BAD weather is preventing Hampshire adventurer Nick Bubb from embarking on the second leg of his Antarctic expedition.

Nick and five other men have reached South Georgia, having sailed 800 nautical miles from Elephant Island in a 22ft boat.

But conditions have deteriorated, preventing them from trekking across South Georgia’s mountainous interior.

An expedition spokesman said: “It’s raining, hailing, icy and windy – and it hasn’t stopped. No decision has been made about when to start the crossing.”

Nick, 33, of Lymington, is attempting to recreate the epic journey made by polar explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton in 1916.

After their ship the Endurance sank in the Weddell Sea, Shackleton and his crew spent several months stranded on pack ice.

When conditions started to improve they climbed into three wooden lifeboats and managed to reach the uninhabited Elephant Island.

Shackleton and five of his crew continued to South Georgia and eventually found a whaling station, which arranged for their shipmates to be rescued.