Seasick swimmer makes history by completing Outer Hebrides challenge

A Scottish man battled crippling seasickness, "scary" night swims and a swollen tongue to become the first person to swim, run and cycle the length of the Outer Hebrides.

James Armour, 25, from Edinburgh, was shocked to discover he could get motion sickness while swimming in huge swells in between the remote Scottish islands.

He became so ill he thought he would be unable to complete the 191-mile (307 km) route.

Tides also added miles onto his swims before he finished the challenge in 52 hours and 52 minutes.

James, who started the challenge at the lighthouse on Barra Head in the early hours of Friday, told BBC Scotland the seasickness became unbearable while swimming between the uninhabited islands of Pabbay and Sandray.

He said: "There were enormous swells and my crew in a boat that was following me said at points I would disappear.

"They were huge slow waves that would pick me up and take me down and I started to feel very nauseous.

"I tried to swim backstroke but I still felt awful. Then the tide turned as well and I was being pushed east away from my destination."

He ended up swimming 2km further before he made it to dry land, where he remained extremely seasick.

The green technologies project manager said that as a result he was unable to eat - which is vital on an endurance challenge.

"I felt so deflated that I felt so ill so near the beginning of the challenge," he said.

However, his support crew managed to get him travel sickness pills. Once they started working he was able to slowly eat a few crisps, and then tackle the swim to Vatersay.

His route then saw him run 15.5 miles (25km) over Vatersay and Barra, before swimming to Eriskay.

After a 62 mile (100km) cycle to Berneray in North Uist, where he was battered by northerly winds, he was already cold before his 10km swim through the Sound of Harris.

James said one of his lowest points came when he looked out at a very choppy sea.

"The waves were dancing in the light that was coming through the clouds. There were huge white tips and it looked menacing," he said.

"I felt absolutely dead, I had no energy left to keep warm and I thought there was no way I could get across and that I was going to fail.

"That's when I shed a tear. I felt so empty."

He decided to change his wetsuit to a surfing one, which is thicker and warmer but very difficult to swim in.

James said he felt confused and cold during the swim, and when the tide changed he was being pushed in the wrong direction again.

His tongue had now inflated from the constant salt water rushing in and out of his mouth.

He said: "My tongue was so swollen I couldn't talk.

"The salt felt like shrapnel and I had scars all up my ribs from where my vest was cutting and rubbing under my wetsuit.

"It was very tough."

He then had a 50-mile (80km) cycle to Achmore before he started a 36-mile (60km) run to the finish in Port of Ness.

James undertook the challenge to raise money for a local charity, the Hebridean Whale and Dolphin Trust.

He said the night swims had been terrifying.

On the first swim to the uninhabited island of Mingulay he had to set off in the dark at 03:00 before his support boat.

He said: "The freaky thing was I had a buoy bag attached to me with a light, which sent light flickering into the depths.

"I felt like one of those angler fish with the light hanging in front to attract prey, and I wondered what creatures would come up from the depths to investigate what my light was.

"Looking into the black was scary."

At one point a seal made a big splash at him as a warning. Then on his next swim to Pabbay, in the daylight, about 60 seals charged towards him in the water.

He said: "I got a fright. I could see silver flashes under me and then one big grey seal came right up to me from below and stared at me with one eyeball very close.

"My support crew member said he was scared in the kayak as the seals were knocking his kayak."

His route also took him across some uninhabited islands covered in heather, which was sometimes waist deep with no paths to follow.

In total, he swam 20 miles, ran 52 miles and cycled 112 miles to complete the challenge on Sunday.

James said it felt "unbelievable" to make history by becoming the first person to complete the route.