'I swam the Channel fuelled by Battenberg and tinned peaches'

One man endured jellyfish stings while swimming the English Channel, fuelled by tinned peaches and mini Battenberg cakes.

Nev Trotter successfully completed the solo swim to raise money for the Alzheimer's Society in memory of his mum who died earlier this year after a "long fight" with the disease.

The dad of two from Sutton Coldfield set off at 05:00 BST on Monday morning and after 18 hours and 28 minutes later he reached France.

"In the days before [the swim], I was thinking I can't even remember how to swim. I don't know what's going on. Why am I doing this? And I just needed to be in the water," he told BBC Radio WM.

Trotter admitted that while he had never done anything like it before he wanted to do something "iconic" and "big".

"I'm swimming along, surrounded by the blackness and the darkness, with these big barrel jellyfish bumping into me and stinging me constantly for the last four hours.

"The biggest thing with them, it's not the sting necessarily, it's the surprise… you bump into something in the darkness in the middle of the night, after being exhausted."

The straight-line distance across the English Channel is 21 miles (33.7km) but for Trotter the tide was against him, therefore it took longer than expected resulting in 28 miles (45 km) total swim length.

All he had to complete the challenge was his swimming speedos, a pair of goggles, hat and earplugs - along with the occasional feed.

"You're not allowed to be touched by anybody when you stop to feed [so] they have to throw out a water bottle in the tub on the end of a rope out to me… 30 seconds to feed and then just start swimming again," Trotter said.

"In the tub was either half a banana, a mini Battenberg… or tinned peaches.

"Tinned peaches in the salt water are quite a relief," he joked.

Donations to his fundraiser have hit £4,874.

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