Oxfordshire's record breaking pilot Polly Vacher has flown over the North Pole on the first stage of her epic solo circumnavigation of the globe taking in both the Arctic and Antarctic.

Mrs Vacher, from Drayton, near Abingdon, crossed the North Pole at 6.30pm on Monday, having left the Norwegian island of Spitzbergen at 12.30pm. As she flew over the Pole in bright sunshine she spoke via satelline link to her husband Peter who was at home.

When she crossed 89.59.9 latitude North she shouted out: "I'm on top of the world. It's wonderful up here and I'm doing fine."

Mr Vacher said: "It was marvellous to hear her voice. She's in good shape and now she has overcome one of the main challenges she is looking forward to the rest of her journey."

Having negotiated the Pole she found herself flying into Canadian bureaucracy after customs officers said she could not land at Resolute Bay. After three hours of negotiations with Norwegian authorities, the Canadians finally relented.

Mr Vacher said: "The Norwegians have been mag- nificent."

After a short break Mrs Vacher heads for Alaska and down the west coast of the Americas to Antarctica.

From there she will travel to New Zealand, Australia, and Asia, before heading home via the Middle East and southern Europe.

If she is successful Mrs Vacher, who left Birmingham on May 6, will enter the record books for the second time.

She raised more than £185,000 from her first around the world trip and hopes to raise a similar amount for the Flying Scholarships for the Disabled on her Pole to Pole journey.

Two years ago, she became the first person to fly solo around the world via Australia and the Pacific in her small Piper Dakota aircraft.