For a random walk in 3d with average step size a, what is the probability that a path of length L encloses a tube of radius R?

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These sort of questions pop up regularly in the research of a colleague at work. He studies long polymer chains of length $L$ and carbon-carbon length $a$ that are in a liquid.

What is the probability that such a polymer will go round a tube of radius $R$? It is assumed that $a << R < L$.

The problem is not well posed, most probably. What else is necessary to answer? (One could look for a path that is almost closed, within a distance $h$.)