A mum-of-three braved the freezing open waters of Loch Lomond recently to complete a 23-mile swim to raise thousands of pounds for a leading cancer charity.

Morag Scott, 48, braved an early start, beginning the swim from Ardlui at 5am and ending the swim in Balloch 15 hours and 22 minutes later.

The mum, from Inchmurrin Island is aiming to raise £5,000 towards Macmillan Cancer Support through the challenge and has so far raised £2,828.

She had aimed to complete the length of Loch Lomond before the age of 50 and said she was chuffed to tick it off her bucket list before her target was up.

Ms Scott said: “I live on Inchmurrin Island and thought ‘I’m not going to sit and just look at the loch. I’ll give it a try’.

“I didn’t want to look back and wish I hadn’t had a go.” Ms Scott added: “It was probably as mentally tough as it was physically.

“I was concerned about the cold water and the weather as well so mentally it was challenging going for that length of time.” Ms Scott said she was particularly nervous about the challenge because up until the swim she had only been swimming up to 12 miles a week.

She told Reporter Outdoors: “It was just lovely to stop, a bunch of my friends met me in Balloch at the end and I didn’t know they were going to meet me so it was lovely to get to the end and know I’d completed the challenge myself and raised some money for charity.

“The fact some of my friends were on there to cheer me in the end was just lovely.” Ms Scott completed the challenge through the British Long Distance Swimming Association and as she was the only person allowed in the water she was aided by a team of people in two kayaks – including a verifier who recorded her time on two stop watches and husband Dugald.

She was only allowed short breaks from the gruelling challenge and braved the waters in just a standard swimming costume as the rules stated she was not allowed to wear a wet suit.

She said: “I had a lot of support so that was really really nice.” A keen swimmer, Ms Scott already completed several swimming challenges – including the Maids of The Loch swim about five years ago and also took part in a 10.5 mile swim in Lake Windemere in June.

She also did long-distace training in Mallorca in early spring which consisted of up to six hour swims in 14 degrees temperatures.

Ms Scott – who has three children Isla, Hamish, and Shona – decided to raise the money for Macmillan Cancer Research because it was a cause close to her heart.

She said: “I think we probably can all say we know friends and family who have used the service and I thought it was something we all know about.” Ms Scott has a Just Giving Page and people who want to help her reach her £5,000 challenge should visit www.justgiving.com/MoragSwim.