For two years I have been training to swim the English Channel. On September 7th 2012 I spent 13 hours and 55 minutes swimming and finally made it to France to become a Channel Swimmer! 

It was tough, it got rough, and at some points it felt like I was never going to get there - but I just kept swimming and swimming and swimming… and I got there in the end! 

I am raising money for Aspire, a charity that offers practical support to the 40,000 people living with a spinal cord injury in the UK so that they can lead fulfilled and independent lives in their homes, with their families, in work places and in leisure time. I started to support this charity after my brother Thomas had to have emergency surgery on his spine several years ago and have completed other swimming challenges for them in the past, including a Relay Channel Swim in 2011.  More information on the work of Aspire can be found online at www.aspire.org.uk.  

Here is a very quick run through of my swim:

I started off in the dark at around 3am, swimming with LED flashing lights and glow sticks attached to my swimming hat and costume so my support boat could keep track of me. I stopped briefly and trod water while I took on quick feeds each hour (liquid carbohydrates and the odd jelly baby, stopping for only 1 or 2 minutes each time) and I was not allowed to touch the boat at any point during the swim.

The conditions were good, but certainly not perfect, with my boat crew suffering numerous bruises from being thrown around in the waves. My main experience of the waves was that the boat seemed as if it was going to crash down on top of me during my feed stops. I also swallowed an awful lot of sea water!

During the last few hours my left shoulder started to cause me an awful lot of pain and I am still not sure now how I managed to keep going. My boat crew were fantastic and helped to keep me motivated and I just kept telling myself that the faster I swam, the sooner I would be able to get to France.

Apparently a curious seal swam alongside me for about half an hour during the final stages of my swim although the only marine wildlife I was aware of at the time were the numerous jellyfish floating along below me!

The last couple of hours were incredibly tough and even when I was told by my crew that I had less than a mile to go it still felt like France was never going to get any closer! I finally stumbled onto the beach near Wissant and stood up for a maximum of 30 seconds before my legs turned to jelly and I fell over!

I had made it! I was exhausted… and my arms felt like they were going to fall off!

Thank you for visiting my justgiving page!