Hannover

After a beautiful journey over the hills passing through woodlands changing into their autumnal colours I arrived in Hannover, where the local groups of BUND (the German branch of Friends of the Earth) and the Allgemeiner Deutscher Fahrrad-Club (the German cyclists' club) had organised a joint press conference, which resulted in an article in the Hannoversche Allgemeiner Zeitung.

Afterwards I was taken by Heiko Schulze, head of the Hannover regional office of the ADFC, to the Raederwerk cycle shop http://www.raederwerk-gmbh.de, where they have a greater variety of bicycles and tricycles than I have seen anywhere else, and they build "Milan" velomobiles http:www.milan-velomobile.de ("built for high speed travelling over long distances"). The Milan is an all-weather vehicle (if it is raining, close the roof and you stay dry) - I only wish I could afford one (they start at 6,500 euros!).

In the evening BUND organised a birthday party, complete with cake, and gave me a large amount of chocolate as a birthday present (ideal for a quick transfusion of energy when long distance cycling), for my birthday is the next day (on Halloween!)

Hameln

Hameln can also be spelled Hamelin, and its claim to fame is as the setting for the tale of the Pied Piper. I began my visit with a meal in a local restaurant with members of the local BUND group, arriving at 6.57 for a time of 7pm - after a journey of 80km! Next day I was taken on tour of renewable energy facilities in the locality by Rainer - they are extremely varied, including wind, solar and biogas

Bielefeld

I continued the punishing succession of 70km rides again on Sunday, travelling from Muenster to Bielefeld. Somewhat surprisingly my knees seem to be standing up to it quite well - I'm hardly getting any pain, probably because I'm mostly cycling in a low gear. Knees can easily become stressed on a recumbent, because you can brace yourself against the backrest, putting a lot of pressure on the pedals, but also the knees. (Sadly, my back tyre wasn't as tough as my knees, and I got not one, but two punctures, so on Monday I went to a shop with a good range of bikes, and got a more puncture resistant tyre!) I had made a special effort to include Bielefeld in my journey, because they are the second city in Germany to become an official transition community, and I had met Gerd Wessling, the main organiser of the transition initiative there, at a meeting in Brussels over three weeks ago. Silke Berger from the local BUND (Friends of the Earth) group was an enormous help, organising a meeting and a place to stay with Ursula Gindele-Berendonk and her husband (who had to come out an find me when I got lost late at night trying to find my way back after the meeting.) The meeting, at the Umwelt Zentrum (environment centre), was attended by representatives of both the local papers. I described my journey and reasons for doing it, so I hope the people of Bielefeld wake up to the importance of the Copenhagen talks.

Muenster

After spending Friday night with Elly and Ariane, I had another long day on Saturday - a 70km ride over the border into Germany to Muenster. It was strange to think that such national borders had had such significance in the past; now I hardly even noticed it. Elly accompanied me over the border, and said she often goes shopping there.

We passed through a nature reserve which is being considered for Natura 2000 status, before I went on alone on the long road to Muenster. I arrived at the youth hostel where I had been intending to stay to find it full, but they directed me to a cheap hotel nearby, where I indulged myself by switching on the TV when I awoke early in the morning (I haven't owned a TV myself for several years). To my surprise I found myself watching a discussion on the Copenhagen climate talks I am aiming for - it just goes to show that the media are waking up to their importance, so maybe we might just get a good deal there - we have to keep putting on the pressure anyway.

Enschede

I haven't been keeping the blog up to date recently because things have been far too hectic, with lots of long journeys and not many days in one place.
The journey from Zwolle to Enschede was about 70 km, I was accompanied by Huib Poortman, and we were interviewed for both radio and television by RTV Oost. http://www.rtvoost.nl/nieuws/default.aspx?nid=102858

On the way from Zwolle to Enschede we passed through the Salland National Park, a beautiful piece of heathland to the west of Enschede, before arriving in Buurse, just to the south of Enschede, where we were treated to a delicious slow food meal by Elly and Ariane. They had also invited Daphne Dertien, a Groen Links councillor on the regional council, and we had an interesting discussion about her work as a councillor, before Huib had to depart to go back home to Rotterdam. Huib has now accompanied me for several days, but this is the last I shall see of him; I shall miss his friendly advice.

Zwolle

The journey from Dronten to Zwolle was pretty rough - lots of rain and a cold north easterly wind - I begin to wish I had bought the velomobile in Ghent, as it was an all weather vehicle, even having a hood to put on when it rains, but the rain eased off, and I was put in a much better mood when I met Herman Reuvekamp from the Groen Links and we went for a warming bowl of soup - when Herman explained what I was doing the restaurant (Olde Vismarket) let me eat for free. Had a marvellous time with the Groen Links group in Zwolle, visiting a sustainable housing development run by the local authority, and a restaurant in an earthship (a building constructed from waste materials).

Flevoland - A positive vision of the future

At last I have found an area where wind has been fully embraced without hesitation.
The flat landscape provides a lot of wind power (enough to blow my trike along when I left it unattended without the brake!) and wind turbines were everywhere, providing an amazing 60% of the region's energy.
I recorded a video, and couldn't resist adding a caustic comment about the number of schemes blocked by NIMBYs in Britain, and the number of lives this has cost.
I took a picture of Frans van Schoot in his velomobile next to a wind turbine - the future of energy and transport - I hope!
While I was in Flevoland Frans also took me to an ecological housing development. The houses have solar panels and insulation and the gardens are carefully designed to be kind to the environment.
In Dronten I visited one of the few factories where velomobiles are manufactured . It is a shame there are not more of these; I think they have the potential to act as a substitute for a car - you can go quite fast, as long as you are reasonably strong, and it isn't too hilly, and with some of them you can put a roof up when it's raining so you stay dry