Adventurer completes record swim around mainland Britain's coastline

Adventurer Ross Edgley became the first man to swim around the coast of mainland Britain as he completed a 2,865-kilometre trip to make a triumphant return to dry land in Margate, England, on Sunday.

The 33-year-old, from Grantham, Lincolnshire, had left the Kent town on June 1, swimming in a clockwise direction. He had not set foot on land once in 155 days at sea and slept in a support boat.

Edgley, who swam up to 12 hours a day, battled through strong tides, hundreds of jellyfish stings, and had to cope with damage to his tongue caused by salt water during his Great British Swim.

He expended an estimated 500,000 calories during the journey, and ate more than 500 bananas to provide him with a constant source of energy.

"I've just been basically eating anything and everything," he said a few days before completing the swim.

Ross Edgley talks about eating for the swim around Great Britain:

In mid-August, he broke the world record for the longest stage sea swim of 73 days set by Benoî​t Lecomte, who swam across the Atlantic Ocean in 1998.

This was Edgley's latest record-breaking feat. In April 2016, he completed the world's longest rope climb, equivalent to the height of Mount Everest. That was two months after he completed a marathon while pulling a car.