Blog – Lapa 7 – Ecotopia Biketour

From Saumede to Vigo

Candid 10 novembris, 2018 November 8, 2018

After a bit of up and a lot of down, we met the valley of our beloved river Miño again. On the way down we passed through a really rural village with really steep and narrow roads and lots of brambles, and while we were eating them the village church was ringing like crazy. It sounded a bit as if there was a button to make the bell ring, and a cat was constantly hitting the button with their paw. Every now and again, the ringing would stop for a moment, and another church close by would respond in the…

My last couple of days on the Biketour

Ecotopia Biketour 2018 7 novembris, 2018 November 7, 2018

Sitting on a train to Porto, having nice views at the seaside, still remembering all the beautiful faces of people from Ecotopia. The last couple of days at the tour felt truly special. We finally left the constant uphill side of Spain and continued to many amazing downhills. 15 km of wild downhill at the national road, coming to the biggest town I saw in two weeks. Babylon. Mordor full of people and buildings, so much activity going on. Feeling enthusiastic about so much life, after looking at chewing cows for days. Farms were exchanged for cafes and dumpsters full…

Alltag

luhukasu 21 septembris, 2018 February 14, 2019

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…

10 years Ecotopia Biketour

Ecotopia Biketour 20 septembris, 2018 September 20, 2018

It was super interesting to join Ecotopia Biketour (EBt) again, after 5 years not taking part and almost have lost contact. I would like to share here some of my thoughts that were eminent during this years tour, my fifth EBt. The first time being in 2008. Joining biketour for the fifth time is not the same as the first experience. The past experiences make that you have memories coming up from other years influencing the feelings, ideas and proposals that you will bring to the group. Luckily some other former EBt friends popped up as well! The year 2018…

Biketour in Allaríz and Saumede

Candid 11 septembris, 2018 September 11, 2018

From Ourense we had to cycle a long uphill full of suicidal flies to Allaríz, a small but famous and touristic town south of Ourense. The original plan was to do a public workshop day and people’s kitchen in a social centre there. But there had been some miscommunication about the dates, and in the end the day that we were there, no one was there to do any activities with us. But we had a sleeping place organised, a small garden on the edge of the town. The infrastructure was a bit difficult, as the only source for water…

Hot Springs, Critical Mass and Squat with a view: Biketour in Ourense

Candid 4 septembris, 2018 August 31, 2018

After a long and never-ending downhill, the Biketour arrived in Ourense. A major point on our route-planning map were the hot springs in the city, which we were much looking forward to visit (as we decided to take a route that would not pass by the other nicer hot springs in the Gerês National Park). The original plan was to stay for two full days wild-camping next to the springs, but when we discovered that the springs were in between two motorways and a national road in a steep river valley next to an industrial area, we were very happy…

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

luhukasu 2 septembris, 2018 August 31, 2018

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…

Ortigueira–Ourense

Candid 31 augusts, 2018 August 29, 2018

In Ortigueira we left the north coast of Spain to enter the hilly and (according to what everyone told us) hot Spanish inland. Most of Spain is not very hilly, sometimes even flat, but on a quite high altitude. The further north and the further east you are, the higher it is, and in some places in the north-east, the landscape can be completely flat but on more than 1000 metres above sea level. So when you leave the north coast, you first have to go up a mountain pass, but when you arrive on the top, suddenly there are…