Exmouth woman serenaded by Ed Sheeran

A woman from Exmouth had a chance encounter with global popstar Ed Sheeran after a canal run took her past his boat.

In the video posted on Sheeran's Instagram, the singer-songwriter, while cruising down a London canal, asks the jogging Nikki if she has any song requests.

The stunned Nikki answered his 2014 hit, Tenerife Sea, and pulled out her mobile phone to record her personal acoustic serenade.

The video, posted three days ago, now has over 2.3 million views and nearly 20,000 comments. 

Sheeran’s caption reads: “Was filming a video on the canal today, played a request. If anyone knows the runner, lemme know so we can have their POV video for the lols."

The top pinned comment, with 149,000 likes, is from Nikki herself, who said: “THIS IS ME!!”

During an interview with BBC Breakfast, Nikki watched back the video of her interaction with Sheeran with a big smile on her face.

“It was so random and obviously not what you’d expect,” she said.

“I was just going for a run, and I actually haven’t been for a run in a few months, so it’s amazing that that happened on my first run back in a while. 

“I just heard some music and saw a ginger man sitting in the front of a boat. In my head I thought, 'Oh, that looks a bit like Ed Sheeran’, and then I ran down and onto the canal path just as he was passing and realised, ‘Oh, that is Ed Sheeran!’

“I sort of blacked out a little bit, but it was surreal.”

The River Exe Cafe, just off the ski lane on the River Exe also reposted the viral video. 

It said: “Canal runs don’t get better than this! Our very own Nikki snapped up and serenaded by none other than Ed Sheeran.”

Nikki works part-time at the cafe while she completes her Postgraduate Certificate in Secondary Education (PGSE) in mathematics in London, in preparation for becoming a teacher.