Ullapool-based ultra swimmer hails 'true heroes of the sea'

The Ullapool-based offshore worker navigated treacherous waters to swim around the Old Man of Stoer sea stack on the west Sutherland coastline with RNLI Lochinver crew on standby, raising £1300 for the group during an strength-sapping 30-minute swim.

Mr Todd (46), who is gearing up for a 24-mile crossing of The Minch in July and is part of a team targeting a world record for a relay swim between Shetland and Norway, said: “The huge, cresting waves were just pounding over me and it was a real challenge to negotiate my way in without getting pushed up onto the rocks.

"It was by no means the longest swim I have done but it was the most technically challenging that I have yet undertaken.”

He hailed the RNLI as “the true heroes of the oceans”.