Lewis Gordon Pugh, 36, has been attempting to be the first person to swim the length of the Thames. The 203-mile journey began at the river’s source in Kemble, Gloucestershire and will finish at Southend-on-Sea, Essex. He swam through Abingdon today passing St Helens Wharf at 16:40.

On his blog he says ‘I feel today that a corner has been turned. After the difficulties of the weekend, I began to really recover on Sunday evening, and some strong swimming brought us from Sandford Lock to Abingdon after a 4k swim. We stopped to pick up supplies in Abingdon, I rested on the boat for two hours. Although we have put a stop to any media activity while I focus on my swimming, interest from passers by is very high and during the Abingdon stretch I spoke to quite a few people, met a walker who was walking the length of the Thames, as well as a swan-shaped pedalo that was trying to paddle from Lechlade to the sea, and stopped for several photographs with passers by.’

As I watched he changed his stroke from crawl to breast stroke passing where the Ock enters the Thames, then reverted to crawl at Margaret Brown’s gardens.