I had the mad idea of running 100 kilometres between the vineyards of the North and South Downs during English Wine Week (20-28 June) and made the mistake of telling too many people to back down at the eleventh hour.

I'll be running 8 to 23 kilometres a day over some ominously hilly terrain, visiting vineyards and wineries well-known, lesser-known or totally unknown. It started as an idea just for me to get to know the countryside around me better and to discover where our domestic wines are being made - because while there's nearly a couple of hundred wineries in the UK there are nearly 700 HUNDRED vineyards growing grapes for them.

So I thought, where are they all? This isn't Bordeaux or Stellenbosch or Marlborough, where vineyards can carpet the landscape as far as the eye can see. Our vineyards are mostly tucked away. This is in part my quest to explore them, and I'm grateful for Stephen Skelton MW's brilliant vineyards map at EnglishWine.com, which has unearthed many unknown sites.

In doing this, I hope to raise awareness of our hidden winelands, much of which is easily accessible by footpath, and get people out walking, running, cycling and generally exploring the terroir of English wine itself.

I am also hoping to raise a small amount of funds for The Drinks Trust (formerly The Benevolent), who are carrying out such valuable work for drinks industry professionals at this challenging, traumatising time for the wider hospitality sector.

Even if you think I'm completely nuts to be doing this (or perhaps especially because you think I'm completely nuts), The Drinks Trust really needs our support and every little genuinely does help.

Please join in!

I would also love to see people joining in and taking on the 100km challenge themselves! I'll be exploring the North and South Downs within reach of where I live in Farnham but go to the vineyards map at EnglishWine.com and see what is around you too. We have vineyards all over the country.

The only rules are you complete 100km during English Wine Week and each run includes at least one vineyard!

Thank you so much for reading,

Nik Darlington