I am rowing 1000 nautical miles (1150 miles) on a rowing machine, simulating the distance it took viking marauders to reach East Anglia from Denmark. My row will complement the Viking: Rediscover the Legend exhibition at Norwich Castle. My challenge: to reach my target distance during the run of the exhibition from 9 Feb-8 Sep 2019.

This equates to about 10km a day (with a few days off!). But why am I doing this?

The Norwich museums are full of incredible items. Like me, you may have fond memories of growing up around them - the mummified cat at Norwich Castle was always my favourite.

But these amazing items don't just appear out of nowhere.

The Norwich museums and their supporters work tirelessly to bring these objects to the people they serve, to tell stories and help us understand where we came from. They race against the clock to make sure that important objects stay in public hands, rather than to the auction house.

This is why I am raising money for the Friends of Norwich Museums, so that together we can save objects for generations to come. If you can, please donate and be a part of something that will continue to inspire, educate and entertain long past our lifetimes.

~~~~

A couple of things!

Historical accuracy check: 1000 nautical miles is a rough estimate of the distance it would have taken to journey from Aarhus to Norwich, hugging the coastline. This is based on the journey of Sweyn Forkbeard, who sacked Norwich in 1004 AD. As far as I am aware he didn't travel directly to Norwich - but 1000 nautical miles is a  nice round number!

If you would like to know more about the Friends of Norwich Museums, please visit their website here: www.friendsofthenorwichmuseums.co.uk