Gran, 74, dodges jellyfish and seals on Firth of Forth 15km swim

A fearless 74-year-old girl has accomplished an epic swim throughout the Firth of Forth, regardless of shut encounters with lion’s mane jellyfish “the size of dogs”, large seals and even a delivery tanker.

Linda Malcom swam 15km (9 miles) from North Berwick in East Lothian to Elie in Fife in six hours and quarter-hour on Wednesday.

The grandmother-of-three equalled the time set by a crew of three ladies of their 40s and 50s who accomplished the identical problem as a relay.

Claire Gardener, who was one of many relay swimmers, advised BBC Scotland News that Linda’s achievement was “remarkable and unheard of”.

Linda mentioned she was “very proud” of herself to have accomplished the swim in chilly water of about 14C.

“I’ve never swum that far in open water before,” she mentioned.

“It was a good swim but for about three quarters of the swim the tide was coming in the estuary, so it was hitting me side ways on so I had to keep correcting myself.

“The waves had been taking me left and I used to be continuously having to appropriate that to maintain on a straight line so I needed to be conscious and watch out.”

She added: “There was one massive cargo ship that went previous however all of the delivery had been suggested in regards to the swim so that they had all been diverted.

“I was the VIP on the sea today.”

The grandmother-of three wasn’t phased when two seals adopted her or about what lurked within the abyss beneath her.

“I don’t worry about anything,” she mentioned.

“I thought that was quite cute, they have nice little faces. I said ‘hello’ to it but it didn’t answer anything back.”

Ms Gardener, 52, who swam in a relay with swimmers Jo Lindsay, 47, and Bronwin Macaskill, 52 – set off half-hour earlier than Linda who left at 07:00.

“I couldn’t do what Linda has done, I doubt anyone could,” she mentioned.

“Her age and swimming that distance in the cold sea is remarkable and unheard of.

“Nobody has completed this at her age throughout the Firth of Forth.”

She added: “There has been a lot planning gone into this as a result of it’s perilous. If you get the tides improper you would get swept out, it’s actually harmful.

“The biggest thing she was battling was not getting hypothermia, nearly seven hours in the water is incredible, I couldn’t do that and I’m half her age.”

They are all a part of a swimming group called the Salty Selkies who had been elevating cash for BBC journalist Glenn Campbell’s charity Brain Power.

Ms Gardner mentioned: “We had seals popping up which was alarming because they are so high out of the water having a really good look at us which is really quite disconcerting.

“And all of us noticed immensely large lion’s manes [jellyfish] as massive as canines, which stops you in your tracks and also you virtually need to do an emergency cease within the water since you do not wish to hit a type of because the sting is actually dangerous.”

She added: “It’s actually jaw dropping, no regular individual can do it. She is tremendous gran.”