Lillian Bell had tried to conquer the 10.5-mile route around Lake Windermere SEVEN TIMES, but every attempt had ended in failure.

"I'd given up before because it was too cold and rough," said Lillian, now 69.

"But she asked me to promise that I would finish Windermere for a present so I did."

The epic swim took Lillian, then 51, more than 10 hours.

By her side as she swam breaststroke were her crew in a boat feeding her support - and food - along the way.

She kept going on a diet of bananas and a baby cup filled with coffee that was passed to her on a string.

"I found the beginning the hardest part because the scenery wasn't very interesting," said Lillian.

"But at least you got a wave from the people on the big boats."

She battled against the cold by keeping her shoulders under water and swimming through any cramps.

When she finally emerged from the water at Ambleside, her skin was wrinkled, she'd lost 9lbs and her thick, woollen costume was sodden with oily grease.

"Your skin soon goes back to normal and it was good fun," she said.

Since then Lillian, of Longridge, has swum Windermere five times.

Her final swim - three years ago when she was 65 - set the record for the oldest woman to ever complete the race.

Conquering Lake Windermere marked the pinnacle of the grandma's lifelong love of swimming.

Her passion for the water began when teachers threw her in a swimming pool as a punishment.

"I was fascinated by the water and kept turning on all the taps at school," she said.

"They caught me and took me to the baths with the older ones as a punishment."

But when teachers threw the eight-year-old girl into the water, her reaction wasn't what they'd expected.

As she hit the water, she said: Oh Sir, that's lovely.

In 1951, aged 21, she competed in her first long distance race at Morecambe.

Only four women took part in the four-mile race across the bay and back again.

Lillian came fourth.

For the next six years she competed in long distance races in Lancashire near her home town of Preston. But she gave up at 27 when the first of her three children was born.

It was another 18 years before she took a dip again after starting work at the newly-opened Knutsford Leisure Centre.

"The assistant manager took me to Pickmere Lake and made me promise that if I did a mile I would take it up again," she said.

"I did it, so I started training again at 46." Lillian joined the Warrington Dolphins to find a lot of water had gone under the bridge.

There were more events to compete in and some of the swimmers were in their seventies.

Wintry Friday nights and Sunday mornings were spent training in an indoor pool.

But in May Lillian's regime moved outside.

"It was very, very cold after spending months swimming in 84 degree water," she said.

"It used to take me about 15 minutes to get in."

Swimmers trained for Lake Windermere - the highlight of their sport's calendar - by competing in long distance races around the country, often coping with rough seas and dangerous weather

On an English Channel relay race, Lillian nearly lost her boat in the dark. "I heard a voice shouting that the light in the distance was France," she said.

"I followed it but ended up off course because I'd been following lightning from the storms."

Panic set in but Lillian finally spotted her boat as it was tossed by the waves.

"I couldn't get up the steps because it was so rough and they were banging against my body," she said.

"I was black and blue after that, but the weather makes it all the more exciting."

Two years ago Lillian was forced to give up swimming after she had a hysterectomy.

Arthritis in her knees had also worsened and since then she hasn't been in the water.

But even today when she goes to watch the races she yearns to compete again.

"At a recent race at Budworth I was so tempted," she said. "The sun was shining and I just wanted to feel the water on my shoulders again."

Instead Lillian now keeps busy by looking after her year-old grandson Joshua and teaching Knutsford's children how to swim.

"There are some good little swimmers coming up through the club and they are a joy to teach," she said.

Many of the sea races Lillian endured have since been banned.

"They don't let people swim in it at all if there is green algae in the water," she said.

"But we've been swimming in it for years and years."

In September she plans to visit Windermere for the first time in three years to watch the race she's conquered herself so many times.

"It will be a sad day knowing I'll never swim again," she said. "But I wouldn't enjoy fooling around in a pool. It is much too limiting."

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