Has salt water ever tasted so good?
A German chemistry professor has swum the length of the Rhine, completing the 1,230-kilometre challenge from the Swiss Alps to the North Sea in a little under a month. Andreas Fath, who has dubbed himself the “mad professor” reached the North Sea at Hoek van Holland in the Netherlands at 11.30 am on Sunday. His swim began almost one month earlier on July 28th in Lake Toma, Switzerland.
“I’m relieved and very, very happy,” the 49-year-old from Baden-Württemberg said. "The last few miles I experienced the whole trip again in my head."
The father-of-three swam for 28 days close to the shore of the Rhine, through Lake Constance, Baden-Württemberg, Rhineland-Palatinate and North Rhine-Westphalia to the Netherlands.
"No day was like another," he said, although he was glad that everywhere people had cheered him and encouraged him. He remembered how an old woman had cooked for him once at a riverside cafe. "She told me how she had swum in the Rhine in her youth."
Fath, who is just the third person to complete the swim, said he took on the challenge to raise awareness of water pollution.
The team which accompanied him on land and in a kayak took water samples from the river as he went.
SEE ALSO: 'Mad professor' to swim length of Rhine
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Andreas Fath, who has dubbed himself the “mad professor” reached the North Sea at Hoek van Holland in the Netherlands at 11.30 am on Sunday. His swim began almost one month earlier on July 28th in Lake Toma, Switzerland.
“I’m relieved and very, very happy,” the 49-year-old from Baden-Württemberg said. "The last few miles I experienced the whole trip again in my head."
The father-of-three swam for 28 days close to the shore of the Rhine, through Lake Constance, Baden-Württemberg, Rhineland-Palatinate and North Rhine-Westphalia to the Netherlands.
"No day was like another," he said, although he was glad that everywhere people had cheered him and encouraged him. He remembered how an old woman had cooked for him once at a riverside cafe. "She told me how she had swum in the Rhine in her youth."
Fath, who is just the third person to complete the swim, said he took on the challenge to raise awareness of water pollution.
The team which accompanied him on land and in a kayak took water samples from the river as he went.
SEE ALSO: 'Mad professor' to swim length of Rhine
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