A MUSIC fan plans to get to the Glastonbury the hard way - by paddling the 220 miles to the site by kayak.

Simon Whitehouse estimates it will take him six days to make the epic journey from Great Holland to the festival itself, which runs from June 23-27.

The 29-year-old, who was setting off today, said: “It started off as a complete hare-brained scheme, it was mostly a joke really.”

It was only after a friend told him that his plan was impossible that he became determined to prove them wrong, he said.

Simon is an experienced sailor, and works as a yacht rigger. But he admits making a craft which was practical and safe for the journey has been a challenge.

It has taken a year to work out the plan and modify an ex-Olympic racing kayak, which he believes will meet the challenges of the trip.

He said: “I think I have thought of everything beforehand, and I am quite confident I will make it in one piece, but you don't know until you get there.”

He set off on the Holland Brook, which runs past the back gate of the garden of his home in Little Clacton Road, and will follow it to the open sea, along the coast to the bottom of the Thames, which he will travel up through the capital, and then take the non-tidal Thames up to the Kennet and Avon Canal.

His journey will end at Bradford-on-Avon, where he'll need to cycle another 20 miles to reach the festival site.