Dean is tuk-ing the high road

If you happen to see a pink and white tuk-tuk buzzing along Cork’s coastline this April Fools Day, it’s not a gag; it’s Manchester cancer champion Dean Lambert.

Starting on Sunday in Dublin, Dean is embarking on an epic clockwise tour of Ireland’s coastline, with an aim to arrive in Cork on 1 April.

The goal of his Tuk-Tuk Odyssey is to raise funds for Boot Out Breast Cancer, a charity that hits close to home.

While most might opt for something with a bit more horsepower for the Wild Atlantic Way and beyond, Dean is embracing the “quirky” nature of his new ride, which tops out at a modest 42 miles per hour.

“I’ve never ridden one before,” Dean admitted, having only picked up the three-wheeled vehicle a few days ago.

“It’s a bit like the old Vespas where you pull the clutch in on your left hand side and then you actually twist the handlebars to move from first to second to third to fourth.”

Being a musician, Dean is particularly excited about the Rebel County’s legendary trad scene.

“I play the accordion. I’m going to bring the accordion with me and hopefully find people who are making music,” he said.

Dean’s trip around the coast of Ireland is the second in a series of rides called the Seaside Shenanigans Tours. For his first journey, he completed the entire coast of the UK on a Honda CT125 which took him 27 days. As with his previous trip, his plan for Ireland is to stay at camping sites along the way and meet as many of the locals as possible.

For Dean, the miles are secondary to the people he meets. He recalled a poignant moment from his UK trip involving a woman at a petrol station in Scotland who, after hearing about his mission, revealed she had stage four terminal cancer.

“I just broke down,” he said.

“It was awful to see somebody that had just come to terms with the fact that that was it.”

Charity

The main goal of Dean’s gruelling endeavour is to raise vital funds for UK based cancer charity Boot Out Breast Cancer which he discovered after his wife suffered a harrowing cancer scare.

“My wife, she had a lump in her bowel, and she had to have that out; they thought it was cancerous,” Dean shared.

“It turned out it wasn’t. But we went through a few months where we believed that she had cancer. It made her rethink a few things.”

He chose Boot Out Breast Cancer because of the charity’s transparency.

“Every penny goes towards either breast screening equipment or improving services in hospitals,” he said, noting that the charity has raised over £2 million in the last 16 years.

To support Dean, search ‘Tuk Tuk Tour: Coast of Ireland’ on Facebook where there is a link to Dean’s Seaside Shenanigans YouTube channel where you can watch the journey unfold. A QR code can also be found on the Facebook page directing to the Boot Out Breast Cancer JustGiving page where you can make a donation to the charity.