We’ve made it to Constanta- in tact. We need to say thank you to many people, without whom this project wouldn’t have got off the ground. Some who deserve special thanks are: Mike Whipp for donating such a solid Manx ocean rowing boat; all of our new friends at Ulm Rowing club (especially Jörg for his master canal logistics throughout, […]

Day 2 at sea: the pelicans dried up and were first replaced by (mostly nudist!) holidaying Romanians. Now we’re back in relative civilisation anchored in a bay just 15km from Constanta Port within earshot of beach parties. Last night on the boat!

We have continued to make good progress on from Bulgaria but have been delayed a little in Romania due to the high winds. Before entering the Black Sea, the Danube snakes north up through Bralia and Galatia (below) before heading east through the delta. When the river headed north, we faced the strongest winds we have had so far on […]

We got off to a good start yesterday, clearing four locks and 133km, well above our 100km a day target. Jockenstein lock was the last calling point in Germany before heading into Austria. The views as we are rowing are incredible. Lots of little picture perfect Austrian villages squeezed onto the mountainside. Today the target is to get to Vienna. […]

We are off! Yesterday we set off from Passau and made it to the Jockenstein lock. Straight out of a James Bond set, the last German lock came complete with henchmen in uniforms riding trollies. Today we crossed the border into Austria passing some amazing scenery.

Today we are finally leaving Ulm after unexpectedly staying here for a week. We didn’t expect to be stranded here due to the flooding but we could not have asked for a better place to be than Ulm. Everyone here has been so welcoming and generous. In the short time we have been here we have learnt about Ulm and […]

‘In Ulm, um Ulm, un Ulm herum’ is a tongue twister meaning ‘in Ulm, around Ulm, all around Ulm’ and that is pretty much what we have been up to. The Danube is still suffering from the worst flooding in 500 years of German records and the worst flooding ever in Hungary so we have been waiting for the water […]

English press release. See the German version here. Two Brits will tomorrow depart on a mission to row the entire length of the Danube for charity as the European river returns to normal levels after the worst flooding for 500 years. Jon Cowie, 31, from London and Mark Hughes, 32 from Edinburgh, are the first rowers ever to attempt the […]

German press release/ Pressemitteilung auf Deutsch Der Schotte Jon Cowie und der Waliser Mark Hughes wollen als erste Ruderer die gesamte Donau bewältigen. Im Gepäck: 10 Liter Sonnencreme, 150 Porridge-Riegel und eine Liste skurriler Herausforderungen. Ein deutsches Wort haben Jon Cowie, 31, und Mark Hughes, 31, schon gelernt: “Katastrophenalarm”. Eigentlich sollten die beiden Hobby-Ruderer nämlich seit einer Woche in ihrem […]

The Danube is still too high to set off safely so we find ourselves enjoying another day in the fine city of Ulm. The locks are still closed because of the high water but we walked down the river to check the route anyway. We’ve taken advantage of the opportunity to see a bit of Ulm including climbing the minster […]