A few days before he began his epic swim between Lands End, Cornwall and John O'Groats, Scotland in August 2013, Sean Conway and I made a video about our friendly swimming rivalry (see below).

In actual fact, there’s no rivalry at all, apart from the fact he’s way better at growing beards than me. Sean has been a good friend for a while and that, coupled with the utmost respect and understanding for what he’d been going through in the first weeks of his record-breaking swim, I wanted to go and see him before the journey was up. 

So, armed with a window of less than two days between speaking engagements in the Peak District and Bristol, I decided to see if I could make it to Northern Scotland to deliver a much needed hug to my buddy and his valiant support crew, which included Em Bell, who starred on my own swimming support team on the Missouri last year.

So, armed with nothing but an iPhone and the simple urgency of friendship, here’s a little film I made about finding Sean, Emily and the rest of the team. It wasn't a simple journey!

A massive thanks to:

Glen the taxi driver from Thurso (who also observed when we drove past Doonreay Nuclear Power Station that after Sean swims past he’ll be able to read the newspaper at night without lights). 

Ros from the Royal Hotel in Thurso for your help! 

Casey at St Andrews University for allowing me to come and speak to you and pay for half the travel costs!