I'm so happy and relieved to be able to say that I successfully swam the English Channel, from Shakespeare Beach in Dover to Pointe du Riden,  south of Cap Gris Nez in France, on Wednesday 20th August 2014. I set off at 4.20am and arrived in France 13 hours and 20 minutes later, at 5.40pm, BST.

To all the lovely people who donated last summer, thank you very much. No need to donate again, unless you'd like to, of course!

My first challenge was my Windermere end to end swim, in August 2013. This was part of my preparation for an English Channel solo, in August 2014. A couple of weeks before the swim, I switched from a one  way to a two way and am happy to say that I made it back to Ambleside in one piece.

Apart from the challenge and a reluctance to age gracefully, I have a personal reason to want to raise a bit of money. My sister, Eve, was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in August 2004. By the time she found out she had it, it was already at stage 4 and little could be done. She died 8 months later, aged 47. She had so many exciting plans of her own, but she didn't manage to see them through.

The symptoms of ovarian cancer are often confused with those of the menopause. The Eve Appeal needs funds to work on better methods of cancer detection, so it can be caught earlier and more lives can be saved.

Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity. So it’s the most efficient way to donate – saving time and cutting costs for the charity.

Anything at all is a help. Thank you very much.

Kate