THERE was an emotional welcome home party on Monday for a couple from the Bere Peninsula, who paddled up the Tamar on the final leg of an incredible 3,000-mile kayak journey around the coasts of Great Britain and Ireland.

Andy and Jane Morton arrived at Bere Ferrers at around 7.30pm, to be greeted by a mini flotilla of well-wishers, plus hundreds more gathered on the quayside.

The couple left Weir Quay on April 6 in their kayak, Persey, short for Perseverence, with the intention of spending up to six months on the long trip, camping overnight and carrying all their provisions and possessions on board.

They have raised more than £5,000 for the RNLI and the Merlin MS Centre in Cornwall through sponsorship of their efforts.

Jane said: 'We just feel like we are on cloud nine — we had an amazing welcome home, it was just incredible, quite overwhelming.'

The couple's journey was one that very few kayakers have taken on, involving exposed stretches of coastline, the full force of the Atlantic and a 49-mile crossing from Wales to Ireland.

Jane said: 'The first two months were hard, we had almost constant headwinds and it was very cold; certainly the first month the temperatures were dropping below ten degrees at night so it was cold for camping. It was a bit of a challenge but once summer actually started, it really made up for it.'

Jane was also suffering with shoulder problems during the first part of the trip — it began to hamper her paddling to the point where the couple wondered if she would be able to keep going.

The crossing between Wales and Ireland was possibly the hardest part of the trip, paddling the 49 miles in 13 and a half hours.

'For me it was so exhilarating just to get to Ireland, it was an amazing achievement. We had about a force three headwind in the middle section, when you can't see land, and that really started to drain us. Luckily it was a good day.'

Jane said she was amazed at the generosity of complete strangers during their trip.

'We actually camped less than we thought we would, people were so supportive. We were raising money for the RNLI so occasionally we slept on the floors of lifeboat stations, but people we'd never met just took us in.

'They were really interested in the trip and just wanted to be part of it and share it with us, and offered us a bed for the night.

'It's really restored my faith in people, so many have been superb.'

Jane and Andy have seen some wonderful sights during their journey — being so small and manoeuvrable, a kayak can be navigated into places other crafts cannot reach.

'We could get right in under the cliffs, going through archways and caves. And it was the bird nesting season so some of these cliffs were just like a huge bird nursery, they were using every available space — the noise and the smell was quite overwhelming!

'One day at the top of Scotland, we saw literally thousands of puffins and we also passed Bass Rock, which is the largest gannet colony in Europe, which was just incredible.'

The couple's journey and progress was updated on their website, ww.k2gb.org.uk by Andy's father — thanks to the wonders of modern technology and smartphones, pictures could be uploaded every day and they were able to keep in contact with ease.

'Andy's dad has been tremendously committed to keeping the website going, he's been tremendous and it's really helped as far as donations were concerned.'

Jane said possibly the couple's biggest challenge would be getting back to reality.

'It's been our dream to do it, and we are just going to take it one day at a time at the moment — and we need to start earning some money now!' said Jane, who had to give up her job to follow that dream.

She said the couple wanted to thank everyone who had supported them so generously throughout the last five months.

'We are so grateful, it's really kept us going and kept us positive about the whole trip.'