Pre-Biketour: Berlin–Poznań–Warszawa

The 5th of June was the official start of the pre-Biketour in Berlin. Only 3 of us met (we expected much more) and joined the Fahrradsternfahrt, the biggest bicycle demonstration in the world, along with 140 000 other people. On 19 routes of around 1000 km in total, starting in different places around Berlin and all joining on the way to go to Brandenburger Tor in the centre, people are cycling in the whole city the whole day, including two of the city motorways.   Outside of Berlin we quickly visited Kesselberg, a piece of forest outside of Berlin some people live…

Continue reading

Biketour in Helsinki (last year)

The first two of us arrived on the 15th of September in Helsinki like planned, but only at 2 in the morning. In the end the 10 of us that remained arrived in about 6 groups spread over the next 4 days. Some people had decided to stay a bit longer in Tampere, but some wanted to arrive in Helsinki on time, so the group split in two. The first group split up on the last day when it got dark, as some wanted to make it to Helsinki, but some were too tired to cycle in the dark. The…

Continue reading

Biketour in Tampere (last year)

On the 11th of September, we arrived in Tampere. Our sleeping place was the social and art centre Hirvitalo. Tampere is a city surrounded by lakes, and on one of them, really close to Hirvitalo, some people had built a floating sauna with a glass roof from which you can see across the lake. The highlight was when we saw the northern lights over the lake while having a sauna. There was not much programme in Tampere. On the way to Tampere we slept next to a really freaky sculpture park in the middle of a forest. Some of us…

Continue reading

Biketour in Turku (last year)

On the 4th of September, we arrived in Turku. Our main base was Pyöräpaja Vapaa Ratas, a bike workshop that sells old bike parts and fixed-up bikes on a regular bike flea market (from the money, the rent is paid) and where people can also come to fix their bikes or have them fixed. It is in Aurinkotehdas, an old bicycle factory that is now used for different social projects, such as an Emmaus second-hand shop. We were really warmly welcomed, and many people had heard from or even participated in the Biketour that cycled to the Ecotopia Gathering close…

Continue reading