A TEACHER and a former paratrooper yesterday swam from the Northumberland coast to the Farne Islands.

Sol Walker, a teacher at St Leonard's RC School in Durham, and Stuart Dowding swam from Seahouses to the islands.

According to local legend, nobody has ever succeeded in swimming the distance.

Once the duo returned, they celebrated by buying fish and chips.

Mr Walker said: "The cold was almost certainly the hardest factor. We were swimming quite slowly to try and conserve the energy and heat in our bodies.

"We were both quite close to hypothermia but we had lots of nice warm drinks and sugar bars when we finished."

The swim, which because of the currents was about three miles, took nearly four hours.

The swimmers raised about £2,000 for St Leonard's school rugby club.