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There are many ways of getting to Paris from London, but doing it by rowing boat is not the obvious one - but that’s what teams of rowers are doing starting on 2 May 2008 on the London 2 Paris Rowing Challenge. Leaving from Westminster Bridge in the centre of London at 11.00am and rowing down the Thames, then to Dover. From there they strike out diagonally towards Fecamp and Le Havre at the mouth of the Seine - in the process crossing the busiest stretch of water in the world - before heading into the calmer waters of the Seine to Rouen and on to Paris. But even on this stretch there are some big boats and less room to manoeuvre.

There are two teams of 10 rowers of all ages and both sexes, and they are going to tackle this fearsome ordeal which covers 420 miles and will probably take 6 days before arriving at the Pont d’Iena near the Eiffel Tower in central Paris sometime before 8th May 2008. One team is called Le FigaROW!

The most daunting part of the whole trip must be the lengthy English Channel crossing to Le Havre with the risks of heavy seas and merchant shipping. But Le Havre is only about half-way in terms of distance, a little deceptive as the Seine meanders in anything but a straight line after the Pont de Tancarville between Le Havre and Rouen. They will of course pass under 2 impressive bridges before reaching Paris - le Pont de Normandie which takes the A29 autoroute from the north to south banks of the Seine near its mouth; and the new vertical lift bridge - the Pont Gustave Flaubert in Rouen.

Clearly the Channel section will not offer much in the way of a spectator sport,but you may be able to catch sight of them on the Thames and Seine.

See London 2 Paris Rowing Challenge - but personally I think I’d go by Eurostar!