Northern Ireland photographer on trail of Co Donegal man, 81, who is taking a dip at all of Ireland's beaches

Helping to promote the epic journey of 81-year-old Paddy Conaghan from the island of Arranmore is award-winning Banbridge photographer Paul McCambridge.

Paul, who runs website wildswim.ie with fellow open water swimmer Maureen McCoy, has also produced a video to raise awareness of the task Paddy is undertaking in aid of mental health charities and the RNLI.

Paul said: “We spotted Paddy in December last year, he was doing a thing called ‘Ducking and Driving’ around Ireland, having a dip at every pier that he could get access to, to raise money for a mental health charity in Donegal. He raised over 100,000 Euro.

"This time he’s going in a clockwise direction and he’s called it ‘Driving and Ducking’.

"I popped down to see him and I couldn’t believe what he was doing. If the beach was too rough what he would do was tie a rope around himself and attach it to some railings or get somebody to hold it and then he’d go in. I was there with the camera to take some pictures and Maureen held the rope for him and in he went. It was amazing to see.”

Paul said: “We built up a relationship with him and we’ve been back and forth to Arranmore since that, we’ve been helping out with water safety courses on the island with the schools.

“This is an add-on to what we’d normally do – taking pictures. At that stage I thought this would also make for a great short film.

"It has just snowballed, he’s started talking to us about his life. He’s had a tough enough upbringing, he worked in the tunnels, he was a miner as such, he’s worked around the world.

"Living on the island, his wife passed away a number of years back, he’s on his own.

“He’s built his own gym, he’s a resourceful sort of character. He’s got his home-made ice bath as well.

"He started to swim himself, he didn’t really swim before, he just got into the cold water, held onto a rail and got used to the cold water and then started doing a rudimentary breast stroke. We’ve helped him along with his stroke so he can now do a fair bit more. He wouldn’t call himself a swimmer as such, it’s just the resilience of the guy.

"He’s doing maybe up to eight or 10 of these dips, or ducks as he calls them, a day. He sleeps in the van and the heater is on the blink. Nothing phases him.”

Paddy’s challenge will see him attempting to swim at every beach and pier on the island of Ireland over a four month period. It’s estimated there are well over 500.

To add to the difficulty he decided to do it during the winter. Asked why not the summer, Paddy, who completed the Ulster leg of the journey before Christmas, replied: “If I do it in the summer it’s only a holiday!”

To donate to Paddy’s challenge go to www.idonate.ie/fundraiser/paddysadventure