A Bradford man will try to canoe the length of the River Aire... and drink its water along the way to keep him going.

Robin Naylor is raising money for the Aquabox Trust, a charity that sends aquaboxes to disaster zones to ensure people have clean water to drink.

The 61-year-old, of Thornton, will be tackling about 20 miles a day over five days in September and is raising money to pay for as many aquaboxes as possible He will start at Malham Tarn, near Skipton, and travel to the Humber Bridge in east Yorkshire.

Mr Naylor, who has been canoeing for about 40 years said: “The aquabox is basically a big plastic box that families can fill with dirty water and it comes out clean. They are sent all over the world.

“It is an excellent charity and the challenge fits in with my whole lifetime of using water for a leisure point of view.”

He added: “In terms of it being the River Aire, I do regard myself as a rather passionate Yorkshireman, and it really is a slice of Yorkshire.

“For me the River Aire has always been a bit of an attraction. I read it was the only river in England that is canoeable from source to sea.

“The Humber estuary will be the real challenge – if there’s a wind blowing from the east it could become a challenge.”

Mr Naylor said the nature of the Humber means he will have to do 25 miles in six hours.

He will have to do some running and walking to conquer some sections of the challenge, and will use an inflatable canoe for the first section.

“Up to the first 12 miles I will be doing a lot of portaging, which is carrying my canoe on my back,” he said.

Aquabox is an official project of Rotary International and a spokesman said: “One aquabox contains an AquaFilter capable of generating up to 500,000 litres of drinking water from local contaminated water sources. This is enough basic drinking water for 600 people for well over eighteen months.”

To support the challenge, visit facebook.com/RotaryRiverAireChallenge, or contact Arthur Smith on 07709 651752 or arthursmith5@btinternet.com