Paw-some Helen will cycle from Cairo to Cape Town to raise cash for Guide Dogs
dailyrecord.co.ukWhile many of us mark our milestone birthdays with a party or dream holiday, one West Lothian woman is celebrating her big day by cycling 10,000km to raise money for a charity that’s close to her heart.Helen Smith will pedal from Cairo to Cape Town next year to raise money for Guide Dogs Scotland.Helen, from Livingston, turns 50 next year and she’s taking on the gruelling challenge as part of a wider trip.She’s taking a year’s sabbatical from her job at Leonardo in Edinburgh to take part in the once-in-a-lifetime journey.A dog lover herself, she knows how important the charity is to people with sight loss and the hard work that goes into training the animals.Helen said she’s looking forward to the trip in January, but the biggest challenge will be the 40 degree heat she’ll have to endure.She told the Courier: “Cairo to Cape Town is the biggest cycle of the trip – I’m cycling an entire continent.“But I have always wanted to go to Egypt and see the Pyramids and I’ll be going on safari in Tanzania and seeing the animals and Victoria Falls and Botswana, so there are a lot of things on my bucket list I can tick off while I’m doing it.“Going by bike also means that you get to see things on ground level.
It’s a lot different.“As you’re cycling you’re going fast enough to do the miles but slow enough to actually take everything in.“So it’s also about challenging myself and doing something different and unique and getting to the end and saying ‘wow, I managed to cycle that whole way.’” Helen said that she decided to help Guide Dogs because she’s fully aware of what it means to the people the charity helps.
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