Hitchgathering/2015/Location suggestions

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Main gathering location proposition

There is likely to be many pregatherings scatered around Europe, leading towards the main gathering. We need to find out where that is first before building a network of smaller parties around it.

Already last year the idea was around to have two main gathering, connected by a kind of rally. Leipzig and fontpedrouse are about 1600km apart, with most of it being highways. Its a perfect route to do a lot of mileage in little time, two days maybe. We could for example start the hitchgathering in leipzig on the first of august, then from the forth to the seventh (so not everyone has to leave at the same time) continue it on the gasstation in between leipzig and fontpedrouse and then open end at the hot pools. The rules of the rally would be this: everyone hitches in a team of two. whenever you meet another team, if possible you have to stop and exchange one team member. -- Clem (talk)

Locations in the Poll

A. Ardèche, South-east France (+ Grenoble ?)

Suggested by lapouceuse

The spot is in St. Laurent du Pape. The spot would be perfect to spend some good time among us, organize workshops, prepare ourselves for some public actions that we could organize in Grenoble, a medium-size town where we could move just afterwards. Read below for more details.

The place is a collective farm in south-east france, 20K from valence (south of lyon). About 15 people live there together, growing fruits and veggies, baking bread, making goat cheese for themselves and for supporting local struggles.

I know them relatively well, I spent 3 weeks down there and since then we met quite regularly for some political actions and activities. The place where they live is quite lost in the hills (not a good spot for a gathering), but they own some fields in the valley closeby where their main economic activities take place ; there are more or less 2-3ha cultivated with apple trees, cereals and veggies, and a bigger "wild" area (that's where we could camp).

Logistics
  • I would say that 2-300 tents could easily fit, possibly more. They use to host events pretty often down there, and most of the logistical issues could be easily worked out :
  • Water : there's 1ton tank that we can fill before the gathering with drinkable water (and refill if needed)
  • Electricity : small connection available, for charging cell phones but not much more
  • Toilets : 2 dry toilets are already built and available
  • Collective spaces : they could lend us 2 big tents (12x5m), that in case of rain could become our collective spaces.
  • As far as food is concerned, some scouting is needed for finding good dumpster-diving spots ; there should also be a way to get some organic fruit&veggies from them in exchange for work (needs to be discussed).
  • The location is pretty nice, it's close to a small river with a beautiful stony beach where I already took many nice baths : )
  • The closest neighbours are quite faraway, we shouldn't have any problems about noise.
  • About the date, 2015-08-01 would be perfect, because at the beginning of September the whole place (except the cultivated areas) gets regularly inundated.
  • To get there by hitchhiking is quite simple, it's some 20k away from the A7, one of the biggest French highways (Lyon-Marseille), and people are cool, it's one of the most alternative regions in France.

Since logistics should go quite fast, organizing the gathering in this place would allow us, if we want to, to have more energy left for preparing actions/workshops - or just having a more relaxed everyday life : )

Grenoble

One more point, if - as suggested - we want to organize some actions in town, Grenoble is 100K far, it's a pretty alternative medium-size student town, surrounded by beautiful mountains, with one of the biggest squat scenes in france. I lived there 3 months and I would say that it could be pretty easy to find local partners for actions, and that finding places for the night wouldn't be a problem.

B. Lille Stensrud in Southern Norway

Suggested by Warlo

This spot (here -- south of Oslo) offers a small lake, unrestricted camping in the forest/by the lake with the closest neighbours being a Wagenplatz (occupied area where people live in trailers) and a squat, both sympathetic to a hitchgathering. There is a good dumpster nearby and the possibility of getting bicycles from the squatters to go to further dumpsters. Some cons that have been voiced include the potentiality of bad weather, expensive alcohol (although Zenit knows a nearby source for cheap greenery :-) and the distance to mainland Europe. Some pros are the great dumpsters, good neighbours, the promotion of hitchhiking in Scandinavia, a display of alternative life in Oslo (I hear the city needs it) and indeed the distance to mainland Europe... after all, what kind of hitchgathering folks are afraid of the long road to Oslo?? :-)

  • Are hitchhikers so effing reliant on cheap alcohol to have a great time? Yuck, yuck, yuck! Prinoblog, talk 15:26, 15 March 2015 (CET)


Further Old Text

Leipzig, Germany

I nominate Leipzig because that's where I live and I can do shit in advance. -- Sitarane (talk)

Leipzig is a 500,000 people town in East-Germany that main attractivity is that it's insanely cheap, there's always good shit going on and it's probably the only city in the world that has forests inside it. Good place to camp for us.

Pros

  • You can camp in the city, away from notice, thanks to the insane amount of forest between the neighborhood.
  • Cheap everything.
  • Full of punks. Free shops, free kitchen (Vokü), squats, you name it.

Cons

  • Bad weather (Even in august, there can be cold and rain, though unlikely)

Other

  • It's a city.

The early gatherings were all in cities, and seen as a media event: One hundred hitchikers converge on one place in Europe to show that hitchhiking is safe and good. Starting with Portugal, it has evolved into just meeting up and having a good time, away from civilization. We could go back to the old paradigm, if only for the sake of doing things different.

  • It's in Schengen

Good for Schengeners, bad for everyone else.

Fontpedrouse, France

See nomadwiki. Suggested by Clemens. I Just copied some pieces from the mailinglist and nomadwiki. --N0id (talk) 18:26, 1 September 2014 (UTC)

  • there's plenty of space to free camp (200 people should be fine), fresh drinking water, firewood, and a lot of people go there (its a bit like kara dere in this respect, not that many people actually, but also not as big a location). the hot springs should be big enough for about 30 people at a time, but can be extended.
  • Free camping and fire are no problem, but keep the place clean and take your trashes down to the village with you
  • there's a local farmers market about 10km away, but not much local dumpster diving. its 75km from andorra (mountain roads, a doable one day return hitch if you start early), so people who pass by there can go dumpster some junk food (at least thats what i mainly found there) and buy cheap booze.
  • when clemens was there a year ago there was some guy camping there since 10months already together with fluctuating community of rainbow folks. they said that they were in contact with the owner of the land, who lets them stay there for free as long as they make sure that no one litters or trashes the place

Pros

  • Camping and fire is not a problem
  • Hot springs (would be a first :) )

Cons

  • Shop / Supplies far away
  • No dumpster diving -- ACTUALLY it is possible and quite good.There is a Super U and a Lidl in Egat village. or nearby there. it's like 20 km from the hot springs which is not so bad and hitching is nice in that area anyway. U can also go shopping over there..

Date

Historically we have followed a numerology that dictates the next gathering should be on the 1st of August. This is the last year we can follow that tradition, but that doesn't mean we have to follow it.