The Wobblin' Sprocket

It’s a little hard to capture some of what happens on tours.

Part of the deal is food. It’s not always fine dining with white table cloths (although, at night, it usually is).

Everyone is on their own for lunch. Who would have thought you could find big ol’ burgers in Slovenia? Once we found them, it was tough to resist. Especially when they are man sized burgers that have you contemplating what life without burgers might actually be like. As it turned out, given the “bunnage” to meat ratio of these, life might actually be a lot better. It was kind of like eating a loaf of bread, with a side salad. It did take two hands though.

It isn’t all big burgers. We had some great fish and seafood including these trout on the ride into Tolmin. The restaurant is right above a pen where they have live trout. Slovenia is known for world class fly fishing for trout.

After a long day in the bike saddle, what might be better than to stop in the lounge at the hotel and relax with a cup of coffee or a tall cool one?

….it certainly is not, however, to spend more time in the saddle…..a horse saddle. But that is exactly what we did in Tolmin. Giddie up, cowboys (and cowgirl)!

Brian flew the coop this morning so it is down to me in LJU.

It’s kind of cold and overcast so more of a walking day than a biking day. This isn’t really a big city but it seems like everytime I go out in it to explore, I come across something sort of funky and kooky. Perhaps, it is because the population is so young. The average age can’t be much over 30.

Anyway, near the Hostel Celica (a prison turned Hostel…..where you literally check yourself into jail), I came across what looks to be an artist compound. Lot’s of professional looking graffiti and funkadelic galleries. You can find some of this kind of thing all over town, but this place has to be the nerve center. Check it out:

The best for last. If you are going to create stuff like this, you need some cool wheels…..an old Citroen XM…never mind that you’ll never get more than two inches off the ground…much less your destination.

I love it.

We made it back to LJU no problems. On the last bit Steve took the main road and everyone else took the back road by Turjak Castle.

Steve is off to Rome to meet up with his wife and some sightseeing. Ray and Duane are back to work in the US. Graeme is off to Toulouse where he and his wife have rented a small boat to navigate the canals on.  When he is done with that, he will move on to another Far and Away Cycling tour in Corsica.  Brian and I are hanging in Ljubljana for a couple more days before he heads home to Baltimore and I move on to Corsica.

Here is a shot of us having our final dinner.

The weather was just about perfect for the trip.  It never really rained, which is unusual on a week long tour.

Thanks to everyone who made this tour so much fun.

There are a bunch of very good pics that I have seen in Brian’s camera.  I’ll try to post some more shortly.

Best,

Bob