Loch Ness Monster: Swimming with Nessie sounds like a good way to find out if its real – Scotsman comment

Loch Ness, so large that it reportedly contains more water as all the lakes in England and Wales combined, is a magical place.

Ross Edgley holds the world record for the longest staged sea swim (Picture: Jeff Holmes/Shutterstock)

It’s the sort of place that attracts special individuals like Ross Edgley, the extreme adventurer who once swam round the whole of Great Britain – without touching land – in 157 days.

Edgley yesterday began a 48-hour non-stop swim in Loch Ness, which may sound like a doddle compared to his earlier feat but, apparently, is not.

At sea, he encountered “huge gentle swells that can be predictable”, whereas the wind can whip up four-metre waves on the 37km-long Loch Ness.

The cold is another real issue. When he first arrived, Edgley discovered he was unable to stay in the water for more than two hours. This problem was solved after some scientists told him “you just need to get fat” and he started eating 10,000 calories a day.

“People have asked me, ‘Is this going to be harder or easier than swimming around Great Britain?’ And I’m like, I don’t know. I think it’s just different,” he said.

There is, of course, another special individual associated with Loch Ness.

And Edgely’s feat comes hot on the heels of the latest sighting – of “giant, eel-like shapes” caught on camera, no less – among more than 1,000 eye-witness accounts and unexplained phenomena that some say is proof that a ‘monster’ lurks beneath those cold waves.

Could it truly be Nessie? Will the mystery ever be solved? The best way to find out is surely to get into the water and, so we wait, with bated breath, for Edgley to emerge.