Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Ross Edgley said he had to swim hard against the tide to reach Margate, but it was amazing to hear the crowd

An adventurer from Grantham has become the first person to swim 1,780-miles around Great Britain. The 33-year-old, from Grantham, Lincolnshire, will be joined for the final mile of his 1,780-mile, 155-day Great British Swim around the mainland by 300 swimmers in Margate on Sunday. Edgley left the Kent town on June 1, swimming in a clockwise direction, and has not set foot on land since, swimming up to 12 hours a day, including through the night. Edgley, who swam up to 12 hours a day, battled through strong tides, hundreds of jellyfish stings and had to cope with a disintegrating tongue caused by salt water during his Great British Swim. He said getting that kind of reception made it all worthwhile, adding: “There’s not many places you come in and people are asking you to sign bananas.”

Edgley set a new record 74 days into his challenge, for the longest staged sea swim, according to the World Open Water Swimming Association.
Ross Edgley becomes the first person to swim around Great Britain. The 1,780-mile (2,860 km) swim lasted 156 days.