A pair of plucky paddlers from Bournemouth will attempt a charity canoe journey from Leeds to London – to raise cash for cystic fibrosis.

Rupert Holloway and Fred Gamper are planning to complete the 300 mile trip in just ten days – and it is believed that they will be the first people to undertake the voyage through canals.

It will include carrying their two-man canoe over 180 locks and paddling for seven hours a day.

The canoeists, both 27, were at Highcliffe School with cystic fibrosis sufferer Hannah Lynch, who died aged just 17.

Now they intend to raise money for the Cystic Fibrosis Trust and are being backed by many people through the Facebook group called Canoe Believe It?

Starting in Leeds, the adventurers will paddle through Nottingham and Leicester before finishing on the Thames in London.

They are taking a tent and basic supplies, plan to eat at pubs along the route and will take those opportunities to collect money – and they will have no support.

Rupert, a surveyor who lives in Southbourne, said: “We were keen to raise money for cystic fibrosis because we were at school with a sufferer who died from the disease.

“We decided to canoe from Leeds to London which is quite a challenge and hopefully will raise money and awareness about the disease.

Hannah’s family are supporting us and we are raising money through the Virgin Money Giving website.

“We have a Facebook group, which is getting lots of members, and we hope to raise cash on the route as well.

“We will be giving regular online updates and give a day-by-day account of the journey.

“As well as raising money we aim to raise awareness about cystic fibrosis.”

The paddlers are due to set off from Leeds on Wednesday August 17 and hope to arrive in London on August 27.

• Cystic fibrosis is one of the UK’s most common life-threatening inherited diseases, which affects more than 9,000 people in the UK.

More than two million people in the UK carry the gene that causes cystic fibrosis – around 1 in 25 of the population. If two carriers have a child, the baby has a 1 in 4 chance of having cystic fibrosis.

Cystic fibrosis affects the internal organs, especially the lungs and digestive system, by clogging them with thick sticky mucus and this makes it hard to breathe and digest food.

Each week, five babies are born with cystic fibrosis and two young lives are lost to the disease.

Only half of those living with cystic fibrosis are likely to live past their 30s.