1st to cross river without aid in 1000 years - all for charity
Published: August 23, 2005
The rescue crew called him the Mudman; but some might be tempted to replace the u with an a now that Graham Boanas has becomes the first person in 1,000 years to cross the clinging mud and fast-moving waters of the Humber without the help of bridge, boat or aircraft.
Few other people could have attempted the one-mile crossing on foot: Mr Boanas is 6ft 9in (2.06m) and the river, even at one of the lowest tides of the year, was almost 6ft (1.8m) deep. He managed this stretch with his arms in the air, as though praying for divine protection as the Humber lapped his chin.
Mr Boanas, the director of an electrical contracting company in Hull, made the crossing from north to south as part of his campaign to raise up to £30,000 for the charity DebRA UK, which works for people with the genetic skin condition epidermolysis bullosa (EB).
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Fortean TimesHe lost three stone, trained with weights around his ankles and had a couple of dress rehearsals before he took to the river. After being dropped off by helicopter near Weighton Lock, he semi-swam in his survival suit across mudbanks before struggling towards Whitton Sands, a small island that found fame three years ago when a herd of cows settled there after making a break for freedom from the mainland.
Then Mr Boanas waded through the swift-flowing Whitton channel, where at higher tides he might have expected to come nose-to-hull with large container ships and where the current was taking him towards the Netherlands at 4mph. He eventually stumbled ashore coated in mud near the village of Whitton, in north Lincolnshire.
He was greeted by hundreds of wellwishers and his wife, Jan, and said he was exhausted but elated.
“It is the most tiring thing I have done but it was worth it,” he said. “The final walk up the sand was very difficult, but all these people were waiting for me. It was fantastic.
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Unsolved Mysteries:Legends“I was covered in mud and wearing a survival suit but it didn’t stop people running up and congratulating me and even giving me money. We then went up to the Humber bridge where there were loads more people.”
He said he had spent months with former Humber pilots and other experts planning the exact timings for the crossing and found there were only a few minutes when the current would allow him to cross the main channel.
“It was incredible how drained I was as I walked across that last bit of sand,” he said. “I was just thinking about my family and about the children for whom I was raising money.”
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