Blog – Ecotopia Biketour

We have a rough route for 2020! Balkans, we’re coming!

Ecotopia Biketour February 25, 2020 February 25, 2020

This summer, for the 30th time, we’re heading off on another bike tour adventure – we’re inviting you to suggest interesting projects and events, help out with the organising, and of course, to join us!! After having spent three summers in Western Europe, we want to cycle to the Balkans this year (July-mid September). The idea is to end the bike tour in Timisoara at the Balkan Anarchist Bookfair in the >mid-end of September. We are looking for projects and events that can host us and help with suggestions in the territory of so-called Czech, Austria, Slovakia, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina,…

Info event in KTS Freiburg – 21.02.2020 at 20.00

michal February 15, 2020 February 18, 2020

Come and meet the Ecotopia Biketour collective! We will announce where we are going to cycle in 2020, show some photos and tell something about the history of the bike tour and try to answer your questions. There will be something to eat and you can talk with different people who did the tour.

Tall Bike Tour

Ecotopia Biketour February 6, 2020 February 6, 2020

At the end of August 2018 I built a Tall Bike and cycled it 250km from Copenhagen to Växjö, to start my studies. Here’s a spoken word-esque account. Bike touring by yourself on a tall bike (with no spare parts and minimal tools) is two things: 1. Astoundingly beautiful. 2. Existentially terrifying. I saw the tops of trees flickering copper, gold and crimson silver in the sun and happened upon a goth’s picnic on some forest roadside. They looked embarrassed for me, having heard me singing moments before. There was tarmac melted into long cracks in the road…

July 2019, Scotland. Daily ecotopian life.

Poulou September 11, 2019 September 11, 2019

It’s 8am, 9am, or sometimes 1pm, when the Ecotopians open their eyes. In this country, no stifling heat propels them out of their tent at dawn. This piece of cloth becomes a morning shelter when the soft sound of the drops striking the roof echoes tirelessly. Despite this “flic floc” melody from the clouds and the resulting temptation to stay warm; body against sleeping bag or body against body; every morning their souls find the energy to face the greyness awaiting outside. Ziiiiip, the entrance opens, and the senses marvel. Their ears are glad to hear the voices coming from familiar…

It’s cold and wet

Ecotopia Biketour August 11, 2019 August 11, 2019

It is said that it is not good to believe in cliches. For this reason we went to check what is said about Scotland. From Edinburgh to Glasgow, we had numerous chances to taste the lovely weather of this amazing country! When it was not raining, we were cycling uphill and downhill over and over again with the wind pushing against our unperturbed smiles. Only to arrive somewhere to cook under the tarp accompanied by the ceaseless choir of millions of midges. We were wondering why last year we were around 40-50 ecotopians and this year we were not more…

Quest For Rocket Stoves

Ecotopia Biketour July 4, 2019 July 4, 2019

With the skies above our camping place threatening rain and thunder and with two days left before we were to leave Edinburgh, the heart of the bike tour was missing. The heart of the bike tour is an ugly-mangled thing. We crouch beside it at night, offering up endless twigs and sticks, blowing on it our hopes for hot food. The heart of the bike tour is a rocket stove. It is made from a large oil drum, piping and insulation. We had two vegetable oil drums, found at the back of a restraunt. We still needed to find some…

Quand la route devient chez toi

luhukasu March 24, 2019 March 24, 2019

vélo couchée avec remorque Le temps que je passe en Ecotopia Biketour restent comme un tat des aventures tres denses dans ma tete. J’ai du mal a en sortir des expierences specifiques, quest qui vaut la peine de raconter et quoi non? quelle des milles histroires choisir? soir de deluge ptet celle-ci: on arrive apres une journee de decentes et montees le long des falaises asturiennes sur une pre pas loin de la mer. Une reunion est prevue, finallement, quand les gens se sont rassemblees, on fait un tour de paroles, quelqu’un dit: „je vois pas comment on va faire…

Squatted villa, rescued food and public art performance – Biketour in Vigo

Candid November 12, 2018 November 8, 2018

Our sleeping place in Vigo was the amazing Quinta de Carminha squat, a big mansion so luxurious that it has stone lions greeting you at the entrance. But not just luxurious from the outside, it also greeted us with a hot shower, a big kitchen, big communal spaces, an internet room, and some beds to sleep inside. Our main activity on the second day was an evening action in the city centre. We dumpster-dived lots of food, picked a public square, and presented the food there to give away for free. The signs say: “This food, which is in perfect…