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Newcastle Fan's World Cup Charity Trek
Written by Newcastle Utd
Magpies supporter Adam Burns and three of his friends - plus a stray dog - are nearing the end of a 1,966km charity trek to the World Cup in Brazil
By Dan King - Newcastle United Digital Editor
Like Mathieu Debuchy, Cheick Tiote, Tim Krul and Moussa Sissoko, Adam Burns is heading to Brazil for this summer's World Cup.
But unlike the Newcastle United quartet who will be there playing for their countries, Magpies fan Adam will have trekked 1,966km with three of his friends and a stray labrador to raise money to help build a water well in a drought-hit area of South America.
On Sunday, the group will take their final steps on the journey which began in March and has taken them through rural Argentina, Buenos Aires, Uruguay and now the Brazilian border. Their destination is the Estadio Beira-Rio, which hosts its first World Cup match on 15th June.
Consett-born Adam, together with Dave Bewick, Pete Johnston and Ben Olsen, set a target of raising £20,000 for the J de V Arts Care Trust, a charity based in the north of England.
The money raised will be used to build a new water well in Bahia, north-east Brazil, which is suffering its worst drought in more than 50 years.
They have also been joined by a stray dog, who began following them in the small Uruguayan town of Solis and has now walked about 750km with the group. As a result, there is now a second goal - to find a new home for their canine companion, Jefferson Ramsey Moore.
Adam has been giving his old Newcastle shirts to youngsters he meets along the way and has been boosted by a video message from Alan Shearer among others.
With the end now in sight, he said: "To be honest I am full of mixed emotions; half of me wants it to be over as my legs are in bits and the other half never wants it to end as it has been such an adventure. It will be an emotional end when we take our final steps on to the pitch of the Estadio Beira-Rio on Sunday.
"None of us have ever done anything like this before, so we are pretty proud that we have managed to get ourselves 1,966km across South America. We've been charged by bulls in the desert, electrocuted in farmers fields and walked up busy Brazilian motorways in the pitch dark, so hasn't been without its scary moments."
To find out more about the Walk to the World Cup and to donate, go to http://www.justgiving.com/WalkToTheWorldCup-JdeV.