9000 km from France to Kazakhstan by solar bicycle

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Pauline de La Marnierre, a former Alstom Transport employee in Kazakhstan, will complete a 9000 km bike trip in just 2 months, passing through 10 Alstom Transport sites from Belfort, France, to Astana Kazakhstan, starting 16 May 2015.

With this challenging expedition Pauline, who worked in and travelled around Kazakhstan for two-and-a-half years, is determined to prove that Central Asia is not that far away. The adventure will also serve a good cause: the objective is to raise funds for an Alstom Foundation project in Ethiopia, which aims to increase local access to water through the use of solar pumping systems.  If sufficient funds are gathered, Electriciens sans Frontières, Alstoms partner on the Ethiopian project, will be able to install three new water pumps in the Afar region, guaranteeing free-of-charge water access every day for 750 people for 10 to 15 years.

This expedition is part of the Sun Trip bicycle ride¹, where the participants use specially-designed solar bikes, acting as ambassadors for solar energy and eco-mobility.

Over two months, Pauline will pass through ten Alstom Transport sites: Belfort, Ornans, Le Creusot, Villeurbanne, Milan, Bucharest, Istanbul, Tbilisi, Baku, and Astana².

[1] Yearly international bicycle ride, promoting eco-mobility, established in 2013. For more information please visit http://thesuntrip.com/
[2] You can follow the expedition on Paulines blog https://suntripping.wordpress.com/