Swimming the Channel might seem daunting to some, but Dover woman Sam Jones has successfully completed the challenge twice.

The 42-year-old, now of Winchelsea Road, moved from Tunbridge Wells to Dover to be closer to the sea after enjoying her first dip around 10 years ago.

Since then, the mother-of-two said she has “caught the bug” and has vowed to never stop open-water swimming.

She said: “I absolutely love it. It is so different to anything else I have done before.”

Her most recent Channel swim took place in September, when she reached the French shore in 16 hours, 38 minutes.

This was four minutes longer than her previous success, when she completed the 21-mile stretch in 16 hours, 34 minutes in 2008.

She said: “When I’m doing it I think of all sorts of things, but I am usually looking around for jellyfish.

“There is usually someone on the boat trying to keep me cheerful. This time I thought ‘how much more of this have I got to do?’”

Sam planned to swim around the island of Jersey this summer, but this was foiled due to bad weather conditions which forced her to come back home. It was then that she was offered the opportunity to swim the Channel again.

Describing the moment she got to France this time round, she said: “I felt shattered, but also chuffed that I made it."

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