Children in Need 2009

Two brothers from Sunderland are hoping to raise hundreds of pounds for Children in Need by embarking on an epic bus journey.

Chris and Karl King plan to visit ten cities around England in five days using only public transport.

The challenge will require them to hop on 47 buses and two tube trains and will take them all over the country.

In 2008, Chris and Karl raised £1,276 for the charity in a similar task which took them 937 miles to London and back.

The 2009 challenge will begin when Chris and Karl leave Sunderland at 7.20am on Sunday 15 November and end - all being well - at 9.30pm on Thursday 19 November when they are due to arrive home.

Over the five days they will visit Leeds, Sheffield, Nottingham, Leicester, Coventry, London, Bristol, Birmingham, Liverpool and Manchester.

Chris and Karl raised more than £1,000 for Children in Need in 2008

All along the way they'll be raising money for Children in Need.

In return for the bus companies subsiding their travel expenses, Chris and Karl will be wearing custom-made t-shirts with logos and website addresses.

Good laugh

You may think that travelling on public transport is a little dull at the best of times, but Chris said they had a great time last year: "It was good fun. Personally, when I get on the bus to go to town centre, it's boring as it's the same things you see every time.

"Some of the journeys were an hour-and-a-half to two hours long but it was different scenery and we had a good laugh.

The journey will start and finish in Sunderland

"A lot of the people on the bus approached us and asked what we were doing, so the journey itself doesn't become long and boring".

Missing a bus

Chris has planned the journey down to the minute and you can see the schedule on their website . Surely with that much planning, nothing could go wrong, or could it?

"[Last year] we missed the first bus," Chris explained. "We got off the Metro at the Monument [in Newacstle] and the bus was down to leave from Eldon Square but it turned out the one we wanted was the only one that day that didn't leave from Eldon Square and it left from Northumberland Street.

"By the time we ran back round to Northumberland Street the bus was pulling away. So we legged it down the stairs back on the Metro and caught the bus at Gateshead.

"The bus before the last bus of that day actually broke down, the clutch cable snapped. We had an hour-and-a-half from getting off that bus to get on the next one.

"It was the first time we'd ever been to London," says Chris

"The driver knew we were on a tight schedule and he pushed the bus as far as it would go and chugging along the road at 20mph and took us around the back roads to get us to the bus station."

They raised double their expected target for Children in Need, and Chris said one of the highlights of their journey was visiting the big smoke for the first time.

"When we arrived at Picadilly Circus and we were buzzing because we'd made it! It was the first time we'd ever been to London... it was unbelievable."

See pictures of their 937 mile journey from 2008 or if you want to get involved this year visit the Children in Need website for ideas and more information.