two million swim strokes to make before he can finish his gruelling 2,000-mile Great British Swim challenge around the coast of mainland Britain.

Edgley has been struggling with shoulder pain in recent days as he begins the latest stage of the swim from Wales to Ireland, so has been swimming shorter distances to allow for more physio and recuperation time.

The 32-year-old strongman reckons he's already swum 500,000 strokes since setting off from Margate more than 40 days ago, and thinks his original completion target of 100 days may now be difficult to meet.

"Since swimming around the entire south coast, I've learned a lot and become a little bit more philosphical about the Great British Swim," Edgley said on his latest Red Bull vlog.

"Now if you ask me can we do it in 100 days, my reply would be 'it's not up to me'. It's up to the ocean.

"On our best day, in 24 hours we were able to swim 30 miles. If you do 30 miles and you average that out, it means you get done in about 60 to 70 days. But again, that's all theory.

"Around Lyme Bay, in a 24-hour period I only managed to swim five miles. I was eating currents, the wind was not in my favour, I was getting stung by jellyfish from every angle. If you average that out, it equates to 400 days."

In the past week, Edgley experienced one of the highlights of the expedition so far when he swam up to Lundy Island off the North Devon coast.

"This place is stunning, I honestly can't do it justice," he said. "You're not allowed to fish here, so the sealife thrives and the birds have somewhere to come and eat. One of my favourite parts was coming face to face with a seal.

"While on the Great British Swim we focus on a lot of the mental and physical aspects of the whole adventure, Lundy is a brilliant example of what can happen if we let wildlife thrive and exist how it was always intended to."

In the past few days, Edgley has left the Devon coast and is now swimming past the western tip of Wales. He and the crew decided to avoid the Bristol Channel, which they described as 'a maze' of tides and currents.

Edgley, who is using a HUUB wetsuit and gear for the duration of the swim, is now expecting to be out at sea for a full week before next getting close the coastline when he approaches Ireland.