… I am becoming less and less sure about what to write in this space… or perhaps what people are interested in hearing about, and what is worth writing. I want to write more about activism, agriculture, and reasons why you should be pissed off and make a difference, but I don’t think that you who read this with any regularity care about these topics… perhaps I am mistaken?

Left my bike behind in Hamburg to see what hitchhiking is like.

Here are the photos from my experience.

Absconding under the cover and confusion of darkness I began the journey north into the unkown.

Derelict buildings, open fields, endless roads, full dumpsters, a plethora of bike paths, friendly strangers, and a good friend waiting at the end of the tunnel. The journey took me ten days and countless adventures in between.

As for the details I’ll just let the photos fill in what I left out.

De Bereklauw also known as “The Ideas Factory” is probably one of the coolest places, no actually the
coolest place I have been to yet. It is owned by a wise old man with a heart of gold, a mind as sharp as his eyes, the most awesome beard I have ever seen… Okay, I lack the words to describe how cool this guy really is, I’ll just say that I aspire to one day be like Gosse, the man behind De Bereklauw.

This anarchic community is focused primarily on permaculture, artistic expression, and sustainable community living. It is an ongoing experimental melting pot full of inspiring artwork, sustainable projects, and wonderful people. I learned so much here I couldn’t even begin to list it all.

During my one month stay I found my own quiet corner in a dusty old workshop, and spent my days repairing old bicycles for the community’s inhabitants to use for their daily errands and adventures. My experience with repairing bicycles here has me considering working in a bicycle shop at some point in my life.

As far as my future presently looks I plan to return to De Bereklauw very soon. I miss living there, the people, and the work. So I will hopefully soon update this post with more photos and info!

As wonderful as my experience in Paris was I quickly became tired of being in a city. So a week after I had arrived I packed my things and took to the road. It felt so nice to be out in the countryside again. I took my time riding across the giant uninhabited expanses of agricultural land, enjoying the peaceful solitude and fair weather. I kept to small roads away from cities, and slept in fields and forests.

Indeed I saw many interesting things, but the significance of these events was eclipsed by the wonderful people I met along the way that helped me, going out of their way, giving me food and directions.

In Brussels I stayed with several hosts over the weekend. They were all terrific folk that I feel fortunate to have met. I explored the city and experienced the famous specialties of Belgium. I didn’t want to stay long however because I was eager to get to the community in Leuven I had been looking forward to for the last several months. So after a few days I headed out east to my next place of residence.

It’s funny how 2 days can just turn into a week. I mean I was sure I would only go here and maybe a bit there then call it good and head for Belgium monday morning. But I think that would just be uncharacteristic of me to just stick to some drab schedule…

No, I did not anticipate meeting the jazz musicians, or the guy that invited me to a party in the catacombs, or two amazing writers from Germany with whom I fast became friends, or the street musicians with whom I danced and sang the nights away, or the impromptu bar hopping in the dazzling nightlife through Parisian streets lined with unique brasseries and beautiful women, or having hosts change plans and send me to the streets in the rain only to be rescued at the last possible minute by amazing people I will never forget…

I wish I had some elucidating photo, or artfully crafted terse to convey to you my unforgettable experience in Paris, but I don’t. So I have to leave you with a; Nice place, Paris. I had a good time, you should check it out for yourself someday, if you haven’t already, you might like it.

I have to say that up until this point biking through mid and upper France has yielded some of my best countryside bicycling experience yet. Drivers that are few and far in between and typically courteous, beautiful landscapes, quaint villages, and well maintained roads made for bike touring heaven.

At some point I will be posting another collection of France photos.

Enjoy!

Flayat to Limoges

All my material possessions neatly and deliberately packed away I said my goodbyes to Eric and rounded the corner to finish the another beautiful chapter of my life.

The familiar road rushing up to meet my wheels as I wounded down the snake like back roads through valleys and quiet french villages felt like an old friend I hadn’t seen for a long yesterday. The wind blowing through my hair and new sights that steadily glided past reminded me that I was free once again. Free from place, familiarity, and routines.

Along the way I unexpectedly received my very first flat tire since I had bought them in Omaha, NE. I’ve been riding Schwable Marathon Plus tires and I really wouldn’t recommend them to people who like to repair flats… After checking it out I discovered that it was not a puncture but the tube had just worn through on it’s side because I installed a liner slightly askew.

