An intensive care nurse was hospitalised during an attempt to become the first person to swim the length of the River Severn without a wetsuit - after tasting sewage in her mouth.

Wild swimmer Melissa Compton, 39, ended up on a drip in hospital before she could finish her attempt at swimming the full 220 miles.

She was struck down with a stomach bug as she neared the end of her swim, and said that the water tasted "a bit fishy".

But Melissa, from Shropshire, is determined not to be put off by the unclean water - and hopes to take to the river once more to complete the last 36 miles of her swim, which she started in Mid Wales on June 6, by Sunday.

Medics believe that the 39-year-old nurse, who is currently recovering at home, contracted campylobacter, a bacteria often found in raw chicken.

Melissa began her endurance swim near the source of the River Severn, in Montgomeryshire, swimming down through Shropshire, Worcester and Gloucester towards the Bristol Channel.

At one point she had to sit it out for a few days after the river burst its bank, making it too dangerous to swim in.

But she made up the time by swimming up to 20 miles day - and was taken ill on Tuesday, June 25, as she set off from Ashleworth, between Tewkesbury and Gloucester.

Melissa said: "I swim in the Severn a lot in Shropshire but it's much cleaner because there aren't so many built up areas along the river.

"There was one section where the water tasted a bit fishy and I think I must have taken down some raw sewage.

"My friend thought they saw some toilet paper floating around but I didn't, I could just taste that the water wasn't right.

"Although you do not swallow, you can taste the water in your mouth as you swim.

"If it's muddy you can taste the mud, if a boat goes past you can taste the diesel and if it's polluted it doesn't taste very fresh at all."

When Melissa fell sick and phoned 111, she was advised to go to Gloucestershire Royal Hospital where she was put a drip to rehydrate her body and kept in.

She has been discharged but cannot tackle the final and most dangerous stretch of her swim until she stops being sick.

The last 20 miles is so dangerous that Kevin Brady was warned not to attempt it when he became the first person to swim the entire length of the Severn in 2015.

But Melissa says she has enough support on land and in the water to deal with the notorious tides.

"I have done estuary swimming before but the Severn is pretty nasty," said Melissa, who hopes to be back in the river by Friday so she can complete the swim on Sunday.

"You have to take account of the tides and do it in stages. I have swum up to 11 hours at a time but I will only be able to do three or four hours at most in the estuary.

"It can be very dangerous but my kayaker knows the river and is very safety conscious and I am determined to finish."

Melissa started open water swimming three-and-a-half years ago, when she was diagnosed with osteoarthritis in her right knee.

Now she hopes to raise £3,000 for Versus Arthritis, the charity which funded stem cell research on her damaged knee.

In her blog she wrote: "The final three or four days of the swim downstream from Gloucester will be the hardest.

"It is tidal and has many dangers ranging from quick sands, mudflats, whirlpools, limited exit points and the second highest tidal range in the world."

To support Melissa go to the Just Giving website and and search 'Melissa Compton'.