Natalie and Michael at the end of their UK circumnavigation

A husband and wife have raised nearly £4,000 for two Tower Hamlets charities after circumnavigating the UK in kayaks.

Natalie and Michael at the end of their UK circumnavigation

Natalie Maderova and Michal Madera returned to Shadwell Basin last week after paddling 2,200 miles clockwise around Britain.

Their four-month journey saw the couple, who live on the Isle of Dogs, head for Cornwall, then Wales and Scotland, before coming down England’s east coast.

Most night they slept in a tent on the beach. They had 16 showers along the way while 14 bottles of whisky and hundreds of cups of tea helped keep them warm. They also cooked food cooked over a camp fire.

Natalie said: “The first week was as expected, hard. Then we slowly established a routine. A real break through came once we finished Lyme Bay (between Devon and Dorset).

Natalie and Michael are welcomed home

“By that time we had experienced good and bad weather, tiredness, pain, broken equipment, not making progress and finally making progress.”

She said they then sat themselves shorter goals such as making it to Land’s End and began enjoying themselves, the landscape and meeting people.

The money raised will be split between Shadwell Outdoor Activity Centre and treatment for a boy in Bow with brain damage.