DORSET adventurer Bear Grylls and his intrepid team arrived home safely yesterday after crossing the northern Atlantic ocean in a small open-topped inflatable boat.

The five-strong team, which set off from Halifax, Nova Scotia, on July 31 landed at John O' Groats, on the north coast of Scotland, after a 3,000-mile expedition through some of the world's most dangerous waters.

Speaking from the small harbour where he landed, Bear, 29, who led the trip, said there were times when the crew feared for their lives.

The team set off from Halifax, went through the Labrador Sea to Greenland, Iceland, and the Faroe Islands to Scotland, and at times encountered weather which threatened to overturn their 10.5 metre boat.

Bear, whose family home is in Winterborne Zelston became the youngest person to conquer Everest when he was 23, a feat he completed just a year after breaking his back in a parachuting accident when he was in the special forces.

Yesterday he said: "It's amazing, we've been genuinely dreaming of seeing the Scottish coastline for 3,000 miles.

"We've come through some pretty frightening waters right up north near the Arctic Circle. Home has definitely taken on a new meaning."

Bear said the aim of the expedition was to be the first crossing of its type without needing emergency assistance, although on parts of the voyage he was not sure if the team would make it.

He said: "I think genuinely if I had an idea of how frightening those seas were out there, I would have seriously reconsidered all this but when you're in a situation like that, you just have to get through it."

"There were times in force eights, off Greenland with freezing cold water, waves breaking over the boat with icebergs around in the middle of the night. where we all really feared for our lives. And I don't want to go through that again for a while."

The boat, constructed specifically for the challenge, in aid of the Prince's Trust, was built from an aluminium hull and inflatable tubes.

Now that he has returned, Bear said his next expedition was to spend time with his wife Shara, 29, and one-month-old son Jesse, on his barge on the River Thames.