day 64 - 43 km
Postaja - Ozeljan (Nova Gorica)
We arrived in Nova Gorica. We have made it. A special moment to see the sign for Nova Gorica pop up after sixty-five days. We are halfway through the Tour. It is still a chore every morning to load the cars with all our stuff. Sanne drives to Nova Gorica to assist Theo with setting up the expo at the station and to talk to Sasa and Katja about the program for the next few days. Daan, Richard and I drive via Cerkno, where we pop into the town hall for a chat about our project and exchange address details, on to Postaja where the tree bike is waiting nicely in the shade. We give a tree to the chef of the restaurant “Gostilna Pri Stefanu” and get on our bikes. Daan bikes along, Richard follows with the car. We changed the route slightly so that we don’t have to climb as much, but as a result there is a lot more traffic racing past us. These roads are heavily used also by truck traffic. And yes that is not very pleasant. It is also hot today, uphill and sweating. Lots of thumbs up and honking. That is fun of course. In the town of Kanal we enter the town hall around three o’clock. There is only one lady left on this Friday afternoon and to her, Petra, we give the forest book and a tree, take a picture and exchange addresses. It is about five o’clock when we reach the outskirts of Nova Gorica. Just a little bit through the tunnel, which was actually not allowed I noticed afterwards, and I can understand why. Just the sound of the truck is still tunnel is terrifying. Glad we made it through. Another eight kilometers to our stay in Ozeljan South East of Nova Gorica. When we get there we unpack the car and drive to the train station where Theo is building the exhibit about Circle4Change. Looks nice with banners and the film running of the tree bike. The trailer will be added and also the floor map, which will be taped to the floor tomorrow. Vincent has also arrived. All together, we eat at a pizzeria. We try on a terrace because the weather is so nice but unfortunately that doesn’t work on a Friday night without a reservation. However tired we are, we are very happy to be there. And even though we are only halfway through, we managed the first half and that is a great achievement. After dinner, Vincent takes one of our bikes to his overnight spot, and Theo goes back to his location as well. We ride to Ozeljan. It is still warm when we get home. We puff out some more, shower and go to sleep. Tomorrow the tree bike will really come to Europe Square in Nova Gorica, the south pole of our circle. I am curious.