At 19, the adventurer gave himself the challenge of swimming in the Seine, from its source to its mouth, or 775 kilometers. He arrived in Paris this Saturday, the first big step in his journey, before arriving in Le Havre on July 28.
Since his departure from the source of the Seine in Côte-d’Or on June 6, Arthur Germain, son of Anne Hidalgo, has crossed the 400 km bar by swimming.
The young 19-year-old adventurer, who gave himself the challenge of swimming up the river in automonia to raise awareness of the environmental cause, arrived in Paris this Saturday, the first big step in his journey. He must complete it on July 28 in Le Havre.
“There are no words, it’s incredible. I have tears in my eyes, it’s great. There is nothing better than that”, he reacted in front of the journalists to his arrival in Paris.
To swim to the capital, the young man had to swim about fifteen kilometers a day. The one who had to fight with the administration to obtain the authorizations of the municipalities bordering the Seine, where swimming is prohibited, wants to raise awareness of the pollution of rivers.
“The Seine does not deserve the image we give it”
To do this, during his journey, he notably takes water samples from the Seine. For the moment, he has made more than 1,200.
“I am pleasantly surprised, that is to say that the results are not great, there is pollution in the Seine but it does not deserve the image we give it”, he had explained to the microphone of BFMTV, a few hours before arriving in the capital.
According to him, “we are close to having swimming areas in Paris, it is something that should galvanize us”.
“There is still a little effort to do but it’s not much and all that will bring us afterwards, it’s great. Might as well make this little effort, stop polluting the Seine,” he pleaded.
The adventurer still has to travel more than 300 kilometers to reach the mouth of the river, in Le Havre.
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