ecotopia biketour





















Route

In 2010, we will be starting in northern Yorkshire, England on 26 June, cycling via Wales, crossing the English channel at Poole or Portsmouth, then peddling through France, Belgium &  the Netherlands, to Cologne, Germany.

For the dates, places and planned activities see the developing Route on the Biketour Wiki. We are aiming to cycle about 50km on a travelling-day. Every few days we will have either an action-, workshop- or rest-day. In total it will be at least 1500km of bicycle-riding and 200km of boat-riding, over two months.


View Route of Ecotopia Biketour 2010 in a larger map

Unlike the last 5 years with Mediterranean weather, this route will probably not take us through boiling-hot weather every day: in fact, it might even rain! Pack your water-proof jacket as well as sunscreen…!

Previous years!

  • 1990:The first Ecotopia-Biketour “Take a bike to Ecotopia (take a car to hell)”
    The first biketour connected with ecotopia, i. e. the first Ecotopia-Biketour took place in the year 1990. It started with the UNSAID-festival in Bergen (Norway) in the middle of May 1990. And it ended two and a half months later in the beginning of August 1990 in Bugac-puszta in Hungary.
    Route: Bergen (Start 16. 5. 1990) – Oslo – Göteborg – Malmö – Kobenhavn – Rödby – Puttgarden – Blekendorf – Lübeck – Hamburg – Hannover- Göttingen – Kassel – Erfurt – Bamberg – Regenburg – Passau – Linz – Wien – Bratislava – Budapest – Ecotopia (Bugac-puszta, 1. 8. 1990).
    The whole distance was about 3300 km!
    Conclusion: long biketours starting quite early in the year are possible!
    Note: All this was possible without email, Internet and mobile phones!!!
    Some highlights of this biketour: there was a biketour-booklet with 84 pages and partly in two languages (English and German)…
    Further comments: this biketour was very well organised, everything was prepared, including the food, which was cooked by Rampenplan. This Dutch kitchen-collective was accompanying the biketour with a big bus (the famous dragonbus) and providing three meals every day. So life was really easy, but it was no 100% biketour, because of this bus.
    There were really too many people at least at this part, we were about 125 people!!! There were discussions in at least 4 languages and it was impossible to share all informations with everybody. After Bratislava the number of participants decreased below 100 people.
  • 1991: (Re)cycle around the Baltic Sea. From Scheveningen in the Netherlands to Ecotopia at Tudulinna in Estonia (more than 4.000 km)
    The second Ecotopia-Biketour became even longer than the first one! It started in Scheveningen (Netherlands) on 17. 5. 1991 and ended in Ecotopia (Tudulinna, Estonia) on 4. 8. 1991.
    Political messages: Lets not waste the Baltic Sea! (Re)cycle to Ecotopia! Mo more meter of motorways! Stop Scan-link bridges!
    Route: Scheveningen (17. 5. 1991) – Deventer – Groningen – Leer – Oldenburg – Bremerhaven – Hamburg – Lübeck – Kiel – Flensburg – Odense – Kobenhavn – Malmö – Linneryd – Jönköping – Linköping – Norrköping – Nyköping – Stockholm – Grisslehamn – Aland – Turku – Helsinki – Lappeenranta – Vyborg – Zelenogorsk – Leningrad/St.Petersburg – Petrodvorets – Narva – Ecotopia/Tudulinna (4. 8. 1991).
    The whole distance was more than 4.000 km, the longest Ecotopia-Biketour ever (so far).
  • 1992: Follow the Danube by bike up to Ecotopia. From Freiburg (Germany) to Ecotopia (Reselets, Bulgaria) 12. 6. – 2. 8. 1992.
    Political messages: energy issues, ecological traveling, GATT, IMF and Worldbank, EU and ERT (European RoundTable of industrialists).
    Route: Freiburg (12. 6. 1992) – Villingen – Ulm – Nürnberg – Erlangen – Plzen – Praha – Telc – Brno – Bratislava – Gabcikovo – Györ – Tatabanya – Budapest – Szolnok – Oradea – Alba Iulia – Sibiu – Brasov – Predeal – Bucuresti – Ruse – Svistov – Pleven – Ecotopia (Reselets, near Cerven Briag) (2. 8. 1992)

Part II: The Biketour is becoming shorter:

