Woman's 162-mile paddleboard challenge across North West

A woman is set to travel 162-miles by paddle board, along Britain's longest single canal, to raise funds for clean water charities.

Natasha Sones, a freelance travel writer, from Suffolk, will set off on the 10-day-challenge from Liverpool on Friday - aiming to cover 15 to 20 miles a day across Lancashire and Manchester on her stand up paddle board before reaching the finish line in Goole, on the Humber Estuary.

The mum-of-three will paddle for six hours a day along an 127-mile stretch of the Leeds and Liverpool Canal before completing the challenge along the Aire & Calder Navigation through Yorkshire.

"To be in the first 13 people to have done this challenge is really exciting," Natasha said.

Natasha said she decided to buy a paddleboard after being made redundant during the Covid pandemic.

"I've never really been very sporty," Natasha said. "But I wanted to do something whimsical and fun.

"Then I had my first paddleboarding lesson and just loved it."

Now, just over five years after starting the hobby - Natasha is set to be the 13th person to take on the Liverpool to Google coastal challenge by paddleboard.

"I've been training - even standing up for six to eight hours will be physically tiring," she said. "Carrying all our kit on our boards in dry bags.

"My aim is to show people that it can be done."

Natasha will be raising funds for two charities - the Canal & River Trust and Surfers Against Sewage.

She said she would also be raising awareness of issues, such as plastic pollution, invasive animal and plant species and protecting native water-based wildlife.

"I chose these causes because it's so important to keep our blue spaces open and accessible so that all of us can benefit," she said.

It will be Natasha's first time paddleboarding in the North West.

"It's all new to me and it will all be beautiful," she said. "I've been told that it's particularly pretty around the Skipton stretch but I think just seeing Liverpool, for me, will be beautiful."

Natasha will paddle through Greater Manchester and Lancashire on the 10-day-route - and will also have to paddle under the summit of the Pennine hills through a mile-long tunnel at Foulridge.

Natasha will be joined in part by her friends Joseph Kemp and Claire H - as well as Jo Moseley - the first woman paddleboarder to complete the challenge in 2019.

"I really want to encourage paddlers to explore all our beautiful waterways," Natasha added. "If I can do a challenge like this, anyone can."

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