Olympian Tom Daley makes children's day as he visits West Berkshire and North Hampshire as part of Comic Relief challenge

British diver and Olympic gold medallist Tom Daley made a splash as he travelled through West Berkshire and North Hampshire today (Tuesday) as part of his Comic Relief challenge.

The 27-year-old athlete is taking on an epic endurance challenge as he rows, cycles, swims and runs his way from Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in Stratford to his hometown of Plymouth – all to raise money for projects supported by Comic Relief.

And this afternoon, Mr Daley stopped for photos, questions and autographs in Kingsclere as dozen of pupils turned out from the village primary school to welcome him.

Despite the wet and windy weather, the Olympian – who won gold in the men's synchronized 10-metre platform event at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo – hopped off his bike for around 20 minutes, making the children’s day.

The primary school’s deputy head teacher, Jo Messenger, said Mr Daley had stopped to chat with all the different year groups, and that he was a great ambassador for children.

She said: “The children were absolutely besotted and excited as anything.

“They were really pleased to be a part of supporting him on his journey.

“We knew he was going to walk past but he really took the time to talk to the children and answer questions about what he does, which is really lovely.

“He’s a great ambassador for young children in terms of why he was doing what he was doing and the training that he’d put in to do it.”

Mrs Messenger said the children had prepared for the event by watching Mr Daley’s Olympic gold medal-winning dive, and they had been eager to ask him about his training and what it took to achieve it.

She added: “It was really wet but not a single child complained about it.

“They were literally caught up in the excitement of seeing him.”

Mr Daley started the day in Reading, where he took an icy dip in the Redgrave Pinsent Rowing Lake, swimming the length of 50 swimming pools.

Dressed in a yellow high-vis jacket and black helmet, trousers and boots, Mr Daley then cycled 63-miles to Southampton, taking in the sights of Burghfield, Tadley, Ashford Hill and Kingsclere.

Tomorrow (Wednesday), he will cycle from Southampton to Bovey Castle in Dartmoor National Park, where he married his husband in 2017.

On his final day, he will run the 30 miles from Bovey Castle to Plymouth.