We all have at least one Hobby Horse, don’t we? That thing that switches that internal switch. That thing that makes you say “Now don’t you dare get me going!” You become a rider on a runaway. Accelerate to a gallop in a little under two seconds. Feel the wind in your hair and the adrenaline rush. Find it virtually impossible to rein in the reins. Sometimes at huge cost.
We’ve done well. Feeling pretty pleased with ourselves. Almost God-Like. Eight days away. Feels like forever. Well, eight thousand years anyway. Just over 1000 miles to the good. By and large it has been good. Now, it’s time to rest up. (Even if it is a day later than The Standard). Take a day off. So, we do just that. Order a two-nighter. Pitch up at Camping Kekec near the base of Pohorje Mountain. Serious MTB and skiing territory. A short bus ride from Maribor centre.
The men’s shower facilities here are not quite pukka. Open to the elements is how best to describe them. No roof. Door, short top and bottom. Not what you want when the night-time and early morning temperature is zero and threatening to turn you into a look-alike Eunoch. The other thing you don’t want is cigarette smoke wafting through your cubicle just when you’re trying to freshen up. That’s exactly what I got this morning. Can’t stand it. If a car in front on a motorway has a smoker at its wheel, then I can smell it. I can taste it even. So, when it’s close up it really does my head in. The best law passed in recent times has been the banning of smoking inside public places. Now they need to pass another. Create ‘Fag-Free’ zones around every entrance to every public place. Should we really have to pass through a tunnel of dirty smoke every time we exit Tesco? or a cinema, theatre, restaurant, blah, blah blah . . .? And what about Al Fresco dining? Just because there’s an abundance of air it’s assumed that it’s OK. It’s not. Yuk! All outside dining should be Fag-Free too. Period.
As I was saying before I so rudely interrupted myself. We take the bus into Maribor. There are one or two things we want to take a look at. The first is the oldest living vine in the world. Certified in the Guinness Book of Records as being at least 375 years old.
About one hundred litres of red wine are produced from this one vine each year. None of it for sale. All packaged as special 100ml gifts. Resemble small flattened chemistry lab bottles. The type you expect to contain formaldehyde. The Mayor presents them to VIPs. Some from around the world. They include our Queen. We weren’t considered special enough. Maybe just not old enough. Maybe it’s time to increase consumption . . .
Second on our list is Maribor Castle. It’s closed. It’s Monday. It’s not a castle. Just a large building in the centre of town. Not even high up. Around the corner this impressive war memorial. [‘The Castle’ is behind this monument – see what I mean?]
Around the corner we come across a fifty metre display of then and now photographs. Then being early sixties. Each pair twinned at the same Maribor location. These two amongst our favourites.
We finish our day with a riverside walk and a coffee and cake. (no image of the cake available – it didn’t last that long)
