After weeks of worrying about whether "Fans in a Van" would actually just be "Fans" after a series of rejections from local van hire companies, we now have the machine that will get us around the country.

As such, the name of the Lincolnshire Free Press and Spalding Guardian will be emblazoned upon a Ford Transit as we pay visits to the stadiums of the 44 teams in the top two divisions of English football.

The enormity of the task actually dawned on myself and fellow trekker Andrew Brookes on Friday, when we had to travel to Sunderland to take some exams. That in itself was a 400 mile round-trip, and serious queues on the A1 meant it took us an extremely uncomfortable eight-and-a-half hours there and back.

Considering our full journey will be four times that length, it's likely that tempers will fray, particularly as we follow England's Ashes progress on the radio.

It's also occurred to us that it's very unlikely we will be able to get a proper wash, such is the tightness of our schedule. My experiences in Glastonbury has me accustomed to such trying circumstances, but I'm not sure how Andrew and the third participant in this jaunt, John Baker, will handle "baby wipe baths"!

For those of you who don't know, we are raising money for Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire Air Ambulance and the chosen charities of our favourite football clubs: The Parkinson's Disease Society (Liverpool - me), Balls to Poverty (Nottingham Forest - Andrew) and the NSPCC (Coventry - John).

John has also been in contact with the clubs we will be visiting on our journey and asked them to donate anything that we can auction off to boost our fundraising coffers.

So far, we have received four tickets to the museum and stadium tour from Liverpool, a signed team photo from Everton, a similar photo from Sheffield Wednesday and two tickets to any match next season from Sheffield United.

Ideally we would like more, so it may be a case that we go back to the clubs and ask again, but still every little helps as we progress slowly towards our fundraising targets.

We set ourselves an original aim of £1,600, but we now think this is a little ambitious and are looking to go for £1,000.

So far we have raised between £300 and £350, but we need as much help as we can get so please, if you can, help us out - it's all for a good cause!

Also, keep an eye out for our Facebook and Twitter pages over the weekend, as we will be trying our very best to update you on our progress as well as upload some pictures of us in various parts of the country.

To donate, you can either: Visit www.justgiving.com/fansinavan; send a cheque payable to "Fans in a Van" to the John Baker, Lincs Free Press, Priory House, The Crescent, Spalding, Lincs, PE11 1AB, or donate straight into our charity bank account, sort code 20-80-78, account number 03175383.