I DID IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

At 5:20am on Monday 27th September 2009 I swam ashore to the rocky French coast just a little South of Cap Gris Nez to complete my crossing of the English Channel. I had left Shakespeare Beach, Dover at 4:20pm the previous day and swam through the night to record a time of 13 hours for the swim.

I am tired and emotional, stung by Jellyfish (dont'cha hate em?), and my arms aren't working!

Thanks to Eddie and Dave, Captain and crew of the Anastasia, Nathan my observer, my boat crew and everyone who has supported, encouraged and inspired me to complete this amazing challenge.

Much more to come later.

I SWAM THE CHANNEL!!!!!

TODAY'S THE DAY!!! AAAAAAAAARGH!!!!!!!

Got the call last night to meet at Anastasia at 4pm today (Sunday 27th September 2009.)

I'm FINALLY doing my swim THIS AFTERNOON!!!!

It would be great if you could send me messages and encouragement, Nive will pass them onto me when I come to the boat to feed every half an hour. I'm going to be swimming through the night so any night owls that can contact me in the wee small hours will be greatly appreciated.

Text me on 07743 366989 or send tweets to Nive (his twitter user name is nivehall) or e-mail me at margaret.algar@blueyonder.co.uk

Nive will update the Twitter feed on the right hand side of the blog to let you know how I'm getting on and you can track Anastasia (my boat) as per the post below.

Here's hoping

Thanks for all your support

Mags

I HAVEN'T GONE YET!!!!!

@*#!!@*!

The wind has been too windy and the waves have been too wavey and I haven't been able to do my swim within my tide slot.

I AM VERY SAD AND VERY FRUSTRATED!!!

I have been in touch with my pilot Eddie and he is going to try to fit in my attempt before the end of the season (possibly the very end of September to early October). Please pray/chant/meditate/dance/sing (whatever is your preference) that the Weather Gods relent and let me make my attempt this year as I REALLY, REALLY don't want to have to wait another WHOLE YEAR.

If you've got too much time on your hands or you think the boss isn't looking, you can check the weather conditions in the Channel on an hourly basis by clicking HERE (the readings are from a lightship anchored in mid channel).

Thanks for your continued fantastic support - I'll update as soon as I know...........

Track me if you can

This is Anastasia, she is the escort boat my pilot, Eddy, will skipper as he guides me on my attempt to swim the channel. There is a ship tracking website which you can use to track Anastasia. Just click here , and you should be able to track her moving across the Channel and imagine me in the sea beside her cursing all on board if I can smell bacon being cooked!

Chillin's over.............nearly time to go!

My "extra" month has flown by and my new swim slot is almost here. I'm all better now and have been trying to relax (thanks for the loan of Enzo, Steve - I think we tired him out!).

The weather is looking hopeful (touch wood) and I may get the call to go any day now.

My friend from Cheltenham, Ollie, has just done his swim and made the crossing in 11 hours 6 minutes WELL DONE OLLIE!!!!

Thanks again to all my supporters especially Maurice my coach and my family. Some of them will be my "crew" on the boat so please keep the drinks coming and the messages positive!

Please don't forget to sponsor me (just click through over on the right of the page) - I am desperate to raise as much as I can for Sue Ryder and Umthombo.

I'll try to keep you updated with my progress..............ENGLAND TO FRANCE - ONE STROKE AT A TIME!

A small delay

Mags small
Originally uploaded by margaretalgar

I've had to make a BIG decision................Although I'm feeling much, much better after my recent bout of swine flu, I've postponed my swim until 11th - 16th September. After much heartsearching and a very useful chat with a doctor with great experience working with athletes, I'm accepting that I won't be 100% fit in the next week and my best chance of success is to postpone. Thanks very much to Eddie my pilot who has let me have a slot in September. I'm already back in the pool and am more determined than ever.............................gives me more time to raise money too!

Nearly time to go..........................

.........and I've got swine flu! Been really rough but hopefully I have just got time to get better before next Thursday, the first date in my swim window. Apart from the flu preparations have gone well with four more six hour practice swims knocked off over the past couple of weekends. Jake (youngest son), Nive (Hubby)and I have taken long weekends and explored some of the delights of Kent as well as going to the Banksy show in Bristol (highly recommended!). I am nearly there with preparations with pretty much everything I will need during the attempt ready now. Have been reminded how hard the challenge is with quite a few of my fellow swimmers not getting across and one of my friends suceeding but only after taking 5 hours to do the last couple of miles after the tide went against him! Oh well, just need to concentrate on getting better and then get my mind ready for the swim. I'm just going to focus on one stroke at a time and getting to the next feed and see where that gets me.
Here's hoping............................