The BBC paints a distinct portrait of the people working on a viking ship reconstruction adventure:

Every member of the crew has less than one sq metre in which to live, sleep and eat.

“It’s hard to get proper rest, sleeping conditions are hard – you don’t get the rest that you need,” says Erik, one of the older members of the crew.

“Often you don’t get as much food as you need and this is cumulative, so as days go on, it gets worse and worse.”

Privacy is also impossible in such close quarters. The ship has no shelter from the weather, no cleaning facilities and no lavatories.

They will be living virtually on top of each other for six weeks and this will test their friendships to the limit.

All of the crew are volunteers and despite the difficulties involved, most are relishing the prospect.

Some might even say the conditions are no worse than a modern office building anyway.