Two friends have decided to brave over 350 miles of the UK canal system, navigating their way in a Canadian canoe to raise money for Just a Drop.

Sam McConnell and Mark Hakansson will canoe from just south of Kendal to London with the dream of raising £4,000 to help the water-aid charity put clean water in desperate communities around the world.

This amount tragically represents the number of children who die every day as a result of waterborne diseases.

Their journey will begin in Tewitfield in Cumbria, on August 6th and will end three weeks later in Camden, London.

On their journey, the intrepid travellers will encounter tidal estuaries, rivers flowing the wrong way, locks, tunnels, 25 ton steel boats and the British weather – spending most nights sleeping under the stars with nothing but a sleeping bag for comfort.

Naturally, it won’t all be hard work…

Sam and Mark have been through a lot of scrapes together over the last twenty years and in the true ‘Esprit du Corps’ of English amateurism, neither of them has ever canoed before.

Together they have travelled extensively throughout Africa and have seen first-hand the hardships people endure due to the lack of clean drinking water.

Their experiences over the years have inspired them to raise money for such an important cause.

Canoeing is one of the most efficient forms of human powered transport, developed over 10,000 years ago and is both carbon-neutral and environmentally friendly.

Follow the Kendal2Camden journey on Facebook and Twitter here, while there is more information on JustADrop here.

Head over to JustGiving to make a donation.