Land's End has been the iconic starting point for many length of Britain cyclists, walkers and drivers, but one endurance athlete will now attempt to set off on a 1,000 mile swim to John O'Groats.

On the July 1, 32-year-old Sean Conway will attempt to become the first person to swim the entire length of Britain. 

His 1,000-mile route will start in Land’s End and work its way up the north coast of Devon and across to Wales. After going along the West coast of Wales he will cut North to the Isle of Man and then onto Scotland before making his way through and around the Hebrides before cutting East along the North coast of Scotland and finishing at John O’Groats.

Falmouth Packet:

Explaining why he is taking on the swim, Sean said: "I was looking for the next challenge. I wanted to push the bar up. I wanted to challenge myself again. It's my oxygen. I've realised I am good at being hungry, tired, cold and wet. At the same time my mate Dave Cornthwaite was swimming 1,000 miles down the Missouri river.

"I also wanted to do something in Britain and at the time I was writing my Land's End to John O'Groats cycle book. It was then I thought about swimming Britain but thought it had been done loads before considering it's such an iconic route. I then found out that it had not only never been done. No one has even attempted it.

"This made me really nervous so I asked all my swimming friends about it. They too thought it must have been done and when they found out it hadn't were very jealous that they hadn't thought of it first. It was totally doable. That's when the spark was lit and a real excitement for the adventure started to glow."

Strangely Sean, who grew up in South Africa, does not class himself as a good swimmer.

He said: "It's fair to say I've probably not done enough sea swimming training for this. I am getting swimming fit but there are some things that the sea throws at you that will effect your swim, no matter how fit you are.

"The one thing I have going for me a little is that I grew up on the East coast of South Africa, right up near the Mozambique border on the Indian Ocean. The sea, even on a calm day, was like a washing machine and it was quite normal to go for a dip and come out with various bruises and scratches from being thrown around in the waves.

"Once you experience that sort of a hiding from the sea, everything else seems quite tame. So mentally I'm good to go and ready to take on some heavy waves.

The creatures of the deep are also causing him some concern. Sean Said: "I wasn't that worried about various creatures lurking below me until all my friends started to take great pleasure in sending me photos of every shark spotted in the UK since time began.

"I was sent a tweet from a chap who was watching Killer Whales in Scotland. Although quite worrying, the figures work in my favour. No-one has died from a bite from an Killer Whale in the wild.

"I am however worried about jelly fish. There will be times when I can't avoid them and will have to cover up and just take the hit."

Tides are also a challenge, with Sean saying: "Another silent killer are the tides. Some days I'll have really good positive tides which will push me along at 2mph but there will be other times when I can't swim against them at all. I'll have to plan my swim times perfectly."

Sean, who will have a full support team to help him on the epic swim, will be fundraising for War Child, who protect children from the brutal effects of war and help to rebuild their lives. 

He is also not new to challenges, having competed in the first ever World Cycle Race and cycled 16,000 miles in 116 days. He was on target for the world record but got run over in the US. He carried on and did another 12,000 miles with a fractured spine.