Ecotopia Biketour is for anyone interested in do-it-yourself, environmentalism, activism, community life and experiential learning, from cultures, from challenges, and from each other. But ultimately, it is whatever you make of it! You are the Biketour! So how did it all begin? The first Ecotopia Gathering, (an ecological utopian festival village which happened every year in a different part of Europe, till 2008 interruption) was held in 1989 in Cologne. The Biketour didn’t exist at that time, so many participants came by bus. Some felt very uncomfortable with their unecological way of travelling to such a special place. They started looking for an alternative and (can you believe it?) they came to the conclusion that the bike is still the most ecological method of transport. Slow enough to connect with nature but fast enough to feel you really are travelling every day. After 2008, the biketour crowd decided to continue as a project itself, “It’s not the destination that’s important, it’s the Journey”. A bit of Biketour history ….
Here you can see graphically where the Biketour has travelled (approximately) on the past 25 tours (until 2015) and where the Ecotopia Gatherings have taken place:
If you want to zoom in on it in more detail click here.
1990: “Take a bike to Ecotopia (take a car to hell)”
The first biketour connected with ecotopia, i. e. the first Ecotopia-Biketour took place in the year 1990. It started with the UNSAID-festival in Bergen (Norway) in the middle of May 1990. And it ended two and a half months later in the beginning of August 1990 in Bugac-puszta in Hungary. Route: Bergen (Start 16. 5. 1990) – Oslo – Göteborg – Malmö – Kobenhavn – Rödby – Puttgarden – Blekendorf – Lübeck – Hamburg – Hannover- Göttingen – Kassel – Erfurt – Bamberg – Regenburg – Passau – Linz – Wien – Bratislava – Budapest – Ecotopia (Bugac-puszta, 1. 8. 1990). The whole distance was about 3300 km! Conclusion: long biketours starting quite early in the year are possible! Note: All this was possible without email, Internet and mobile phones!!! Some highlights of this biketour: there was a biketour-booklet with 84 pages and partly in two languages (English and German)… Further comments: this biketour was very well organised, everything was prepared, including the food, which was cooked by Rampenplan. This Dutch kitchen-collective was accompanying the biketour with a big bus (the famous dragonbus) and providing three meals every day. So life was really easy, but it was no 100% biketour, because of this bus. There were really too many people at least at this part, we were about 125 people!!! There were discussions in at least 4 languages and it was impossible to share all informations with everybody. After Bratislava the number of participants decreased below 100 people.
1991: “(Re)cycle around the Baltic Sea.”
From Scheveningen in the Netherlands to Ecotopia at Tudulinna in Estonia (more than 4.000 km) The second Ecotopia-Biketour became even longer than the first one! It started in Scheveningen (Netherlands) on 17. 5. 1991 and ended in Ecotopia (Tudulinna, Estonia) on 4. 8. 1991. Political messages: Lets not waste the Baltic Sea! (Re)cycle to Ecotopia! No more meter of motorways! Stop Scan-link bridges! Route: Scheveningen (17. 5. 1991) – Deventer – Groningen – Leer – Oldenburg – Bremerhaven – Hamburg – Lübeck – Kiel – Flensburg – Odense – Kobenhavn – Malmö – Linneryd – Jönköping – Linköping – Norrköping – Nyköping – Stockholm – Grisslehamn – Aland – Turku – Helsinki – Lappeenranta – Vyborg – Zelenogorsk – Leningrad/St.Petersburg – Petrodvorets – Narva – Ecotopia/Tudulinna (4. 8. 1991). The whole distance was more than 4.000 km, the longest Ecotopia-Biketour ever (so far).
1992: “Follow the Danube by bike up to Ecotopia.”
From Freiburg (Germany) to Ecotopia (Reselets, Bulgaria) 12. 6. – 2. 8. 1992. Political messages: energy issues, ecological traveling, GATT, IMF and Worldbank, EU and ERT (European RoundTable of industrialists). Route: Freiburg (12. 6. 1992) – Villingen – Ulm – Nürnberg – Erlangen – Plzen – Praha – Telc – Brno – Bratislava – Gabcikovo – Györ – Tatabanya – Budapest – Szolnok – Oradea – Alba Iulia – Sibiu – Brasov – Predeal – Bucuresti – Ruse – Svistov – Pleven – Ecotopia (Reselets, near Cerven Briag) (2. 8. 1992) The biketour becomes shorter …
1993
This (4th) Biketour was rather short compared to the first three ones, starting in the Netherlands (Sittard) on 29. 6. 1993 and ending in Ecotopia (Chateau de Saint Barthelemy (near Durban), Pyrenees) on 7. 8. 1993. Route: Sittard (29. 6. 1993) – Maastricht – Brussels – Gent – Lille – Amiens – Paris – Sens – La Charite sur Loire – Digoin – Lyon – Valence – Grignan – Nimes – Montpellier – Beziers – Narbonne – Carcassonne – Mirepoix- Pamiers – Le Mas d’ Azil – Ecotopia (Chateau de Saint Barthelemy (near Durban)), 7. 8. 1993
1994
Biketour became very short this year: only about 2 weeks of cycling… Route: Tiszafüred (21. 7. 1994) – Tokaj – Vésérosnamény – Satu Mare – Valea Chioarului – Gilgan Almasului – Gilau – Cheile Turzii – Tirgu Mures – Sovata – Bucin – Gheorgheni – Lacul Rosu – Ecotopia (Ardeluta) (5. 8. 1994). Whole distance: about 900 km.
