A swimmer has broken the world record for the longest staged sea swim on the 74th day of his journey around the British mainland.

Ross Edgley, 32, has not set foot on land since he left Margate in Kent on 1 June on his 2000-mile challenge.

On Tuesday he broke Benoit Lecomte’s record of 73 days spent swimming across the Atlantic ocean in 1998, his team said.

Mr Edgley, who is now off Kyle of Lochalsh on the west coast of Scotland, thinks he has swum around 1000 miles so far.

He swims for two six hour stretches a day when the tide changes and rests for the remainder of the time on his support boat.

However he estimates he still has another 60 days of swimming to go before he reaches Margate to complete the challenge.

He said: “It’s exciting to be setting a new record but we have still got so far to go.

“We have been having a mini celebration over breakfast but there are still more than 900 miles to go, so we are trying to celebrate but at the same time understanding there is still so far to go.”

Meet the girl who wants to be Gaza’s first Olympic Swimmer Show all 10 1 /10 Meet the girl who wants to be Gaza’s first Olympic Swimmer Meet the girl who wants to be Gaza’s first Olympic Swimmer Fatima Abu Shedeg, 13, dreams of leaping from the blocks at Tokyo 2020 Bel Trew/The Independent Meet the girl who wants to be Gaza’s first Olympic Swimmer Fatima has survived three wars and until four years ago she was not only unable to swim but had never been in a pool Bel Trew/The Independent Meet the girl who wants to be Gaza’s first Olympic Swimmer In 2014, Fatima lost her father during the last war with Israel, which raged for 51 days and left more than 2,200 Palestinians and 73 Israelis dead. She saw her uncle’s legs blown off in the same airstrike that killed her father and destroyed most of their home in Beit Lahia, north Gaza Bel Trew/The Independent Meet the girl who wants to be Gaza’s first Olympic Swimmer Like many children in the tiny enclave, she suffered from post-traumatic stress. Then Amjed Tantesh, 42, a swimming coach and one-time Olympic hopeful, encouraged her to learn to swim as a way of channelling her depression and anger Bel Trew/The Independent Meet the girl who wants to be Gaza’s first Olympic Swimmer “A week after my dad passed away Amjed called my mum and offered me and my brother swimming lessons. My dad was killed by shrapnel from an airstrike which ricocheted off the wall and hit his heart. The same airstrike blew off my uncle’s leg. We were all downstairs screaming,” she said sitting by a small pool filled with murky green water in Gaza City Bel Trew/The Independent Meet the girl who wants to be Gaza’s first Olympic Swimmer “It’s extremely important for me to achieve my dream, the dream of my family, of my coach, to be the first Gazan swimmer to take part in the Olympics,” she added Bel Trew/The Independent Meet the girl who wants to be Gaza’s first Olympic Swimmer Four years later, the fitness and football fanatic spends her free time training in grubby and sometimes makeshift pools. Gaza is in the 11th year of an Israeli blockade, meaning Fatima cannot even get hold of proper swimming equipment. She is left to swim in a mismatched pair of pyjamas. If she qualifies it would be her first trip out of Gaza, which is just 25 miles long Bel Trew/The Independent Meet the girl who wants to be Gaza’s first Olympic Swimmer She said swimming had helped her deal with trauma from the war and made her stronger. “I don’t want to be afraid any more. I want to be strong. I used to even be afraid of the pool, of water, and now I’m not. I’m determined to work on myself, to succeed,” she said Bel Trew/The Independent Meet the girl who wants to be Gaza’s first Olympic Swimmer Gaza lacks an Olympic-size swimming pool and the few pools it does have struggle to stay open amid chronic energy shortages. It is also increasingly dangerous to swim in the sea Bel Trew/The Independent Meet the girl who wants to be Gaza’s first Olympic Swimmer Fatima hopes one day to get permission to leave Gaza and take her place at the Games. “I want to achieve my dream to be picked for the Olympics, so I can travel and compete in the 100m race,” she said, putting on her swimming pyjamas. “I don’t just want to participate, I want to get first place, so those who picked me are proud.” Bel Trew/The Independent

The new record for “longest assisted contiguous stage swim” will be verified by the World Open Water Swimming Association (Wowsa) once he completes his swim around the British mainland.

Mr Edgley, from Grantham in Lincolnshire, has long been interested in British explorers and was inspired to undertake the challenge because no one has swum around the British mainland before.

The experience has taken its toll on his body as he experienced “salt mouth” where chunks of his tongue began falling off due to exposure to the salty water, and painful chafing from his wetsuit.

Jellyfish are another hazard but he has had some amazing experiences with wildlife including being followed for around five hours by a minke whale and swimming alongside dolphins.

He has also experienced kindness from local people who anonymously came out to leave fudge on the boat while he and the crew were resting in Devon.

And while off the west coast of Scotland a wild swimmer called Iona swam out with a freshly baked cake on her head.

Mr Edgley needs to eat 10,000 to 15,000 calories a day, refuelling with four to five super food shakes a day.

He eats everything from pizzas and burgers to fish and chips, and has eaten 356 bananas so far.

The adventurer, who swims in a wetsuit, has not seen as much of the coastline as expected on his journey.

He said: “I’ve had some really unique experiences with the wildlife.

“But for 74 days of swimming I’ve spent more than 20 of them face down staring at the bottom of the seabed so I’ve been experiencing the British coastline through other senses.

“Scottish water is a lot colder and tastes fresher and the Irish sea tastes nice and was an amazing turquoise colour. There have been lots of jellyfish and the jellyfish in Scotland are bigger and meaner.

“We’ve still got a long way to go with Cape Wrath, John O’Groats and then down to Newcastle. When we reach Lincolnshire we’ll be on the home strait.

“There is a lot to look forward to but a long way to go as well.”

Mr Edgley said he could not do the challenge without the crew on his support boat Hecate, captained by Matt Knight.

He said: “Everyone on board is just as invested in the challenge as myself and we’re a team.

“And as a team we’ve figured out a blueprint which may make this possible.”