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A helping hand for Helping Paws.

A helping hand for Helping Paws.
So, here’s a thing…
A few months back my friend Phil Evans came up with the hare-brained idea that it might be good to do something, well, hare-brained, to raise some money for the Helping Paws neuter and vaccination project in Tangalle, Sri Lanka.
Phil, as you may or may not know, doesn’t do things by halves (he invented Yak Attack for starters).

During our extensive travels in Nepal and Sri Lanka we come across a huge number of street dogs, most of which are in very neglected states. Helping Paws Worldwide was founded on the basis of this to try and do something to help alleviate the suffering, and to educate the locals.

“So, what is this hare-brained scheme?” I hear you cry.
Well… hmm… 

Phil thought it would be a good idea to cycle pretty much the whole length of Sri Lanka. 
“That’s not such a big deal” I hear you cry once more.
That’s only part of the story…

He also thought that it would be a good idea to do it on “local” singlespeed bicycles.
If you’re not familiar with Asian singlespeed bicycles allow me to enlighten you.
Asian singlespeed bicycles are the go-to choice of transportation for anyone who can’t afford a motorcycle, which is most people.
They are made exclusively out of steel and are extremely heavy, have terribly inefficient rod brakes, and look like something the postman used to ride in the 1940’s.
There’s more…

To encourage people to donate Phil came up with another little edge.
He figured out that a reasonable budget for the whole thing would be around £500.
This includes travelling the 400kms from Colombo to Jaffna (our start point), buying said bicycle, then cycling 800kms to Tangalle on whatever was left in the pot for food and accommodation. He is allowing nine days to complete the ride.
He comes the little edge…
For every pound donated Phil knocked a pound off the budget, up to a maximum of £350. This means that we have to do the whole enchilada on a budget of £150 each (we are funding this out of our own pockets, not donations).
Think about that for a moment.
One bus ticket from Colombo to Jaffna (400kms).
The purchase of a local bicycle.
Food and accommodation for nine days/nights.
All on a budget of £150.

I have a feeling that we are going to be very hungry, fixing a lot of punctures, and sleeping in the bushes for most of the time.

Now, here comes the pitch.
Please donate to the cause using the link below.


Any amount no matter how small will be wonderful, if everyone who reads this donates one pound then we will be able to help enrich the lives of our furry friends. Just think what two pounds might do! 🙂 
Also if you are a British taxpayer please click the GiftAid option and the tax man will donate a further 25% on your behalf, if that’s not an incentive to give then I don’t know what is.

We will be undertaking this from the 19th-28th of May 2018.
The neuter and vaccination program will take place on 23rd/24th of June 2018.

Please, please, please give a little something.

Neil and Phil won’t look anything like this during the challenge.
I’m planning to try and document the whole thing on GoPro too, for your viewing pleasure.

You can follow Helping Paws here:


You can also follow Chase The Rainbow here:


Thank you for looking, see you soon.
Please don’t forget to Like, Share, and Comment, if you enjoyed it 🙂

Consume less, live more. Plant more trees.


About The Author

Neil Cottam

Neil is the founder of Chase The Rainbow. He has spent a lifetime exploring the outdoors, from a childhood climbing trees and scrambling his bike around old pit heads to hiking in the Himalaya and backpacking around Europe and Asia.

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