Luckily the rain held off for my entire trip into the center of Limoges to meet my amazing hosts Jana and Patricio for the night. I contacted my hosts on rather short notice and was readily accepted. Like old friends, “just come on over anytime!”, they replied to my request to surf their couch. Jana from Australia and Patricio from Chile are both currently working on their degrees in Limoges. They took me out to a bar that brewed what they told me to be hands down the best beer in France. After trying some I in no way doubt the accuracy of that description. Throughout the night we discussed issues close to our own hearts and remarked on the central connection they shared, being linked to the destruction of humanity itself through the futile pursuit of Consumerism Culture.

Limoges to Paris

First thing on my list of things to do today was to go to the train station to find out their was a problem with my ticket. As I had feared the one train I had booked had a special catch for transporting bicycles in that the required them to be put into a special bag and checked as luggage. According to the information desk at the train I either need to buy another ticket without refund of my original, or get a bag for my bike.Of course on all the other trains this was unnecessary. So I set off on a goose chase through downtown Limoges to find that the bike shop had closed just a few minutes before I arrived and wouldn’t open until my train left. With a contact in Paris scheduled to meet me in front of the National Opera House at 7 and my train leaving in an hour I was running out of options.

Jana and Patricio to the rescue! They called up a friend on his lunch break who had a bike bag and got it for me almost instantly. My huge bike would just barely fit with some disassembly. Completely unpredictably perfect last minute coincidences that make life amazing and confound reason seem to comprise my life on the road…

I arrived at the station just as my train pulled up to a stop. I quickly pulled my bike apart removing the front rack and seat as people are boarding and getting off. I find the right car at literally the last possible moment, and just as a helpful bystander threw my last bag up to me through the door it closed shut behind it like some choreographed scene from a movie.

Stepping out of the train onto Parisian soil, or asphalt rather, was memorable. Drunken shouts and hoots arrested my attention. A group of men holding flags with matching clothes and face paint chanted some slogan about some team they seemed to support. While reassembling my bicycle one brilliant lad thought it would be constructive to shout “Perpignan!!!” in my face while swaying to and fro nearly spilling the alcoholic contents of his plastic cup all over himself. “Qui, Perpignan” I responded sympathetically as he tried to force his eyes to focus on me. Thankfully he gave up this difficult task quickly and stumbled off undoubtedly unsure which one of me had said it.

Bike together I set off into my next adventure.

My kind of Mad

During a quiet, muggy day weeding in the green house at Les Jardins des Mondoux a curious looking man appeared at the end of the tunnel. He sat upon a sharp looking road bike. His slightly disheveled appearance accented by long curly hair and a five-o-clock shadow seemed a bit unbecoming of one in the saddle of such a bike. The bike was a custom made carbon fiber road frame fitted with high end Shimano parts, a Brook’s saddle, and straight bars, with a home-made handlebar bag fixed to the front by a series of clever straps.

Through broken english the man, Eric, invited me to his home for a visit with scattered details about what to expect there. Goats, 50 hectares, fruit trees, photovoltaic system, llama, pig, bees, and so on with the opportunity for work. Sounded interesting so after working that day I set out for Flayat, his village.

Flayat was a practical ghost town. A small village of 6 maybe 7 homes of which only one was permanently inhabited. The rest laid in disuse either as vacation homes or as capital. I wandered about the silent homes on an overgrown gravel road looking for some sign that would indicate which one was Eric’s. reaching the last house I looked back to see a large solar system for heating water and photovoltaic panels behind a beautiful 2 story stone house set amidst a wild looking orchard and a few small goats grazing lazily.

The solar system, Eric explained, he built upon a horizontal giant antique wagon wheel. He ducked into his kitchen to demonstrate it’s function. The large array silently and slowly glided clockwise then counter for optimizing it’s position with the sunlight with a tug on a few wires that ran below ground and into his kitchen. It was a clever design, and an epitome of the DIY spirit. Though his system was chided by some behind his back I suspect their criticism was based more upon superficial reasons or perhaps envy than erudite critic.

Next he showed me a VW bus, quad, and motorcycle that he had converted to run entirely off of natural gas. His delta wing airplane was still in the conversion process. He explained that the conversion was best done using an American made injector, of what mark I forget now.

Perhaps most importantly he had an impressive collection of 9 unique bicycles all custom built including a recumbent trike. A few parts and a frame lay about the floor undergoing a renovation to decrease weight. Two cats, one all white and another all black slept in a heap next to a wheel that was in the process of being built from newly ordered parts.

He was using his land as a sort of refuge for abandon animals he had collected over the years. A big old chinese hog, a mistreated llama, a shy donkey who was absolutely convinced that my clothing was delicious, a couple of dogs, and about 25-35 african goats scattered about the place.

