Biketour in Minsk (part 1)

After Shanti-Dom, we cycled 70km to Minsk. Getting into the city was not so easy however, and somehow we had to cross the big ring road that circles the city. Consulting the GPS, we found that the easiest way was to follow a small footpath for 300m – but we soon found out that the footpath was up a hill, just through a corn field (with 3 trailers…) You could already see the huge wall of housing blocks approaching. All over the horizon! Minsk was not so pretty on first impressions – huge, identical tower blocks all around. It is…

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Shanti Dom

Due to our short visa, we had to take a train to skip most of the 400 km of cycling from Brest to Shanti Dom, a yoga farm with an international volunteering programme about 70 km west of Minsk. Lucky as we are, it started raining cats and dogs just after we got out of the train to cycle 40 km, but when we finally arrived, we were greeted with a beautiful sunset and rainbow. Shanti Dom is an old school building on the countryside in the middle of nowhere that a young hetero couple is turning into a yoga…

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Biketour in Brest

After so many fails, we couldn’t believe it when the bus started going and actually took us into Belarus. At the bus stop we were already awaited by Valentin from Radeja Bike Club, with whom we had been in a lot of contact with to prepare the documents for the visa application. Valentin was over-excited to lead us through the city, and communication was a bit difficult, as he only speaks Russian. With Radeja Bike Club, he has been organizing long-distance bicycle tours in many countries, including western-European ones like Spain, and camps for people with disabilities in the forest,…

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belarus border chaos

When the 2016 biketour collective first discussed going to Belarus, we expected that the visa would require some work, but after doing considerable research into the process, decided it was a manageable task. We did some preparation, but then expected that everything would fall into place when we met together at the starting point in Warsaw and would proceed as planned. It didn’t. So, heres a list of all the ways in which we almost failed to get to Belarus (a blog post about how we actually made it into Belarus to follow…) 1 – firstly, we needed an invitation…

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Compost-toilet out of trash

Paulina invited us to stay at her tiny garden house in the allotment gardens of hajnowka. Shower was a garden hose, food supply came from the incredibly friendly neighbours, our tents were spread out in the garden, toilet was in Kaufland or in the forest. We had some beautiful days there with her. As a thank you we built an own toilet next to the house. So, for the planning, following questions came up: How will the toilet be used? Where should it be? Which kind of toilet? Out of what will we built it? As Paulinas father is building…

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Zamieszanie z wizą na Białoruś

Sorry, this entry is only available in Polski. For the sake of viewer convenience, the content is shown below in the alternative language. You may click the link to switch the active language. W tym roku jesteśmy mniejszą grupą niż w poprzednich latach i zastanawialiśmy się, czy zamieszanie z wizami na Białoruś nie odstraszyło wielu osób. Przez pierwsze dwa tygodnie bike toura, większość rozmów i wysiłków było skierowanych na zdobycie wiz. Najpierw staraliśmy się o wizy w ambasadzie w Warszawie, gdzie napotykaliśmy na coraz to nowe wymówki dlaczego nasze podanie nie może zostać przyjęte. Były problemy z naszym zaproszeniem, z…

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The Żubr

The Żubr (bison) is the biggest land mammal in Europe. Żubrs have been extinct in many parts of Europe for centuries, the last ones living in the wild were killed in the 1920s. After the second world war, some Żubrs living in zoos were released into the wild to create a new population. All Żubrs that live in the wild today are the descendants of only 12 individuals that were released from zoos, which is quite threatening to their genetic health. The biggest population of about 800 individuals lives in Białowieża Forest, where we stayed for several days. Male Żubrs…

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Białowieża Forest

Białowieża Forest is a big forest that spans across the border between Poland and Belarus. It is known to be the only leftover primeval forest in Europe and home of its biggest bison population. We stayed on the Polish side of the forest for 5 days. We were also planning to cross over to the Belarusian side through the newly-opened bike-only border crossing, but unfortunately the Belarusian border guards didn’t want to let us pass with a dog. The forest was impressive, but at the same time a bit disappointing. It was amazing to cycle through it. It is so…

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