Wheelchair inspires Beth to swim the channel (From Somerset County Gazette)

Wheelchair inspires Beth to swim the channel

9:00pm Monday 18th June 2012 in News

A WHEELCHAIR has inspired a Milverton woman to try to swim the English Channel.

And she hopes it will be the stepping stone to doing something nobody else has achieved.

Beth French plans to take the dip at Dover and head for Calais next month.

She has been training swimming in the sea and lakes twice a week and in pools three times a week since February.

“I'm going up to Dover on July 20, but when I start depends on what the sea's doing,” said Beth, 34, a massage therapist.

“I've been swimming in five feet waves in Lyme Regis, but I'll need the channel to be pretty calm before setting off.

“It will take me between ten and 20 hours depending on conditions.

“I'm looking forward to it, but it's a big challenge because less than 700 people have completed the swim - more people have climbed Everest.”

Beth swore she would swim the channel if she recovered enough from ME to walk without the wheelchair she needed as a child.

“I've already achieved some other things I promised myself, such as building my own home in Hawaii, swimming with dolphins, being a Buddhist monk in Thailand, climbing a mountain and walking on warm lava rock,” said Beth.

“Now all that remains to do is to swim the Pacific, which has never been done before.”

Beth is raising sponsorship for Action on ME - to support her follow her blog at bethsbigswim.blog.co.uk