He asked a question we could not answer

Our son Samuel wanted to know why nobody films the dogs that wait the longest in a shelter. We had no answer. So we are going to find out.

On 15 November our family leaves Málaga by bicycle. 20,235 kilometres, 20 countries, 594 days on the road. At 56 animal shelters along the way, Samuel films the dog that has been waiting longest, tells you their name and their story, and links you straight to that shelter. Not one cent of that money passes through us.

He turns twelve four weeks before we go. He leaves behind his school, his own room, and his dog.

The first one is already filmed

Her name is Pandora. A Malinois, four years old, one front leg amputated. She has been in a shelter in Málaga for two years and nobody has come for her.

Samuel picked her out himself. Standing next to her he said: nobody wants her because she is missing a leg.

The shelter has confirmed she can be adopted from abroad. She is still waiting.

Why we are asking

Money for the dogs goes straight to the shelters. It always will.

But the road itself we cannot do alone. We have sold our house contents, our car and almost everything we own to pay for this. Katadyn came on board with our water filter and cooking gear, and Kryptonite with the locks.

What is missing is the ordinary part. Food, a safe place to sleep, and keeping three bicycles running for twenty thousand kilometres.

How the funds will be used

€23,000 for food and shelter for three people over 594 days. That is €42 a day for all three of us, camping most nights and cooking our own meals.

€1,500 for bicycle maintenance. Chains, tyres, cassettes and bearings wear out at 20,235 kilometres, and a bike that stops means the journey stops.

€500 for visas, from Morocco through to Indonesia.

No foundation. No salaries. No middlemen.

What ten euros does out there

In Morocco it feeds the three of us for a day. In Cambodia it is a bed for the night. In America it is a third of a motel room.

And if we raise more

Anything above this goes back out, to the dogs and the people we meet on the road. That is the whole reason we are doing this in the first place.

This is not a sudden idea

Samuel walked ten days of the Camino de Santiago when he was six, on his own legs. This is the next thing.

Follow along at samuelcyclestheworld.com