If you were inspired by Robson Greens effort after he swam in Snowdonia's Llynn LLydaw, why not create your own Holy Island challenge with a swim from Europe to Asia in the Lord Byron Bicentennial Hellespont Swim in May 2010.

Alcatraz is fifteen metres away, my starting point. A mile and a half across the bay, lies the prize of San Francisco – a thicket of skyscrapers shimmering in the early morning haze. It’s the moment that I’ve been dreading but which hundreds of inmates would once have longed for – a chance to swim to freedom.

One lake was so crystal clear that I simply sucked up water when I needed a drink, rather than heading for the support boat.

The hosts, Maria and Petri, open their summer holiday home by Lake Sakara to the swimming holiday company Swimtrek, whose professional guides lead the way across several beautiful lakes and rivers of southern Finland. You swim approximately 5km a day (usually in two sessions) but you don’t have to be an Olympic swimmer; so long as you can swim at a steady pace for this distance you will be fine.

Crossing the Hellespont is one of the most illustrious open water swims in the world and is celebrating the 200th anniversary of Lord Byron's crossing of Hellespont, from the European continent to Asia.