The couple sailed on a homemade boat with oars the way from England to France
A young couple, Matt and Polly Hilton, obviously eager for adventure, spent 56 days traveling from a city in Devon, Great Britain, to the shores of southern France, a city in the Languedoc-Roussillon region, on a 4-meter boat with oars.
Matt and Polly covered the entire distance, equal to about 1500 km, on a boat that Matt built from scratch. The guys named their favorite "Chernozobik" in honor of a small swamp bird.
(14 photos in total)
After spending six months building a boat, the couple went on a trip from the town of Reve. From there they rowed to Poole, a town on the English Channel coast, where they had to take a ferry and cross the English Channel (English Channel), otherwise they were not allowed to pass.
Then the couple set off on the "Chernozobik" from Cherbourg-Octeville (a port city in northwestern France) to Picardy, and from there along the Somme River to the city of Reims and further to the Rhone River. Matt and Polly ended their trip in the port city of Seth, celebrating the adventure with a bottle of champagne.
Although the boat had a small sail, the guys spent almost all the time on the oars. 28-year-old Polly, who has her own cider production business, said that sometimes the weather was terrible, the first three weeks of the trip the rains did not stop, which, of course, made their swim even more difficult.
Soon the weather took pity on them, but the sail still could not be raised, so they had to row almost all the time. Of course, the journey turned out to be a very difficult test, besides, some curiosities periodically happened to the couple. For example, once they lost a lantern while swimming in a 5-kilometer dark tunnel.
"Chernozobik" is under construction.
The route of the trip.
By the way, the couple went on a trip for a reason, but to attract attention and raise money for a fund to help refugee children.
Matt and Polly at the very beginning of the adventure in Lalworth Bay, Dorset.
Matt placed a tent on the boat, which could be laid out and spent the night in it.
As expected, the couple celebrated the end of a difficult journey with a bottle of champagne.