day 111 - 58 km
La Croix en Brie - Trilport
It is quite a long drive to the tree bike, after we are all packed up and we leave our log cabin in the woods. I ride with Daan and Sanne with Richard. The bells are ringing twelve o’clock as we start our leg of the day on the tree bike, about sixty kilometers. Richard cycles along with the tree bike. We haven’t been on the road five minutes or we stop to record the movie for Arcadia. Tomorrow is the last Arcadia day. It is a quiet place here and we want to film the tree bike from the car. The theme of the last Sunday of “San Dei” is “little happiness. I explain that we have encountered that thousands of times on our Tour. Lots of happy people getting birthday trees, surprised smiling people seeing the tree bike passing by, and so on. Much of the route is very similar to yesterday. A gently rolling open landscape dominated by agriculture with small villages in between. The cultivators are already hard at work again. The end of the season is in sight. So we cycle towards Pommeuse which is at the height of Paris. This area is again super small-scale with many houses that are very focused on “me-for-my-own”, at least that’s how it seems with all the high walls and fences. As we cycle out again, the landscape is open again with lots of agriculture. The roads, highways and rail lines also become more dominant. We are close to Paris. Logical, then. It is also striking that we are so close to Paris and still see such rural areas. But you have that around every big city in my opinion. We end our stage today in Trilport. Sanne is already there and is updating the Polarsteps in ‘Le Mouflon d’or’. A nice garden atmosphere. We hardly realize it yet but we are up to Paris. We may, after dinner, put the tree bike behind the restaurant. While we are arranging that, a major accident happens right in front, a huge bang and one car on its side. The rescue workers and ambulance are quickly on the scene. How the people in the car are I don’t know, we couldn’t do anything and drove away so as not to get in the way. A good half hour drive to our Gite on the farm in Sennevieres, north of Meaux. What a nice and spacious place. Here we will stay four nights if I am not mistaken. Tomorrow and the day after are our two non-cycling days. Nice little break. No new congregations today because it is Saturday. And also the number of trees handed out is limited, there were few people on the streets. Or maybe we are cycling too fast?
Mon Aug 25 - day 113
Our stay in Sennevieres is nice, even though it is crowded with planes landing or taking off in Paris and passing over here. The weather is lovely, blue sky, twenty-five degrees, and we have breakfast in the garden. Let’s hope the tree bike is having a good time in Trilport, too. These two days of not cycling gives us the space to recover a bit and do the things that linger a bit during cycling, such as emails, as well as updating the big map, doing bookings, socials, etc. Now that we are passing Paris, without really noticing it at about fifty kilometers away, we are starting to prepare for the last weeks of our Tour where we are already entering Belgium starting at the end of this week and arriving in Holland at the beginning of September. With Kortrijk and Bruges we are already in contact and they already have a program in preparation there. And also in the Netherlands there are several locations where they are working on a program, at least in Zandvoort, Alkmaar and Dijk en Waard. But maybe also in Zeeland and in The Hague. And then of course the finale, our arrival in Leeuwarden on Saturday, September 13. Where it would be great if many people bike along to Leeuwarden that day. Let’s hope there will be some media attention. No matter how special everyone thinks the project is, it remains difficult to get media attention for it. And yes, in this test year it is mainly about making contacts and therefore mainly about local media, but it would be very nice if the national media in Belgium and the Netherlands would also pay attention to this. After all, a tree has never before cycled across a circle through Europe, five thousand kilometers in five months. At lunch, Willem and Simonne join us for lunch, they will be cycling with us tomorrow and Wednesday. This Monday goes like a real Sunday. We get a lot done in a relaxed atmosphere. Tomorrow we can cycle again.
Sun Aug 24 - day 112
This morning Richard is taking Daan to Gare du Nord in Paris, a short hour’s drive from Sennevieres, for a short week in the Netherlands. He will be back at the end of the week. With Sanne on this Sunday morning I do some shopping in the next village so we don’t have to do any shopping tomorrow. It is a real Sunday, taking it easy, a little “chilling” as Daan calls it. I make a first plan for the co-cyclists on the arrival day on Saturday, September 13, in Leeuwarden. Tomorrow I consult with Rijkswaterstaat again about the best solution for crossing the Afsluitdijk, because the bike path is not accessible because both locks in Den Oever and Kornwerderzand are construction sites. And we really do want to get across. Tomorrow I hope to get more clarity. Next Tuesday and Wednesday Willem and Simonne are cycling with us; they are coming from Amersfoort and arrive this afternoon. Cozy. While cycling yesterday on the tree bike, which for me is also a light form of meditation, I thought about the possible role artists can play in Circle4Change. How wonderful it would be if artists felt inspired to add new layers and perspectives to our story. I think a great example is the story The Story of the Straight Line by Nynke Laverman, from her new program OAK. About a small dot who wants to become the longest line ever, in search of eternal fame. The story is a beautiful and poetic persiflage on our society in which “progress” and “growth” are still held in high regard. That the straight line under the influence of forces from below eventually deflects into a circle is of course not inspired by our Circle4Change but it has a wonderful kinship. When artists add new layers in this way that form new inspiring perspectives for Circle4Change, it is of course truly a wonderful enrichment. Just thinking about it again. Because it is a prerequisite that artists feel totally free to create their own work. How do we encourage collaborations so that it enriches each other is perhaps the most important question. We have a lovely dinner in the garden, and after we have done enough socials, reports, emails and route planning again, we wish each other a good night’s sleep.