Musician Niall Breslin has set out on a challenging 300km voyage kayaking the River Shannon from Dowra to Limerick to raise funds for mental-health resources.

Breslin, or Bressie as he’s widely known, is part of a group with five other inexperienced kayakers taking part in The Rising charity challenge, as Newstalk reports.

“I haven’t thought it through in any shape,” Bressie told Newstalk’s The Hard Shoulder before heading to the start in Co Cavan,

“I don’t fit in a kayak as well which is a bad starting point - so, I’m kind of squeezing myself into it.”

Commenting on social media on Friday (30 June) after his first day on the paddle, from Dowra to Carrick-on-Shannon, Bressie said: “It was no what I expected. A real challenge.”

He added: “We had to talk the first 3km because of rocks and how shallow it was. Lough Allen hit us hard. Wasn’t in a great mood. We had to fight every second to get across. We are all exhausted and I also sprained [an] ankle but we are still rocking.

“Thank you so much to everyone who came out to support us today. Really helped get us through.”

Newstalk has more on the story HERE.