Blog
'The journey of a thousand miles, begins with one step.' Lao Tzu
Time to Act
in collaboration with Jord Watches. A few weeks ago, I was sent a beautiful wooden watch from Jord. I haven’t worn a watch for nearly 20 years, but it was a great gift. It has made me think about how much I rely on my phone and this week I have been jolted into...
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Our 12th and Final Marathon through the Majestic Mountains in Montenegro
As our final marathon approached, a strange apprehension and uncomfortable feeling of disbelief washed over us both. On the one hand, we could not wait to finish but on the other, we wanted to prolong our journey and savour it a little longer. We set off early before...
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60km through the Drina Canyon – marathon 11 ‘extra’ with the Green Bears in Bosnia
By Carlos De Sousa After we finished our marathon through the Iron Gates in Serbia, ready for our next challenge we made our way towards Bosnia stopping en route to visit an outdoor sports and environmental company called Green Bear. Located in the Tara National Park,...
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Through the Iron Gates, in the wrong direction! Marathon 10 on the Danube, Serbia
By Carlos De Sousa The Balkans has been home for half of our expedition; it is an incredible place to visit with amazing nature - wild animals, mountains, valleys, canyons and rivers straddling borders. Without a doubt, the Balkans makes a wonderful holiday...
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A New Personal Record – 6 hours 35 – Marathon 9 on the Danube in Bulgaria
We owe an enormous amount of gratitude to everyone who has helped us on our marathon expedition so far. We have been overwhelmed by the kindness and generosity shown to us and we feel privileged to have met so many people whom we now call friends. When we were...
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UNESCO World Heritage Site Lake Ohrid for our 8th Marathon in Macedonia
In memory of Mathieu Pauly – adventure spirit by Carlos De Sousa We left Greece after our 7th marathon in Skiathos with a sad feeling - our time there was too good, the pearl of all marathons so far but it was too short! The evening after the marathon Carolyn pulled...
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First to SUP around the Stunning Island of Skiathos, Greece on Marathon 7
When we came up with the idea to paddle marathons on our plastic bottle SUP back in March, the first person to contact us after we released our video was Thodoris Tzoumas from Skiathos, Greece. We had met 7 years ago at a very good friend's wedding (on my first visit...
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Croatia Marathon 6 – From the River through the Sea to Baćina Lakes
By Carlos De Sousa We arrived in Croatia to paddle our 6th marathon on the River Neretva. Our first plan and ideal was to start in Bosnia, 10km from the border with Croatia and finish in the Baćina lakes. That would have been precisely 42km but unfortunately after we...
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sLOVEnia we love you but damn the dams! Marathon 5 on the Drava
by Carlos De Sousa We left our campsite in Noli on a scorching hot day and headed to Slovenia. On our way we noticed the change in the nature - a beautiful place surrounded by green forest and much cooler temperatures, much to our relief! Our last marathon in Noli was...
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Marathon no.4 in Noli at the Green Surf Festival with Protect Blue
Algarve to Noli - 25 hour Odyssey Portugal lies on the western edge of Europe so the inevitable drive back across Spain, France and up into Italy was now upon us. After a couple of days rest, Carlos and I set out on our 'Odyssey' in over 40 degrees heat with the...
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Surfing the waves – our 3rd marathon in the Algarve.
River to the Sea Having completed one marathon on a river (with significant current helping us) and another on a reservoir (with winds severely hindering us) we thought it was time to try out the sea! However, with the pains of Madrid still fresh in our minds, we...
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We made it! 2nd SUP marathon madness in Madrid
with SUP CLUB MADRID When we arranged to do our second marathon in Madrid, I had no idea that our journey would take us to such a beautiful spot and that we would meet such wonderful people! We chose to partner with SUP Club Madrid because they regularly organise...
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First ever marathon on a SUP made of PLASTIC BOTTLES
On World Ocean’s Day (8th June 2017) Carlos and I became the first people to complete a marathon on a SUP made out of plastic bottles in the absolutely stunning setting of the Dordogne River in France. See the highlights of our day on our photo gallery here. The Route...
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A new partnership with ITIWIT by Decathlon
We are delighted to announce our new partnership with ITIWIT by Decathlon. We shall be using one of their new 12'6 Explorace SUP boards to accompany the Plastic Bottle SUP on its marathon. Having completed the 5km fun race at L'eau Vive on the Plastic Bottle SUP...
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Plastic Bottle SUP and Pollution in Guarapiranga
Inspiring others to try a new sport After seeing our first plastic bottle SUP, a friend from São Paulo asked us if we could help him build a board. We were delighted, this was exactly the response we had hoped to get! We want to encourage everyone to re-connect to...
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The Plastic Monster, aka Wim Pyl competes at L’eau Vive
Just to illustrate the huge issue of plastic pollution in our waterways, The Plastic Monster, (aka Wim Pyl) from Belgium competes in the 5km 'fun' race at the L'eau Vive event. Stand Up Against Plastic Organised by Le Grand Huit in Joinvile Le Pont, Paris on 13th/14th...
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L’eau Vive – Joinville Le Pont, Paris
L'eau Vive was a great event organsied by Le Grand Huit, in Joinville Le Pont, Paris on the 13th and 14th May 2017 where we built our Plastic Bottle sup. Carlos and I went along as part of a team of volunteers from, charity, Watertrek. Carlos and I arrived in France...
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Inspiration for our Plastic Bottle SUP – Jairo Lumertz
Jairo Lumertz is a Brazilian surfer who built his first surfboard out of plastic bottles in Hawaii in 2007. Many professional surfers have used and approved of his bottle surfboards; indeed every year they host a surf competition on the plastic bottle boards in...
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