A BRADFORD swimmer has become the first person to swim around an island in the Outer Hebrides.

Liane Llewellyn Hickling, 34, from Bradford Swimming Club, took to the chilly waters for the eight-mile swim around St Kilda in an ordinary swimming costume.

"It was cold, but absolutely beautiful, though I'm glad I didn't know about a basking shark that was swimming alongside for a while that my escorting kayakers spotted. I may have freaked out," she said.

"The sight of the rocks coming round the first headland was wonderful with clear waters and plenty of gannets and puffins flying around.

"It was brilliant to complete it."

The swim last Friday, June 24, took four hours and six minutes and was part of her personal challenge.

She is the only Yorkshire person to have swum a two-way English Channel challenge.

She was escorted during her Scottish swim by Eila Wilkinson, of Sea Kayaking UK, and Nial Johnson from the UIST Outdoor Centre.