Greetings from Ljubljana

So we are here in the hotel Cubo at the start of our trip. Naturally getting here has not been without its challenges. I eventually got a flight out of Khartoum after a bout of local sand storms and got back to the UK on Thursday afternoon. I dropped the bike off at the local bike specialists as it needed a lot of love after 2 years of riding in the desert, new bearings, wheels, gears, chain etc. etc. Then headed back to the house to catch up with the family and pack. Met the chaps in the pub that evening for some essential planning where I discovered the idea was to head for the airport at 03:30 on Saturday morning.

Made it to Slovinia

 And so it was we got to Luton airport this morning, full of that special breed of humourless British holiday maker. After a staggeringly big breakfast we fell onto the plane where I spent the time lost in conversation with Chris, nice to catch up with the guys after having been away for so long. The hotel Cubo is a well appointed place with a contemporary feel, we checked into our rooms and started the serious business of building bikes. All the usual problems, Jeremy’s saddle wouldn’t fit into the titanium down tube until we had applied the hair dryer to it for several minutes, Graham stripped the thread on his derailleur, I broke a fixing that holds a bag onto my handlebars and Chris couldn’t get 1st and 2nd gear to work. Usual stuff but of sufficient magnitude to warrant searching out the local bike shop.

The bike building ritual

Graham’s unerring sense of direction got us to an excellent establishment where competent Slovenian mechanics fixed everything and then it was off to the bar for some refreshment.

Lovely sunny afternoon in  Ljubljana 

Its the first time I’ve been to this part of the world and Ljubljana is beautiful; green fields with a backdrop of snow covered mountains. The town itself has that eastern an European feel with grand architecture in a variety of flaking pastel shades and elaborate churches with exotic spires. We found a bar by the river and parking our bikes by some railings we settled in for the afternoon. The conversation turned to the BREXIT referendum. Two passionately in favour of the UK getting out, three passionately in favour of us staying part of Europe (the correct answer by the way) I can see some increasingly heated debates as we get into the week.

This evening we wandered through the City, a cafe society, youth, wine, laughter. A place with a sense of optimism and hope for the future. Julija is traditional restaurant, blackboards, good food and tables spilling out onto the street. The big news is that its Jeremy’s birthday today. We ordered a local champagne, Zlata penina. We fell into laughter and excitement about the week to come.

Jeremy. "This is the most miserable birthday I've ever had

Destination is Piran tomorrow, 145km and a couple of thousand meters of climbing.

Keep you posted