  • 1993: This (4th) Biketour was rather short compared to the first three ones, starting in the Netherlands (Sittard) on 29. 6. 1993 and ending in Ecotopia (Chateau de Saint Barthelemy (near Durban), Pyrenees) on 7. 8. 1993.
    Route: Sittard (29. 6. 1993) – Maastricht – Brussels – Gent – Lille – Amiens – Paris – Sens – La Charite sur Loire – Digoin – Lyon – Valence – Grignan – Nimes – Montpellier – Beziers – Narbonne – Carcassonne – Mirepoix- Pamiers – Le Mas d’ Azil – Ecotopia (Chateau de Saint Barthelemy (near Durban)), 7. 8. 1993
  • 1994: Biketour became very short this year: only about 2 weeks of cycling…
    Route: Tiszafüred (21. 7. 1994) – Tokaj – Vésérosnamény – Satu Mare – Valea Chioarului – Gilgan Almasului – Gilau – Cheile Turzii – Tirgu Mures – Sovata – Bucin – Gheorgheni – Lacul Rosu – Ecotopia (Ardeluta) (5. 8. 1994).
    Whole distance: about 900 km.
  • 1995: Ecotopia Biketour ’95 – nearly the same time but a little bit longer distance than 1994.
    Route: Budapest (21. 7. 1995) – Esztergom – Györ – Rajka – Bratislava – Breclav – Nove Mlyny – Dukovany – Moravsky Budejovice – Slavonice – Nova Bystrice – Chlum – Trebon – Ceske Budejovice (Rudolfov) – Temelin – Milevsko – Sedlcany – Praha – Kralupy nad Vltavou – Doksy – Mimon – Liberec – Zawidow – Lesna – Ecotopia (Wolimierz) (5. 8. 1995)
    whole distance: a little bit more than 1000 km. This year we had some days with more than 100 km distance.
  • 1996: Ecotopia Biketour 1996
    Political issues: Transport in Central Europe, diverse environmental issues, and the nazi-concentration camp in Terezin.
    Route: Sarospatak (13. 7. 1996) – Hollohéza – Rakaca – Aggtelek(i nemzeti park) – Radnovce – Hnusta – Cierny Balog – Zvolen – Banska Bystrica – Cerveny Kamen – Zlin – Brno – Nedvedice – Hlinsko – Malesov – Konojedy – Praha – Velvary – Rip – Roudnice nad Labem – Terezin – Lovosice – Duchcov – Ecotopia (Libkovice)(4. 8. 1996)
  • 1997: – The Gap
  • 1998: Cycle Flight to Ecotopia
    Political issues: transport in Central Europe, promoting bikes, nuclear power (Wackersdorf, Germany)
    Route: Wroclaw (Poland, 15. 7. 1998) – Karpacz – Trutnov (Czech Republic) – Miletin – Nymburk – Praha – Karlstejn – Rokycany – Plzen – Domazlice – Wackersdorf – Ingolstadt – Augsburg – Oggelshausen – Tuttlingen – Löffingen – Ecotopia (Freiburg) (Germany, 1. 8. 1998)
    Whole distance about 1.000 km
  • 1999: Route: Amsterdam (10. 6. 1999) – Utrecht – Ahaus (Germany) – Münster – Gütersloh – Eisenach – Erfurt – Weimar – Gera – Johannesgeorgenstadt/Potucky (Czech Republic) – Karlovy Vary – Zlutice – Praha – Tabor – Slavonice – Znojmo – Wien (Austria) – Katzelsdorf – Fürstenfeld- Murska Sobota (Slovenia) – Maribor – Krsko – Zagreb (Croatia) – Bjelovar – Pécs (Hungary) – Szeged – Timisoara (Romania) – Ecotopia (Bogda)(2. 8. 1999)
    Still online page in the web: www.britskelisty.cz/9906/19990629o.html
  • 2000: Krakow – Turku
    Polish text from Olek: still online: www.zm.org.pl
    Route: Krakow – Warszawa – Vilnius – Riga – Tallinn – Helsinki – Turku
  • 2001: Balkan Unity Ride: Through Romania, Serbia, Macedonia to Ecotopia at Sinemorets in Bulgaria.
  • 2002: Celtic Safari Biketour. Dover in England to Ecotopia at Lough Derg in Ireland
    2003: From Warsaw in Poland to Kolomyia in Ukraine
  • 2004: Bread & Water Tour: From Vienna in Austria to Ecotopia at Gorinchem in the Netherlands
  • 2005: Banja Luka – Belgrade – Sibiu – Iasi – Chisinau to Ecotopia at Saharna nature reserve in Moldova.
  • 2006: From _iauliai in Lithuania via Ecotopia at Zajezová (Slovakia) to World Carfree Day in Split (Croatia)
  • 2007: From Barcelona in Spain to Aljezur in Portugal
  • 2008: From Sofia, Bulgaria to Sinop in Turkey.
  • 2009: Feel the Heat! We started in Serbia and took a train to Macedonia, from where we cycled through Albania, Montenegro, Bosnia & Herzgovina to Jagnjedovec, Croatia. See btwiki/Route 2009 for the plans made for the route. In the end, it was about 2400km.