This is the view Dr James Mallinson had when he took an unusual crossing of the Solent.

He believes he is the first person to paraglide across the Solent at the widest part, taking off near Hungerford in Berkshire, coming in from the Portsmouth area and landing at Seaview.

James's grandparents and father lived on the Island and the family still has a house here, in Bembridge. James learnt to fly a paraglider at Freshwater in 1995.

He said: "It used to be possible to cross the Solent from Lymington to Hurst Castle, which is only one mile, but Bournemouth airspace put paid to that in the 90s and nobody has done it since."