ADVENTURER Bear Grylls braved treacherous waters off one of Scotland’s most
northerly coastlines for TV — and survived a death-defying swim by making a
wetsuit from a DEAD SEAL.
The action man’s Born Survivor series sees him battle to get out of earth’s
most dangerous places alive.
On Monday, Discovery viewers will watch the 37-year-old being dumped from a
helicopter into the Atlantic Ocean around Cape Wrath, Sutherland.
The remote outpost is famous as one of the toughest military training ranges
in Europe.
And former SAS trooper Grylls admitted: “The Special Forces DREAD
coming here.”
He’s thrown into the Arctic Ocean armed with just a knife, water bottle and
life raft to survive the elements.
Grylls has visited some of the most dangerous places in the world, surviving
in hostile jungles, deserts and swamps.
In the Special Forces he was also a survival instructor and patrol medic.
He was once the youngest Briton to climb Everest, aged 23, and the daredevil
crossed the Arctic Ocean unassisted in an inflatable boat in 2003.
But dropped into the freezing waters of North West Scotland, which has claimed
the lives of countless fishermen, even HE was terrified.
Just minutes into the mission, Grylls gets seasickness and vomits. But he’s
soon back in action, using his life raft to climb ashore before realising he
is stranded on an island.
Shivering with cold, he knows he must keep his body temperature up to avoid
hypothermia, which could KILL him.
But Gryll’s survival instincts kick in and when he spots a dead seal, he knows
he’s in luck.
Using his legendary skills, he expertly slits the mammal open and within
minutes he fashions a warm vest from seal’s skin.
Without it, he’d never withstand the icy cold of the water to reach the
mainland.
Gryll revealed: “Hypothermia sets in when your body drops below a critical
level.
“And in freezing waters like that, you need all the insulation you can get.
“Swim without any protection, and you’d reach exhaustion and eventually
unconsciousness in around an hour.”
He added: “Seal skin is tough stuff. Getting it off needs a little care and
it’s a bit of a squeeze. But it did its job.”
Grylls has MATING season among seals to thank for his makeshift
swimwear.
He said: “The male seals fight with each other during this period and one guy
obviously lost his battle.
“But they have an amazing ability to survive in really cold water because of
their skin and a thick layer of blubber underneath.
“Vikings used to use seal carcasses to make robes and sleeping bags.”
Thrill-seeker Grylls spent a week in Scotland last October to film his
expedition.
Over 100 fishermen were injured or killed in Cape Wrath in 2009 alone.
Grylls said: “It’s not just the terrain that’s unforgiving in Cape Wrath. It’s
also the seas.
“Fishing out there is one of the deadliest jobs on earth.”
The sub-zero temperatures were not Grylls’ only worry.
He was almost KILLED when deadly rocks flew past his head as he
sprinted down a mountain side. Grylls said: “It was crazy close. No matter
how light you are on your feet, there’s a chain reaction of moving rocks.
“That’s the Highlands for you — wild, remote with wind and rain-swept
mountains.
“I love it. The high ground’s a dangerous place. The fog can make visibility
almost zero.
“The Special Forces come here for pre-Arctic training and this is the part of
their course that they dread the most.”
Grylls has another nerve-jangling encounter in the water later in the
programme.
He decided to turn back from facing super-strength tidal currents before being
swept away.Grylls said: “We made the right decision.
“Sometimes you’ve got to know when to turn back.
“That’s how you live to fight another day. It was an ambitious plan but you’re
not going to win them all.”
Past episodes of Born Survivor have seen Grylls squeeze water out of animal
dung, drink his own urine and sleep inside a dead camel.
He added: “An important part of survival is being flexible.
“Things happen in the wild. If it happens, you’ve got to retreat.
“The danger with a lot of these places is that when the tide comes in, it
comes in at the speed of a galloping horse.”
Born Survivor: Bear Grylls is on Discovery on Monday at 9pm.