Unfair to Bosnia-Herzegovina?

Oh dear.

Now that Gail is back and her head has recovered from sharing a late evening Frankfurt - Aberdeen flight with a stag party comprising builders from Fraserburgh, she is worrying that I may have unfairly misrepresented the country  of Bosnia-Herzegovina (BiH) in my last post. She has asked that I correct any unfortunate impressions that the country in any way resembles Cumbernauld*.

Bosnia and Cumbernauld - absolutely no similarity?

Given that Gail claimed to have been on a bicycling tour, I imagined that her photographs of BiH would involve lots of energetic folk puffing and panting up the mountains on their bikes.

So I was a bit surprised when she said: “Look Bertie, see how we were treated like royalty in Bosnia. Like at the Hotel Park in Siroki Brijeg, where we were plied with a champagne breakfast on the house before setting off on the day’s ride”.

Gosh, and Gail claims it is mere coincidence that they got lost up a remote mountain track later that particular morning...

Then Gail showed me some of her photos of the town of Mostar…

… but when I examined the pictures more closely, and saw that some of the buildings are still pock marked with bullet holes from the 1992-5 war, I wondered if Gail might have been better off visiting Cumbernauld after all.

Oh but look, here is Gail’s friend Jo, still in Mostar and mighty happy at having tracked down a replacement for her Lufthansa-damaged gear levers. Or had she been at the champagne again…?

More photos and I was beginning to think these so-called ‘cyclists’ spent all their time inside, eating and drinking. In which case, they could have taken me along too, don't you think?

In this cafe, behind the men playing cards, there seems to be a poster of a General on the wall. Gail tells me she asked the friendly cafe owner about him and was proudly told that this man was a big local hero from 1993,  who had been "sent to the Hague but later let off." So, er, that's all right then?

Oh my goodness, at last, a photo in which, on the hairpin bend, you'll see some of Gail's group actually riding their bikes!

But we have to wait until they reach Croatia before the sun comes out it all starts to look a bit more like the sort of holiday normal humans take...

Oh and, since you ask, yes I was OK in 'camp'. 

I suppose.

*See comment from Angus on previous post