WILTSHIRE’S High Sheriff, David Hempleman-Adams, is gearing up for his next polar expedition.

The adventurer, who was the first person in history to reach the geographic and magnetic North and South Poles, will head up a crew of 12 on the 'Polar Ocean' challenge.

He will join up with his crew in northern Russia before sailing along through the north coast of Alaska, the north of Canada, Greenland and then across the Northern Atlantic back to Bristol.

Mr Hempleman-Adams said: “My expedition will sadly be curtailed due to High Sheriff duties, but I’ll be joining the team in Russia in mid-July.

“The aim of the expedition is to raise awareness of for climate change and global warming, we’ll be monitoring the ice levels when we’re over there.

“We will be going through parts of sea which have previously been frozen all year but are melted enough to pass through in summer.

“People tend to put things like global warming to the back of their minds and don’t take enough interest until it directly affects them.I’ll be going to a very remote part of the world which I’ve never been to before and I’m looking forward to joining the team.”

To find out more about the challenge, visit http://polarocean.co.uk/