SKINNY-DIPPING at an Edinburgh beauty spot just wasn't daring enough for 23-year-old Jackie Brown – so she's decided to do it 138 times.
The keen swimmer (pictured above) is preparing to spend the summer getting closer to nature by taking a dip in the nude in all of Scotland's major lochs. She will swim around ten metres in all the lochs – including Loch Lomond and Loch Ness – to raise around £3000 for breast cancer charities.
She will be photographed at each location for a series of pictures to go on sale when she completes the task.
Miss Brown, who lives in Barony Street, has already had a trial run for her intensive three-week charity swim in the summer by plunging into the freezing Duddingston Loch.
She got rid of her inhibitions and took the plunge, much to the surprise of a nature-lover who happened to be looking through his binoculars at the time.
But it was realising just how freezing Scottish waters are that gave the Australian the biggest shock. She said: "As with all good ideas, it was thought up in the pub. I left Edinburgh to go home for a while last year and I said my biggest regret was not skinny dipping in the lochs, so it all stemmed from there.
"Saturday was my first dip and it lasted a maximum of three minutes. When I got home, I spent the rest of the night in bed with a fever and I must admit I thought then 'What am I letting myself in for?'. But I'm not worried about it, I'm just really excited."
Miss Brown, originally from the Australian city of Perth, is going to seek the advice of her doctor before embarking on the potentially dangerous swimathon.
She said: "I'll be careful about it and make sure I'm eating right and that I have lots of blankets with me. I've had my injections and I won't be putting my head under the water." She will be starting her challenge in the Capital on July 7, then heading up north.
She estimates she will take in just over six lochs a day to complete the task in three weeks. She will be accompanied by her friend, amateur photographer Jenny Humberstone, who will be taking snaps at each location.
As well as raising sponsorship money through the swimathon, Miss Brown hopes the "artsy" photos will make some money when they go on sale. She plans to get a stall during the Edinburgh Festival to sell the photos.
Miss Brown, who teaches theatre skills in schools, welcomes supporters along the way but says she will only strip off at secluded parts of the lochs so as not to offend anyone.
She added: "The guy with the binoculars must have wondered what we were doing, but he never asked for an explanation and we never offered one. We just did what we came to do and left."
Miss Brown plans to split the money she raises between a number of breast cancer charities after she saw the illness strike some of her friends' mothers.
Angela Kilday, spokesperson for Cancer Research UK, said: "We invest some £27 million in Scotland annually. Without the support of individuals like Jackie, this vital cancer research work would not be able to continue."
THE NAKED TRUTH
OTHER naked – and nearly naked – exploits in Edinburgh have included:
• The Joy boutique in Princes Mall offered free clothes to anyone who turned up in their underwear last week.
• Naked Rambler Stephen Gough has been in segregation at Saughton – where he refuses to wear clothing – almost continuously since May 2006.
• Acclaimed Edinburgh photographer Trevor Yerbury got more than 300 requests when he offered women the opportunity to be styled and then photographed nude.
• Scott Bradley, former assistant manager at the Lady Nairne Hotel in Willowbrae Road, lost his claim for unfair dismissal last month. He was fired after being caught in the hotel kitchen naked from the waist down and apparently drunk.
• www.nakedlochswim08.com
