GAZETTE & HERALD: STRETCHING out on a sun-drenched beach with a pina colada is most people's idea of a relaxing holiday.

But not for former Chippenham police superintendent Roger Greenslade, who spent two weeks braving Antarctica's icy winds, stormy seas and deadly icebergs.

It was the 59-year-old's second trip to the continent, but this time he embarked on a cruise, which followed the path of British polar explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton.

But this was no sedentary Mediterranean cruise and when the vessel entered the region's ice fields it was struck on the port side by an iceberg, which damaged the restaurant deck and shattered several windows. The Marco Polo was protected from the ice by a double hull.

Mr Greenslade said: "You can use just about every adjective to explain what Antarctica's like, but it still doesn't describe it. It's huge and unspoilt."

Mr Greenslade, of Osmund Close, in Devizes, said he has always been an admirer of Shackleton's incredible leadership skills in times of adversity, particularly on the Endurance expedition, which was recently televised in a dramatisation starring actor Kenneth Brannagh.

On an expedition to Antarctica in 1914 Shackleton's ship Endurance was crushed in the ice.

Leaving his crew on an island the explorer survived an astonishing 800-mile journey, through the world's worst seas, in a 22-foot lifeboat to fetch help.

He reached South Georgia, but landed on the wrong side of the island and had to cross 26 miles of mountainous terrain, before reaching a whaling station to raise the alarm. He then chartered a ship and returned to rescue his crew.