Ecotopia in Lakabe

We arrived in Lakabe the fifth of July after a nice swim in the river just before climbing the hardest and last kilometer. As we enter in this old occupied village , a thunderstorm started rumbling in the valley of Arce. Just in time . We are welcomed by Clara, who lives here in Lakabe since approximately one year and a half, and she used to explain us the main operation way of the place. Letś cook ! The last up hill kilometer, so hard ! So tired are we, that we fall asleep fast , but the next day,…

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the first 2 weeks of a social expieriment

throw a bunch of very different people together in a group, they are all supposed to be free and equal, add some spicing(=cycling, wildcamping,…) and see what they will make out of it… This is the 3rd time I join ecotopia biketour. During the winter, the organizing team had not only worked on planning the practical aspects of this years tour but also a lot on the theoretical bases. We created a detailed procedure how we would deal with conflicts in future. We wanted to be better prepared than last year, where it took us months to act in a…

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DIY Panniers

When you travel with your bicycle it is useful to be able, to carry your stuff on your bike instead of your back. Therefore you can get some expensive bags, that are made for that purpose, or you build something yourself!! In general, there is 2 options: Either you make something that hooks on your rack. Or you have a construction that allows you to easily attatch your backpack or whatever other things you have to transport. For the first option, you can either look for exisiting bags and add some hooks that they can hang on your rack: It…

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Starting in Pamplona

It took us seven days to arrive to Pamplona from Barcelona with all the biketour equipment. We had to cross the desert (Los Monegros) cycling in the crazy Spanish heat. Just one hour after we arrived to the « Gaztetxe » (squatted social center in Basque) Las Maravillas other people started showing up asking for Ecotopia Biketour. Perfect timing! At the end of the day we were already more than ten participants. Las Maravillas has been quite recently squatted (less than one year). It is located in the old town in front of one of the main squares where people gather for…

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