LONG distance swimmer Derek Griffiths has become the first person to swim from Morecambe to Barrow - despite being in pain most of the way from jelly fish stings.

Derek, aged 44, accomplished the 14-mile swim from Battery Point on Morecambe promenade to West End Haws, Barrow, on Saturday.

Although the straight distance is only 12 miles, the tides forced him to swim two more before finishing the attempt in seven hours 43 minutes.

"I ran into shoals of jellyfish after four hours and for the rest of the swim I got continually stung and was in pain," says the Barrow swimmer.

"I wanted to do it because it had never been done before. I also wanted to open up a new swimming route across Morecambe Bay," he adds.

It took Derek two years to plan the attempt, which has been officially timed and mapped for the British Long Distance Swimming Association (BLDSA).

There used to be annual swims from Morecambe to Grange and Grange to Morecambe but they ceased more than 20 years ago because of changes in the channels.

Derek, who works for the Cumbria Wildlife Trust, swam the 24 miles round Walney Island, Barrow, two years ago and has also swum all 16 Lake District lakes end to end.

He says he will now be submitting the new cross-Bay route he has pioneered to the BLDSA for other swimmers in future - though he doubts whether anybody will want to go through the pain he suffered because of the jellyfish.