At the heart of the Otesha Project you’ll find a two-wheeled revolution. Find out how to apply.
Every summer teams of volunteers pedal across the UK stopping at schools, youth clubs, festivals and community events to inspire individuals to take creative and positive action towards a more sustainable future. Tour members receive plenty of training and get skilled up on everything from consensus decision making to bike maintenance.
Tour members will be part of a mobile community of around 15 people who share roles such as meal planning, cooking, meeting facilitation, record keeping, presenting workshops, equipment maintenance, the planning of wild and fun group activities, and all importantly being inspired and inspiring others to live more sustainably! Our longer tours also involve performances of Otesha’s Morning Choices play.
Your goal will be to challenge yourself, learn from your experiences and from the communities you visit, and put a bucket-load of your creativity and energy into making the tour have the biggest impact possible. To join us you don’t need to be an experienced cyclist, educator or performer -you’ll just need to have plenty of enthusiasm and willingness to learn.
- Read about Leah’s life-changing experience on tour in 2011.
- Read about Felicity’s experience in 2009 – and how the cycle tour inspired her to lead her own projects.
- Read Chris’s reflections on what he gained from taking part in Wild West 2008.
- Hear how Matt made ‘friends for life’
Want to join?
If you’re aged 18+ and you want to make a real difference next summer, then come ride with us! Hop on your bike and become part of something big. If you’re up for it, joining the challenging, joyful, rewarding madness that is an Otesha cycle tour could be the experience of a lifetime.
This year we’re running two types of cycle tour. Join us for one of the following:
- Six weeks (Totally Coastal or Western Quest): performing the Otesha play, delivering interactive workshops in schools and youth clubs, sustainability learning/volunteer days, and living as a sustainable mobile community (age 18-28).
- Three weeks (Tastetastic!),our first ever themed shorter tour: plenty of food-centred learning, volunteering and skill shares, delivering interactive workshops in schools and youth clubs, living as a sustainable mobile community (age 18+).
Where we’re going
Totally Coastal (15th June – 28th July 2012)
…does what it says on the tin! This tour will stick close to the picturesque coastline of south-east England. Pedalling across lowlands and up and down small hills, the team will be heading north to the heart of East Anglia before venturing into London for our cycle tour debut in the capital, and a grand finale performance!
Western Quest (10th August – 22nd September 2012)
Whiz around the west on your bicycle this summer. Starting in south Wales, this tour will pedal a wee way north into England and then back south through the rolling hills of Somerset and Devon before meeting the pirates of Penzance.
Tastetastic! (4th-25th August 2012)
Lick your lips and get in gear for our first ever food tour. Tantalise your taste buds on our Tastetastic! tour as you pedal across southern Scotland for three weeks exploring food sustainability.
Visit the individual pages for a little more information about each of the tours.
Tour Liaison internship opportunities
We need six, dedicated, fun loving tour liaisons: three to join Totally Coastal and three to join Western Quest. If you fancy coming on tour and having a little more involvement in route planning, a couple of weeks’ preparation in the office as well as some extra responsibilities on tour we’d love to hear from you. Find out more by downloading the Tour Liaison internship description and application form. The deadline for Tour Liaison applications is 5pm on 27th January 2012. (Please note, we do not require Tour Liaisons for the Tastetastic! three week tour.)
How to Apply
Once you’ve had a really good look around the website, and know how much you’d love to join an Otesha tour you can either apply online or download a word document application form. (If you’re applying for the Tour Liaison internship role, you’ll have to download the application form.) It’s first come first served so apply early if you want to guarantee a place!
Totally Coastal and Western Quest
- Cycle Tour Member – online application form
- Cycle Tour Member – downloadable application form
- Tour Liaison – downloadable application form
Tastetastic!
Fundraising
All tour members fundraise a minimum contribution to cover the costs of the tour. You’ll be offered plenty of advice and support from the Otesha office. You can find out a bit more about fundraising – and plenty of other bits and pieces – on our FAQs page.
The minimum contribution for the six week tours is £850 and the minimum contribution for the three week (Tastetastic!) tour is £600.
Applying from abroad?
We welcome international applications, however if you are applying from abroad we would urge you to consider the impact of your travel. If tour members fly to the UK with the primary purpose of participating in an Otesha cycle tour this undermines both the message and impact of cycling from place to place as a low-carbon mode of transport. If you’re coming from Europe, we would suggest planning to take a train, a coach, or even cycling to the UK. If you’re in North America, why not check out www.otesha.ca? If you’d like to talk to us about this, don’t hesitate to email cycletours@otesha.org.uk.
NOTE: The Otesha Project is an equal opportunity organisation and we value the different expertise and diversity of our volunteers and employees. We strive to make our programs as accessible as possible and will work with committed individuals to ensure participation.