1995: Ecotopia Biketour ’95
Nearly the same time but a little bit longer distance than 1994. Route: Budapest (21. 7. 1995) – Esztergom – Györ – Rajka – Bratislava – Breclav – Nove Mlyny – Dukovany – Moravsky Budejovice – Slavonice – Nova Bystrice – Chlum – Trebon – Ceske Budejovice (Rudolfov) – Temelin – Milevsko – Sedlcany – Praha – Kralupy nad Vltavou – Doksy – Mimon – Liberec – Zawidow – Lesna – Ecotopia (Wolimierz) (5. 8. 1995) whole distance: a little bit more than 1000 km. This year we had some days with more than 100 km distance.
1996: Ecotopia Biketour 1996
Political issues: Transport in Central Europe, diverse environmental issues, and the nazi-concentration camp in Terezin. Route: Sarospatak (13. 7. 1996) – Hollohéza – Rakaca – Aggtelek(i nemzeti park) – Radnovce – Hnusta – Cierny Balog – Zvolen – Banska Bystrica – Cerveny Kamen – Zlin – Brno – Nedvedice – Hlinsko – Malesov – Konojedy – Praha – Velvary – Rip – Roudnice nad Labem – Terezin – Lovosice – Duchcov – Ecotopia (Libkovice)(4. 8. 1996)
1998: Cycle Flight to Ecotopia
Political issues: transport in Central Europe, promoting bikes, nuclear power (Wackersdorf, Germany) Route: Wroclaw (Poland, 15. 7. 1998) – Karpacz – Trutnov (Czech Republic) – Miletin – Nymburk – Praha – Karlstejn – Rokycany – Plzen – Domazlice – Wackersdorf – Ingolstadt – Augsburg – Oggelshausen – Tuttlingen – Löffingen – Ecotopia (Freiburg) (Germany, 1. 8. 1998) whole distance: about 1.000 km
1999
Route: Amsterdam (10. 6. 1999) – Utrecht – Ahaus (Germany) – Münster – Gütersloh – Eisenach – Erfurt – Weimar – Gera – Johannesgeorgenstadt/Potucky (Czech Republic) – Karlovy Vary – Zlutice – Praha – Tabor – Slavonice – Znojmo – Wien (Austria) – Katzelsdorf – Fürstenfeld- Murska Sobota (Slovenia) – Maribor – Krsko – Zagreb (Croatia) – Bjelovar – Pécs (Hungary) – Szeged – Timisoara (Romania) – Ecotopia (Bogda)(2. 8. 1999) Still online page in the web: www.britskelisty.cz/9906/19990629o.html
2000
Krakow – Turku Polish text still online: http://www.zm.org.pl/?a=biketour2000 Route: Krakow – Warszawa – Vilnius – Riga – Tallinn – Helsinki – Turku
2001: Balkan Unity Ride
Through Romania, Serbia, Macedonia to Ecotopia at Sinemorets in Bulgaria.
2002: Celtic Safari Biketour
Dover in England to Ecotopia at Lough Derg in Ireland
2003
From Warsaw in Poland to Kolomyia in Ukraine Back to action …
2004: Bread & Water Tour
From Vienna in Austria to Ecotopia at Gorinchem in the Netherlands website backup: http://www.ecotopiabiketour.net/old/2004
2005
Banja Luka – Belgrade – Sibiu – Iasi – Chisinau to Ecotopia at Saharna nature reserve in Moldova. weird website backup: http://www.ecotopiabiketour.net/old/2005/
2006: bike it yourself
From Šiauliai in Lithuania via Ecotopia at Zajezová (Slovakia) to World Carfree Day in Split (Croatia) fancy website backup: http://www.ecotopiabiketour.net/old/2006/ blog: http://ecotopiabiketour.blogspot.com/ More on Biketour 2006
2007
From Barcelona in Spain to Aljezur in Portugal website backup: http://www.ecotopiabiketour.net/old/2007 More on Biketour 2007
2008
From Sofia, Bulgaria to Sinop in Turkey. website backup: http://www.ecotopiabiketour.net/old/2008 More on Biketour 2008 Biketour becomes independent …
2009: Feel the Heat!
We started in Serbia and took a train to Macedonia, from where we cycled through Albania, Montenegro, Bosnia & Herzgovina to Jagnjedovec, Croatia. See btwiki/Biketour 2009 for the plans made for the route. In the end, it was about 2400km.
2010: Climate Justice!
We started in northern Yorkshire, England on 26 June, cycling via Wales, crossing the English channel at Portsmouth, through France, Belgium & the Netherlands, to Cologne, Germany. More on Biketour 2010
2011: Sustainable Agriculture And Food Sovereignty
Italy, 26th July- 31th of August 2011 More on Biketour 2011
2012: Towards Degrowth!
In summer 2012 Ecotopia Biketour cycled through Catalunya, France and Italy and the project was hosted by Research and Degrowth. The theme was “towards degrowth” – challenging the damaging growth mentality of capitalism which currently dominates and overlooks real social and environmental values. More on Biketour 2012
2013: Beyond Borders!
In 2013, Ecotopia Biketour cycled from Berlin in Germany to Cluj in Romania. The collective explored issues around real and conceptual borders on the way. See more on Biketour 2013
Ecotopia Biketour 2014: Bottom Up! Sovereignty vs. Exploitation
In 2014, the Biketour went far south, passing through two countries where the Biketour had never been: Kosovo and Greece on its winding way from Sofia to Athens. En route we exchanged with collectives in social centres and squats and visited several places where people are trying to find ways of sustainable living in the countryside, often motivated by the economic crisis in the Southern Balkans. Find all the detailed info here on this site.