On Monday and Tuesday this week, the 8th annual AlterTour, described as the "Alternative Tour de France" visited Luxembourg; starting and ending in France and passing through the Grand Duchy and Belgium, the AlterTour lasts 5 weeks from 18 July to 23 August with cyclists riding thousands of kilometers to meet and learn, all along their route, about alternatives to climate change.

Their aim is to be another “Tour de France” but without drugs or competition and in the spirit of helping each other, all in good humour and by simply being friends, bearers and active promoters of good alternatives.

After arriving from Thionville along the Moselle river, the tour stopped in Luxembourg-Beggen where they met with represenativers of Transition Minett and Greenpeace Luxembourg around a wood fire, with film screenings, discussions and exchanges on alternatives and different possibilities. They were joined by a another group from Alternatiba in advance of the ‘Sommet Climatique in Paris’ at the end of 2015.

On Tuesday, after meeting with Luxembourg's Minister of the Environment, Carole Deischbourg, they made their way to Beckerich in the north-west of the Grand Duchy before they set off again on Wednesday for Marbehan in Belgium.

Tuesday eveing in Becherich saw the Centre Ecological Learning Luxembourg (CELL) and Transition West hosting the overnight stop for the cycling team which also involved a numer of other interested parties join for the evening. Camille Gira, former mayor of Beckerich and current Secretary of State for the Environment, spoke about how they had reinvigorated the rather run-down villages in the muniicpality by joining together local people and businesses and by creating their own local currency, the "Beki", for exchange of local services in preference to consuming foreign produce. They even have their own printed notes and which are accepted locally by some 75 or more companies, associations, etc., and are even exchangeable at the BCEE, rather like the town of Totnes in Devon, UK, which is another Transition town.

After the presentation the attendees were treated to a shared meal with mulled wine and other drinks followed by dancing to African music in a relaxed and enriching style.

For further Information, see www.greenpeace.lu,  www.transition-minett.lu , www.cell.lu,  www.transitionwest.lu  and www.beki.lu

Photo by Clive Munn