British duo paddles the entire Mississippi River in kayaks

MARKSVILLE – Kayaking the entire Mississippi River from its beginning in Minnesota to its end in the Gulf of Mexico is not an easy task. But two British citizens recently completed the journey as part of the Mississippi Challenge 2014.

Ken Robertshaw, a member of the Rotary Club of Halifax in West Yorkshire, England, and Grace Alsancak, a 22-year-old Leeds Metropolitian University student working on a master's degree in sports coaching, kayaked the mighty Mississippi to raise funds for Theodora Children's Trust.

"It's a charity in the United Kingdom who place specially trained entertainers into children's hospitals and hospices," Robertshaw told the Rotary Club of Avoyelles Parish. Hospitals, he noted, are fairly miserable places for adults but especially for a child who is frightened and doesn't know what is going on.

It took the pair 58 days to kayak 2,350 miles of the Mississippi River. The actual length of the river is as varied as the people who write about it, he said.

"But there are three lengths that stick out: 2,311; 2,350 and 2,500," he said. "Two thousand five hundred is measured from the far side of Lake Itasca (Minnesota) right down to where landfall actually finishes. So it has gone straight through the Delta. Two thousand, three hundred eleven measures from where it becomes navigable by totally flowing in the Gulf to mile marker 0. Two thousand three hundred fifty is from the official headwaters where a sign that says, 'You are now walking across the Mississippi River' through to mile marker 0."

"If I ask you to close your eyes now and think of the Mississippi River, what would you think of?" Robertshaw asked. He then showed a photo of a paddleboat on the wide expanse of the Mississippi River in the South. "It's about a mile wide and it's got paddleboats on it."

That's correct, he noted. "But not quite."

"I just traveled from the headwaters in Lake Itasca all the way down to the Gulf of Mexico," he said.

"Up in the headwaters it is, it is about so deep and about so wide," he said gesturing with his hands and arms as he showed a photo of how small the Mississippi River is at its beginning in Minnesota.

"You walk the first two miles of it and drag your kayak along behind you," he said. "Because it's just not big enough to support the weight of your boat and everything."

Minnesota, Robertshaw noted, has 800 miles of Mississippi River traveling through it, more than any other state. For every mile it goes in a straight line, it zig-zags three miles.

Once they came to areas where the Mississippi River was wide, he said they had to keep reminding themselves that they were on a river.

"There are lakes in England that are smaller than that," he said.

It wasn't until they were passing through one of the locks that was 1,200 feet long, 110 feet wide and they were being dropped 40 feet that he realized just how expansive the river really is. It took 5.28 million cubic feet of water to drop two kayaks. The worker manning the lock told them that 50 times that amount go over the weir every minute.

"It is at that point that you realize that the Mississippi River has a lot of water in it. It has got the largest collection of water of any river anywhere in the world," he said.

While they were on the river they would camp where they could whether it was a sandbar, on a lock side or someone's garden.

"We spent 58 days on the river," he said.

Of those 58 days, they had a total of three days off and two days of half days and rest periods. They also spent 13 nights in people's houses and hotels.

"So I slept in 12 beds and one sofa," he said, adding the sofa was the most comfortable one on which he ever slept.

Robertshaw said the physical side of the journey was hard as was the organization of the challenge. But, the hardest part of the undertaking was the isolation.

"It was the sheer feeling of the fact that we were the only two people on the planet," he said.

"We went a period of six days and never saw anybody but each other." They were with each other 24 hours a day. The only time they were apart was when they slept in separate tents.

"But even they we were talking through the walls."

Even though he and Alcansak were alone most of the time, they met people on their journey who were generous to help a couple of British strangers.

He mentioned two young mothers who drove them to a shop where they could get supplies. They met a fisherman who not only took them to the store to stock up on supplies but paid their camp site fees. Barge captains along the river looked out for them.

"Not once were we refused help by anybody," he said.

Along the way, he said he managed to lose two hats, one which wasn't his; one camera, not his either; one multi-tool; a pair of spectacles and 30 pounds in weight.

"I actually put three pounds back on between Lake Providence and New Orleans," he said. "Which is testament to your "Welcome to Louisiana! Forget your diet!"

They arrived at mile marker 0 in the Gulf of Mexico on Oct. 4. They were greeted by several people including Rotarains from the Rotary Club of Avoyelles.

"We survived it. We did it," he said.

To physically prepare for the trip, Robertshaw said he went to the gym three times a week to work on his upper body strength. Both he and Alsancak never kayaked before so they borrowed kayaks and a friend gave them lessons.

Two kayaks were specially made by Journey Kayaks for this adventure. The kayaks carried all their gear including tents, clothing, electronics and even a British flag. They also had to carry four days worth of food per person and two gallons of water each.

The kayaks are being housed in Moreauville and for sale. Each kayak cost about $3,000 to make but are being sold for about $1,750 each or best offer. The money will go to the Theodora Children's Trust.

Robertshaw and Alsancak have undertaken challenges before for various charitable events. Robertshaw's last challenge involved dog-sledding across the Arctic regions of Northern Europe to raise funds for Theodora Children's Trust. Alsancak climb Mount Kilimanjaro in 2011.

The two were at an event where they talked about who had the hardest adventure. He suggested they settle their argument by kayaking the Mississippi River and so that's how the challenge begin.

Why would anyone undertake a challenge like kayaking the Mississippi River?

"There is a reason to all this," he said. "Why do it? Why not? Because we can. Because it's there. Because we have a sense of adventure. Because."

"I would rather die on my feet than live on my knees,"he added.

But the simple answer is, "We did it because we can help children who are in the hospital."