Hi Tim and thanks for the comments.

We have approached Long Way Round Ltd for their endorsement and are still awaiting their approval. Charley Boorman himself is aware of the trip so we're hoping for a positive response.

We're not in anyway attempting to pass ourselves off as Mr McGregor or Mr Boorman - what we are simply trying to do is raise as much money as possible for Cancer Research.

I have been riding for quite a few years on and off but both my girlfriend and I only passed our test via DAS in August 2007 and had already decided that this was a trip we wanted to do so we also decided to put the 2 together and raise money for a worthy cause.

If I had £5000 spare to give I would GLADLY donate it to Cancer Research - but I haven't so we're doing what we can to help.

The opportunity for big (and small) companies to get onboard is a chance for them to show themselves in a good light - all to often you hear of companies making tens of millions of pounds profit, sometimes billions, but very little is spoken of any charity work that they do.

Point taken about Premier Travel Inn's but I also think that it's important to show that some companies don't REALLY want to know you unless you are high profile.

There's an old story that goes something like this:

Traveller "Excuse me, do you have a room for the night?"

Innkeeper "No, we don't and besides you are wet and dirty - we don't want your kind here"

Traveller "OK, but if Prince Charles turned up in a similar state you'd find him a room wouldn't you ?"

Innkeeper "Well, of course we would - he's our future King"

Traveller "Well, he's not coming so can I please have HIS room"