My Channel Challenge

After hooking up with my Swim Buddy Ruth and negotiating a horrendously busy M25 in 30 degree heat we finally made it to Dover by about 10.30pm on the Friday night. Knowing we had an early start on the beach on Saturday morning we tried to get as much sleep as possible. 6 swims over 26 hours, nearly 16km; in the dark, at sunrise and amongst some nasty stinging jellyfish (who knew that the zinc in sudocreme is the perfect antidote!). Boy were they right that this would be the toughest one of them all. Excellent preparation though and thankfully pleasant air and sea temperatures. I pushed myself, like I'll have to when it's the real deal. We loved our new team kit, kindly sponsored by some fab people and companies, who we're REALLY grateful to! Once again thank you Sean Buller - SAB Consultancy, Ian Woods - Westgate Glass and Mirror Company Ltd, Anna Higo and Louise Grant - Physiocure, James Hunter & Lee Akers - Studio Kaoite, Rob Abiss - RCA Fitness and Marti...

It was great to be able to couple another medical appointment with a swim at the end of last week! Whilst attending appointments at the Limb Fitting Centre in Ringwood Hampshire, I managed to hook up with a swimming group in Poole, Dorset which is only half an hour's drive away. All courtesy of the wonderful Sally Bird who coordinates 'Beyond the Blue Swimming Group' at Shore Beach. She went above and beyond and couldn't have made me feel more welcome and it was very much appreciated! You can see her on crutches duty below. The sun was cracking the flags and the sea was unbelievably clear with barely a rock or stone in sight! I swam firstly with triathlete Jenny Campbell Trayford then met up with Kirstie Foweraker, who swam an Aspire Channel Relay last summer. About 1.5km along the coast and back again.

During our June training weekend we had to complete a 2hr test swim in order to qualify for the relay. This took place in Hythe on Saturday morning.  There was a strong current and quite big waves at times. People found it very cold and several had to leave the water early, some with more assistance than others! The competency swim was another achievement and step closer to being able to really do this!!!

We were given the opportunity to go out with a pilot on one of the boats to do ‘a trial run’. As the rest of my Team (Hammerhead Sharks) weren’t doing it (some have done a relay before) I became an Honorary Sea Dragon for the day! This was especially nice because my swim buddy Ruth is one and we travel down together and share accommodation so it made it much easier. For me it was causing a lot of anxiety as to how I would manage getting on and off the boat, into and out of the water via a small ladder and especially in choppy seas. I’m sure it was also making the Aspire Organisers a little twitchy, as safety is of course paramount for them. On the day we were up early checking our kit lists and did remarkably well with the relatively small amount we had packed for the boat, considering it looked like Ruth and I had filled the car with everything but the kitchen sink! We had climbed aboard 'Anastasia' in Dover Marina by 10am and were briefed by our pilot Eddie and ...

We are on our annual jaunt to Aberdaron in North Wales, beautiful beaches and clean seas and even dolphins! As we need to do a 2 hour test swim in Dover on June 8th I had the perfect opportunity to build up time and miles in the sea. I decided to start with 1 hour then build up by 10 minutes each day. On schedule so far!  Setting off on Day 5 and completing a 1hr 42 minute swim and 4.5km!

On a recent visit to Southport for some R&R with a friend I ventured into the sea off Formby beach to do an hour's practice. It was a bit rough but very warm.

I had taken on the previously mentioned pool equivalent of the Channel for a couple of reasons; the main one being to raise much needed funds for  Aspire , the Charity for those living with a spinal cord injury (SCI). I could not believe that 1 person in the UK sustains a SCI every 8 hours. Meaning there are 40000 people living with it in this country alone. There is no funding for them for specialist lightweight wheelchairs, other specialist equipment and adapted housing, that is not deemed ‘essential’ by an already overstretched and underfunded social care system. The charity’s strapline ‘From Injury to Independence’ particularly struck a chord with me, having overcome adversity so many times and facing the challenges of living with a physical impairment on a daily basis. Another reason was that I had reached the 20th year anniversary of my amputation. Having needed surgery to reconstruct the ligaments in my remaining ankle in December 2015, followed by 5 months in a cast...