first days cycling italy..

And now for another day by day update from the past week. although we have just realised that; 1. today is our two month birthday of starting cycling!!! Time for a celebration I think. 2. we only have one week left!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! nooooooooooooooooooooooo saturday 25 august, after the the NO TAV camp general assembly, a big group of people tried to walk to the TAV construction site and were stopped by a police block which made us have to take a smaller path. We were heading to the Clarea protest site, where many tree houses and other resistance structures where some…

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last days in france

Riding through the Alps we have seen some beautiful (and steep!) mountains and visited some inspiring projects. Shooting stars have been more common than internet along the way, so here is a quick update of what we have been doing: tuesday 14 august, the action working group had a meeting and contacted local activists against nuclear energy along our route. At lunch time, Caroline, the mayor of Éourres village, joined us to eat and talk together about community living and how this alternative village was formed. In the afternoon some people joined in with the willow basket weaving and wool…

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five weeks on the road!

sunday 5 august, we held an anti-fracking workshop in Avignon square. While preparing dinner, T. held a Rhythms of Resistance workshop with recycled materials, pots and pans. We then joined up with the Serious Beans Project (a band who will join the tour so long as they can carry their violin, trumpet and doube bass amoungst other instruments on their bikes). They later gave us and the locals a free gig at the nearby campsite. monday 6 august, we cycled south for few hours under light rain, then debated Degrowth and Food over lunch before asking local land owners for…

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One paragraph per day…

(soon will try to upload some pictures to this post also) sunday  15 july, we said goodbye to our kind hosts of Can Piella in the morning and followed a nice road to San Pol de Mar, Iago arranged us a place to stay, the Poliesportiu municipal, and in the night we met with a orquestra band from the town and some friends of a known poet Perejaume to talk about comunity living and degrowth while we cooked our first dinner on our rocket stoves at the beach. monday 16 july, we continued following the sea, by a beautiful scenic road, and stoped…

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one week on the road…

On tuesday morning, the group woke up early and left Kan Pascual. Happily rolling down the Collserola mountain to visit a nice ecological farm, Cal Rosset, that produces for consumer cooperatives in Barcelona. We then followed the Llobregat river by a dirt road, got some fruits from some locals on Martorrell and followed the national road the rest of the day, arriving in Ca La Fou on time for helping cooking diner. On our first day in Ca La Fou, wednesday (11), we had a tour of this huge site and project after our morning circle, in the afternoon some people…

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An introduction to Ca La Fou

Ca La Fou is an ambitious ‘eco-industrial postcapitalist colony’, a day’s cycle outside barcelona. The group first visited this site in october 2010, and only moved here in july 2011. The enormous space was bought as a housing cooperative by the group with a loan from an ecological bank and support from a wider network. It was originally a ‘colonia,’ a factory workhouse dating back to the 13th century. The river running through provided energy for various mills, including a paper mill and a textile mill. this was replaced by a powerful hydroelectric plant after the site was abandoned for a…

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An introduction to Can Masdeu

Can Masdeu is an abandoned leprosy hospital in a nature reserve on the outskirts of barcelona. Building and surrounding land was occupied in 2001 by a group of 7 people and slowly transformed into a social centre, allotments and a home. The building itself is owned by ‘hospital de la pau’ – a combination of public and private bodies including the council, the hospital and the church. They planned to make money from the building by turning it into luxury flats for the rich – not a popular plan amongst local people! In catalunya it is both a civil and…

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