An intrepid trio of East Midlands journalists will be putting home comforts aside for 48-hours when they embark on a footballing odyssey.

Senior reporter John Baker and trainees Adam Uren and Andrew Brookes will leave the Spalding Guardian’s office after work on Friday 10 July and travel the length and breadth of England and Wales to visit 44 football stadiums in two days.

The journey is expected to cover 1,600 miles and will take in every ground of the teams making up the Premier League and Championship divisions.

Among the destinations on the map are Newcastle United in the far north right down to Swansea in South Wales and Plymouth Argyle on the south coast.

Dubbed ‘Fans in a Van’, the trio are raising money for the Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire Air Ambulance as well as the charities of the respective clubs they support: Coventry City, Liverpool and Nottingham Forest.

Regular updates from life on the motorway will be posted on the Spalding Guardian’s website, its sister title the Lincolnshire Free Press and the recently-created Facebook group and Twitter feed.

(L to R) John, Adam and Andrew prepare for their football voyage

Adam said: “We are really grateful that we are able to use the newspaper as a platform to fundraise and we hope to make a lot of money for the charities.

“Obviously there will be elements of the voyage none of us will enjoy, such as the tiredness and repetitive motorways, but we are looking forward to it.”

John added: “I have heard of other fans attempting something similar before but never anything quite like this.

“We were all delighted, particularly Andrew, that Forest scraped through in the end, particularly as it meant Norwich went down and knocked about three hours off the journey.

“The route is not finalised yet as the League One play-offs have not been completed and if Milton Keynes Dons or Leeds are promoted it will affect the times badly.”

The triumvirate hope to raise around £1,500 and are e-mailing all the football clubs involved to ask for donations and memorabilia, which will be auctioned off for the charities.