SUN-kissed Weymouth beach was a stark contrast for Paul Moxham as he recovered from a bitterly cold adventure to the North Pole.

The 34-year-old engineer and two Cold Beef team-mates had just won a four-week 350-mile Polar Challenge.

So getting back to normal with an ice cream in the sun seemed like a great idea - even though his ice cream was 30 degrees centigrade warmer than his chilly Arctic exploits.

At least in Weymouth he didn't face the real risk of being eaten by polar bears.

Paul, who works for Marquis Precision Engineering in Lynch Lane, said: "The pawprints of some of those bears were as big as dinner plates. We were just walking across the ice and we came across one set of tracks which were huge and - worst of all - very recent.

"We had to be really careful because all this was happening on a jumble of ice rubble where a bear could have been hiding a few feet away from us and we wouldn't have seen it, although we did have a shotgun with us."

Team nerves were not soothed by coming across a blood-spattered seal hole surrounded by bits of flesh.

Paul said: "That focused our minds a bit.

"We were definitely on our guard after that and just as well as we later had a bear come close to our tent at night."

If evading death under the teeth and claws of a polar bear was a major concern then so were some of the more mundane activities of daily life.

Paul said: "When we went to the toilet we always had the shotgun within easy reach. We couldn't afford to be surprised by a polar bear with our trousers down."

Even eating and drinking was an issue for the team.

Paul said: "You have got big quilted gloves on, so how do you eat? Well, the gloves are on strings permanently attached to your clothing to stop them blowing away and when we wanted to eat then off came our gloves in a five-minute stop during which we snacked on beef jerky, cheese and kids' sweets with chocolate and peanuts.

"Our sweets had been chosen carefully at home by sticking various varieties into the freezer to see which froze least. Bear in mind the freezer was only at minus 18C and we went down as low as minus 40C, so it was quite important because we couldn't afford to break a tooth on food as dentists were few and far between out there."

At night they pitched their tent after up to 16 hours' walking and they would cook a hot vegetarian meal based on pasta or rice because they had already eaten their daily protein with the jerky and cheese. Their January training for the North Pole race took place in Norway and proved vital as they trekked across spindrift ice beneath fantastic cloud formations in near total silence.

Paul said: "At one point we went through the ice at a pressure ridge but we were lucky.

"Our polar trousers kept us dry. It was like falling into a big Slush Puppy."

Team-mate Angus King went down with mild hypothermia and Paul and colleague Jamie Wood had to deal with it. Paul said: "We stopped, put our tent up and phoned doctors for advice. They said get hot food and drink inside him and let him sleep which we did and he was able to finish the race."

Now Paul, whose efforts raised £5,000 for Weldmar hospice in Dorchester, is back home in Whitehead Drive and some people have suggested to him that his adventures are over.

Paul said: "Not really. I still have one left in me and I quite fancy Everest!"