A French highline walker has crossed the River Seine in Paris at a height of 70 metres, in a breathtaking feat watched by cheering crowds on the Eiffel Tower and along the banks. Attached by a strap to a safety lanyard, 27-year-old Nathan Paulin slowly progressed barefoot on a line stretched across the river between the Eiffel Tower and the Chaillot theatre. He stopped for a few breaks, sitting or lying on the rope. “It wasn’t easy walking 600 metres, concentrating, with everything around, the pressure … but it was still beautiful,” he said on Saturday after completing the crossing. He said obtaining the necessary authorisations had been difficult, as well as “the stress linked to the audience, the fact that there are a lot of people”. Paulin, who is the holder of several world records, performed the feat to celebrate France’s annual Heritage Day, when people are invited to visit buildings and monuments that are usually closed to the public. He said his motivation was “mainly to do something beautiful and to share it and also to bring a new perspective on heritage. It is to make heritage come alive.” Paulin had previously crossed the Seine on a tightrope on Heritage Day in 2017.