What I've Learned: Lewis Pugh

On 29 August 2018, endurance swimmer Lewis Pugh achieved the seemingly impossible: he became the first man to complete the English Channel challenge. It took him 49 days to swim 348 gruelling miles from Land’s End to Dover, armed only with a swimming cap, some goggles and a pair of speedos.

People have tried and failed before but Pugh was determined to make the distance, swimming 10 to 20km every single day. We sat down with the UN Patron of the Oceans to find out how he did it, and the lifelong path that led him to this moment.

I wasn’t sure it was humanly possible. Swimming 550 kilometres from Land’s End to Dover is enormous, and it took a lot of planning and training. But I never saw this as a swim. I saw it as a protest.

There was a moment that really changed me. Back in 2005 I was doing a swim on the shores of Antarctica’s Deception Island, and I remember facing down and seeing hundreds and hundreds of whale bones – jaw bones, spine bones, ribs – beneath me across the bay. As I swam my hands touched the bones, which were piled to the surface. That's when I knew I could no longer keep quiet about what I was seeing in the ocean.

Do animals treat me with the same respect? Jellyfish don’t. There were so many jellyfish at the beginning of the swim, and it’s never just a sting. They always get you in the face or armpit, and it’s incredibly painful. They slow you down, too.

When I swim to the most beautiful parts of the world, I wonder what it will look like in fifty years time. I also travel to the most polluted and degraded parts of the world to do clean-ups. I see both ends of the spectrum.

It’s the moments that define you. I only wear goggles, speedos and a cap, and we swim the channel that way because it’s hard: because it tests us deep down inside of ourselves. A wetsuit would protect you from jellyfish, give you buoyancy and warmth – it would have made a tremendous difference.

At the start of the swim I craved hot chocolate. But then about two weeks in, my mind turned to jacket potatoes. Big, thick potatoes covered in butter and sea salt. Towards the end, you’d be amazed by how many hot cross buns I could polish off. Ten, twenty at a time.

Bear Grylls//Digital Spy

Lewis Pugh emerging from his big swim

I used to be a lawyer, and qualified in South Africa towards the end of apartheid. It was impossible not to be inspired by men like Desmond Tutu and Nelson Mandela, who literally stood and fought no matter the cost. For me, saving the environment is the most important issue of our generation.

What gets me through the toughest moments? My team. Surrounding yourself with the right people makes a world of difference.

I need to be a voice for the whales, the dolphins, the seals, penguins and polar bears. They have no place or voice in parliament. We're not leaving a sustainable world for our children and grandchildren.

For forty-eight days, I dreamt of seeing those white cliffs of Dover. When I hit the wall of the harbour, it was a feeling of sheer elation and absolute exhaustion. But now I have nostalgia. For the small towns and villages I visited along the way, and all the wonderful people I met and worked with. The journey.