She completed the challenge in just six hours and 26 minutes.
‘I did it just for me, to know that I could do it and that diabetes does not control me,’ she said.
A small boat took her from Penarth harbour to a beach nearby, where she set off on her swim at 5.15am.
‘I took a minute to take my thoughts in while sat on the side of the boat.
‘It was still quite dark but there was a really nice sunrise coming up.
‘They drew the horn on the boat and that was it.
‘We were off and didn’t really look back.’
Although Mrs Hardill was slightly nervous at the start, she was confident of her swim plan, which she had down to a science.
As a type one diabetic, she needs to consider her blood sugar levels during long swims.
‘It’s taken me about six years to work out the right type of feeds that I need and at what intervals and just getting used to my body in the water that long.
‘It’s been quite an achievement to be able to swim for more than four or five hours at a time.’
She recently attended a swim camp where she was able to learn about the types of feeds that work best for her in her endurance swimming.
She found she needs more carbohydrate than sugar and landed on a routine of a liquid feed every 45 minutes, maintaining her blood sugar levels and preventing serious exhaustion.
‘After working out what I needed to do, I was swimming three hours and four hours without any problems,’ she said.
‘I felt really confident going into this swim knowing that I could get to the other end.’
Mrs Hardill was accompanied by two of her friends, who were close behind on a rib with supplies.
The friends had swum the English Channel with Mrs Hardill four years ago as a relay team of three, having not met each other before.
‘We’ve been friends ever since and have done other swims together now.
‘They were there to support me in crossing this channel on my own.’
Since learning to swim at the age of four, Mrs Hardill spends much of her time in the water.
‘I’ve had that love of the water instilled in me from such a young age and I’ve always had that dream of having a big, long swim.
‘It’s just part of me, in some respects.’
To prepare for the Bristol Channel, Mrs Hardill made sure to get in the water wherever and whenever she could.
Her preparation started with countless laps in the pool over winter.
‘Once it got slightly warmer, I built up my time and distance in the open water, swimming from bay to bay with a friend in a kayak to support me safety-wise.’
After such a success, Mrs Hardill is already thinking about her next swim.
‘I’ve got a dream to swim from Jersey to France.
‘That would be the ultimate dream at the moment, so I might start looking into how to accomplish that.
Watch this space, really.’
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