Looking forward….

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Hey,

It’s not long now till the biketour wheels out of Berlin to adventures on and off the road, and I thought it might be nice to write a brief post as I’m getting ready! :)

I heard about Ecotopia biketour last year around April, and decided to go later on in the summer that year after seeing all the lovely photos and experiences on the 2012 blog. Here’s one from a border crossing to go with this year’s theme:

I hadn’t travelled around much with my bike in Europe before, and had never been touring, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. I joined just for 3 weeks for the Marseilles to Torino bit and it was amazing! There were all kinds of bikes and all kinds of people – you definitely don’t need lots of fancy gear and the route is pitched so that people with different biking ability can take part. I have too many favourite bits to mention – wild camping in the Alps, visiting inspiring projects, being part of a community on the road & more!

This year’s theme is ’Borders, Boundaries and Beyond’, and I’m looking forward exploring this theme as we travel South East from Berlin, learning from people on the tour and projects about different ways to challenge oppression in its many forms. For inspiration I had a quick look at different ways people have explored aspects of this theme on biketours, and found a great blog from a couple who travelled the Mexico – US border over 4 and a half months, visiting different projects along the way. Their site is interesting and worth checking out – also they had amazing paint box paniers! :)

I also found P.E.D.A.L who cycled from the UK to Palestine in in 100 days in 2011 visiting projects exploring the themes of social justice, food autonomy, and linking together cultures and communities of resistance.

Here’s a short film of their project (please note: this is a film of P.E.D.A.L, not of Ecotopia Biketour);

I’m looking forward to being on the road again this year and am excited to see how the tour will be! Last year I really enjoyed the learning aspect of the biketour, so this year together with others in the biketour collective we’re putting together a mini Library on Wheels so we can have resources on the move, feel free to bring stuff or add resources to the media wiki page!

Hopefully see you cycling this summer! :) If you are looking to join there’s loads of info this website and also on the wiki pages about ways to participate and also help with what to bring & getting ready.