After a few weeks of stopping by Eric’s at the end of my work day with Gitta and David I decided to take up residence with Eric at Flayat. During my time there I lived in a modest caravan set back away from the road in a quiet wood just next to a huge barn that housed his sailboat.

I worked part time helping with various projects during the day and spent my evenings riding about the countryside on Eric’s lightweight Peugeot guest bike buying my food fresh from various farms.

It has been one of the most beautiful chapters in my life so far. No traffic noises, no people, no obligations, beautiful deciduous forests and wildflowers surrounding me at all times, the uninterrupted song of various migratory birds returning from Africa during the day and the erie hoots and screeches of nightbirds and plaintiff call of the fox at night.

Eric’s reverence and respect for the natural world is unparalleled in anyone I have ever met before. He takes great lengths in all things he does to be extremely cautious to not cause any harm to any animals, insects, or rare plants. One pathway was completely off limits to foot traffic because it served as a major crossroads for a few large colonies of ants. Sadly unappreciated and greatly misunderstood by those that I spoke with who knew him, I learned invaluable lessons from this cantankerous but warm hearted eccentric hermit. My time at Flayat was trying at times but the negative was balanced by positive in the magical paradise that comprised the setting.

Les Jardin des Mondoux is an organic vegetable and egg farm on the edge of a quiet town called Les Mondoux set in the historic Limosin region of France. During my free time I was able to check out the local castles as I was right next to the Route of Richard the Lion Heart.

The farm consists of 2,000 square meters of vegetable plots including 2 large poly-tunnel green houses for season extension, and a smaller for starting seedlings. In the slower winter and spring months they keep 100 chickens in a mobil chicken coop surrounded by easy to move plastic electric fencing. In May they buy in an additional 100 chickens to keep up with the increased demand for farm fresh organic eggs due to local tourism.

The mobil chicken houses are a great example of how intelligent design and efficient management can minimize energy inputs to maximize the profits of the outputs. Not more than an hour per day is required to tend to the chickens, this includes feeding and egg collecting. The hybrid variety of chickens that are kept here have a high egg output being approximately 70-80 eggs per day per 100 chickens. The houses are moved to a new part of the pasture every 3 weeks to keep the chickens from over-grazing the area. This has the added function of controlling weeds and fertilizing the soil.

Vegetable production is kept efficient and economical by reducing the amount of work involved with production by the use of innovative and time saving tools, and using logical techniques to maximize the effects of ones work. One example of these techniques is the “Stale Seed Bed”. In which the seed bed cultivated and prepared at least 2 weeks in advance to let any disturbed “weed” seeds have a chance to germinate so that they can be destroyed at the time of actual planting. The result of the technique is a drastic reduction in the amount of weeds that end up intermingled with the desired plants.

The larger vegetable plot is also an orchard. The various fruit trees are spaced far enough apart to allow enough light down to the vegetables planted between their rows to maximize the usage of the soil. The second and larger orchard is inter-sown with cereals. The 10 meter spacing between rows allows for the proper equipment to come through the orchard to sow and harvest their crops.

A rare breed of sheep known as Forest Clunn were kept here for meat and wool production, and used in an effective form of rotational pasture management.

Bees are also kept here for honey production, but there being only two hives it is just on a hobby scale.

I spent about 6 weeks here with Gitta and David the owners and my hosts. I think I would have to say that they have been my best WWOOFing hosts yet. I feel very fortunate to have stayed here with them. I learned a lot of very valuable things here at Les Mondoux. Some of the most important of them were energy management and the role that it plays in being economically viable in today’s backwards agriculture world.

The journey from Mars Farm to my next destination took all of two days in the saddle. Having no map or schedule I took my time and enjoyed the beautiful countryside. I set a leisurely pace across two lane country roads winding through quaint villages and old family farmland. The day I set out the sun was shining and temperatures reached the highest I had seen during my so-far cold stay in France.

The first day most of my route seemed to trace last years Tour de France, and the road was painted with the cheers and jeers of ardent fans. I could tell that once the weather got a bit warmer bike touring in France just may prove to be one of the most beautiful experiences I’ve had yet. That night I slept in a tranquil pine forest to the chilling ethereal chorus of owls and the other night birds. Luckily for me it did not get down to freezing, and my sleep was restful.

The next day was country roads and crumbling castles for 80 km until in the evening I reach Les Jardins des Mondoux, my next farm. With a golden sun setting on my back and the first of springs flowers peeping through green buds around my feet I walked my bike down a gravel road to be greeted by the border collie who would fast become one of many new friends I’d make at Les Jardins des Mondoux.

Part two of my interview with bike-america.org, click here!