Bardic Bike Tour

In Summer 2012 members of the SPEAK Network embarked on a round-the-country bike tour linking up sites of historical and modern-day protest with local SPEAK groups; all permeated with moments of creative prophetic action, poetry and song. Now in 2013, the journey continues...

How to do your own leg of the Bardic Bike Tour

  1. Jump on a bike and pedal your way to a nearby site that is significant for you in the struggle for justice. So for example it could be where an historic workers' protest once happened, or it could be an RAF base, or it could be a church, or a martyr's tomb, or a site of environmental destruction, etc.
  2. Bring friends along (it can be a lot more fun!)
  3. Oh, and don't forget some water too...
  4. Plan an action to do at the start/end/during your leg of the Bardic Bike Tour! This could be as simple as a poem or song or prayer, or it could be as wild as a demonstration or an event for your community. A candle-lit vigil for peace? A yellow-clothed flashmob for solar power? Some guerilla gardening for food sustainability? Get inventive, get reflective, get prophetic and get radical...
  5. Let us help you promote your leg - we can tell other SPEAK members, churches and activists in your area, help develop a local press release, and blog about it online too!
  6. Record the route on the interactive map to keep track of our progress as a network! Count the miles you've cycled (if 2 people have cycled together, it counts double, and so on), and we'll add them to the total.
  7. Ask friends & family for sponsorship! To be sustainable as a network, SPEAK needs our supporters who regularly pray & campaign for justice to also engage in fundraising events (coined a 'SPEAKathon'). So aim to get £1 for every mile you cycle - it's not much - and contribute it through a give.net page.

Givenet-fundraise-v2-red

  • Register with give.net
  • Create your page
  • Let us know so that we can publicise and promote your feat

For more information and tips on taking part in this pedal-powered adventure, check out the SPEAK-a-thon guide to the Bardic Bike Tour (pdf).

The target: 1,103 miles for £1,103

One thousand, one hundred and three is the number of times that creation is mentioned in the Bible* - so as a network, let's aim to collectively cycle a total of 1,103 miles! And make some noise (figuratively, and maybe literally as well if your bike is a bit squeaky) for justice!

Bardic Bike Tour 2013

In 2013, we will be moving into the next phase of the Bardic Tour, when we home to be getting even more people on their saddles and cycling for justice. We'll be teaming up with Music Speaks to put poets on the road, cycling from festival to festival. For more information, check out www.speak.org.uk/bardictourmusicspeaks, and have a read of the SPEAK-a-thon guide to the Bardic Bike Tour (pdf) for more tips on how to take part, fundraise, survive long-distance bike-rides and more...

"Then justice will dwell in the wilderness,
and righteousness abide in the fruitful field."
[Isaiah 32:16]

*according to the Green Bible (2008), NRSV, London:HarperCollins