By Toño Peña, rewritting the press release sent to media
Fifteen people from Corella, ten students/volunteers and five adults, went to Dublin between the 24th and 30th of June. It was the second LTT (learning and training meeting) of our project.
Biciclistas de Corella contributed seven representatives and Alhama High School eight. Frie Fugle (Denmark) and LAG Suduva (Lithuania) travelled with ten people each. 55 people participated enthusiatically in the organized activities. Our Irish partners and hosts devised a very complete, relevant and entertaining LTT. As in the previous meeting held in Corella in March, the events organized had to do with social inclusion, intergenerational relations, community building and sustainable mobility.
Our LTT in Dublin coincided with Velo-City international bicycle congress, which had 300 speakers and 1,300 people registered. Toño Peña, representing the five Erasmus partners, explained in Velo-City «Sustainable mobility, sustainable community» project and how it was evolved to date in Corella: markets and multicultural meetings, activities in Alhama High School (bike donation campaign, DIY bike-repair workshop, logo contest, bike room …), becoming part of CWA (Yayacleta, training courses for pilots and rides with elders), etc. Besides, Toño Peña explained the first LTT in Spain (March 2019) and the new relationships and synergies that this project has created between the five European partners.
The week was full of events: cultural visits (Trinity College, parliament, Howth Peninsula), bike rides through Phoenix Park, environmental workshops, talks, debates with politicians, museums, tree planting … A very special event was the Velo-City bike parade, in which 1,500 people pedaled 10 km to St. Ann Park. The Erasmus participants enjoyed the parade and the activities (bike shows, volleyball…) in the Park, but the way back was neither entertaining nor safe: we all were forced to ride through Dublin and found out how dangerous and stressful it is to pedal through a city that hardly has cycling infrastructure and with a very dense and hostile traffic. However, we must recognize that, although there is much work ahead, the city is taking measures to pacify traffic, facilitate mobility by bike and strengthen public transport. By the way, during the week of activities, all possible means of transport were used: van to go to the airport, plane and, once in Dublin, only the most sustainable (train, tram, bus, boat, bicycle and walk).
The international meeting finished with a farewell dinner in Howth with Irish music and a Riverdance show. The five partners said goodbye until October, when the third LTT meeting in Copenhagen will be held. The fourth will take place in Lithuania in April 2020.
