FOUR friends are preparing for the adventure of a lifetime: paddling nearly 1,900 miles along China’s Yangtze River.

The group will spend about three months in two five-metre long kayaks navigating the world’s third longest river, beginning in Yibin, in south-east Sichuan, and finishing in Shanghai, where the Yangtze meets the East China Sea.

They will paddle for up to ten hours and 28 miles a day and sleep in tents, relying on the goodwill of local farmers to let them camp in their fields.

The four will leave the UK on September 22, start paddling on September 25 and hope to be back home just before Christmas.

Jamie Hewitt and William Dixon-Hempsock, both recent Durham University graduates, will be joined by Mr Hewitt’s brother Alec and Jess Toombs, who will film the expedition in the hope it will be turned into a television documentary.

They aim to raise £5,000 to be split between Dyslexia Action, as Mr Hewitt has dyslexia, the RAF Benevolent Fund, as Mr Dixon-Hempsock’s father died in the RAF, and the Teenager Cancer Trust, as a relative is suffering from leukaemia.

Mr Hewitt, formerly head coach at Durham University’s Trevelyan College boat club, said: “I’m very excited. I can’t wait.

“All the preparations are pretty much in place. We’ve got the sponsors and the kit. We’ve got the route all planned out, so we know what we’re doing.

“The physical challenge will be immense. And there are a lot of unknowns, it’s impossible to know every detail. We’re expecting surprises along the way.”

The Yangtze River, which means Long River, takes in some of China’s most spectacular scenery but is said to be relatively calm following extensive damning in recent years. The weather is expected to be mild, turning colder as the expedition goes on.

Mr Hewitt came up with the idea more than two years ago, after hearing about a trans-Atlantic rowing challenge.

“I didn’t like that you wouldn’t see anybody for so long. I thought it would be great to go down a spectacular river,” he said.

“Gradually, I started to think I could do it.”

As training, the adventurers have cycled 900 miles from London to Pisa and kayaked round Scotland.

For more information, visit yangtzeadventure.com. To sponsor the team, visit uk.virginmoneygiving.com/team/yangtzeadventure