SWIMMER Chris Astill-Smith did not have the best start to his bid to cross The Channel after a problem with his support boat meant his bid was delayed by ten days.

Solo swimmer Mr Astill-Smith, from Eascott, near Devizes, who was raising money to make children's dreams come true, said: "It was called off at the last minute due to a freak accident.

"The prop shaft came clean off the engine right before I was about to jump in. This felt honestly terrible. I had spent two weeks carbing up and mentally prepping myself. I felt so ready I was very excited and full of energy, everything felt right.

"Then once it happened it felt like my dream, that I'd been training for for 18 months was ripped away from me. I didn't know when the boat would get fixed, when the weather would be good to go or whether or not I'd even swim it this year. My head was all over the place."

But he finally took to the water on August 25 and despite finding it hard to motivate himself after the setback but finally made it to the French coast after 11 hours 43 minutes in the water.

He said: "As much as I tried to motivate myself I just didn't feel the same as I did that night on the 15th August. I was relieved that I had another chance this year and so soon after the boat problems but it just didn't feel right. That whole week my shoulders and elbows had been giving me pain and I feared that they wouldn't last the swim.

"When I jumped in the water at 2am I was very scared. I had to swim off the boat 100 meters to Samphire Hoe Beach in Dover I couldn't see anything, my heart was pumping, I had so much adrenaline and my head was all over the place. Those next three hours of darkness were horrible, I couldn't get into a good rhythm, I got stung in the face by a jellyfish and I couldn't see much."

But once the sun came up he realised he was not in pain and became positive that he would succeed.

He said: "After nine and a half hours I could clearly see France and knew the tides were turning so I had to push hard and so I picked up the pace and landed on Cap Gris Nez. When I finished I was very relieved, excited, but it strangely felt like a dream. I guess this is because I didn't sleep for 30 something hours."

He has so far raised more than £16,000 for Dreams Come True. He said: "I've just about recovered. I was hurting for about 72 hours after."