Rolling through Czech countryside

On our first cycling day we left Prague to go Northwest to a farm with alternative people called Mlyn, where we camped on a field full of edible plants equipped with a teepee! We finished our rocket stove with the material help from the place. We also went to a lake under the local castle ruin that turned out to be just a field of reed so instead of swimming we had a discussion about how to facilitate a biketour circle. On the second evening a person from the house took us to a village for a taste of local…

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Ecotopia 2021 – Beginning in Praha

Hello Ecotopians! After a year of break, the tour is back on the go again! We began a few days ago in Praha, dwelling at K11 guesthouse which is a social center that hosts alternative bands and communities along the year. The first day we visited “Bike Kitchen Praha” where we fixed and prepared our bikes for the tour, met the organizers who explained about the project and had some delicious local lemonade. On our way back we dumpster dived in the local market getting food for dinner. Today we had our first circle and meeting of the group, to…

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Tall Bike Tour

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…

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Quest For Rocket Stoves

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…

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Quand la route devient chez toi

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…

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Alltag

Bin schon vor ner Weile am Camp angekommen. Wie R. schon sagte, immer wieder beeindruckend, was die Scouts fuer Orte finden. Diesmal im Garten eines gelben Ferienhauses. Niemand hier, Rollos unten, Rasen frisch gemaeht. Wasserleitung! Menschen tauchen, eine nach der anderen mehr oder weniger erschoepft auf, ihr Rad die letzten steilen holprigen Meter hinaufschiebend. Die altbekannten Gesichter blinzeln in die Sonne und erkunden den Ort. Laden das Essen ab, welches sie in Pappkartons oben auf ihrem Gepaeck festgezurrt haben. Das Cooking-Team nimmt ihnen die Sachen dankend entgegen, sichten, schmieden Menue-Plaene: Alles-was-wir-haben-Suppe mit… Hungrige schnappen sich die matschigen Bananen, fuettern sich…

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Naked dogs, unasked helpful help, blahblah about blahblah and myself

The water, the lake, the rhythm. Breath in and laugh at the world. Precooked plastic sealed quinoa taboulet. Also other food. Thanks dumpster. The beach, the sun, the wind. Pedal up and keep pedaling up. Pedal up and keep pedaling up. Downhill thrill. But we can’t stay here, go on. Although it was a nice place as many others before. Just a constant humming noise from the factory disturbed the beach-lake-cyclist paradise. And maybe that the natural park contains pine and eucalyptus plantations. And windmills. Us, a threat for their well-being. A cow stands next to the windmill, unable to…

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Urniza

Dear reader, An elated time has passed since we left Urniza, and we’ve grown so beautiful that I can barely recall what it was like. It went somewhat like this: Tarara stepped on top of the dog’s shelter and onto the donkeys back, reaching and nibbling at the tree’s leaves. We knew she was a good climber, still we were amazed. Making an effort to remember Urniza my mind slipped a bit and reminisced Martorell instead, my first day in Ecotopia. We were crossing the city when I felt like an organelle in a cell. For a moment I had…

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