The End

Well we made it back home. The last couple of days in Belgrade were great. We saw the most magnificent crypt at St Sava, recently completed and awe inspiring. We also had a magnificent farewell dinner with our Serbian mates, complete with the best live traditional music that we've struck along the entire journey and lasting late into the night. Well, late for us, but it seemed like the party was only just getting started for the group of 30 or so women who we were sharing the restaurant with ;-).

The last day was relatively quiet, with a walk back up to Kalemegdan fortress to have a final lunch overlooking the confluence of the Danube and Sava rivers, and then farewell to Kate and Colleen as they headed off to Italy. Packing and resting followed that, and then a quiet dinner and a nice Italian restaurant, where Kieran finally got to taste the raspberry rakija that he has been keen on trying for the whole trip. The night was most notable for being the only time in the whole trip that we arrived home wet, as a weather front came in as we were having dinner and we got soaked on the way home. Beats having it happen on the bike, and we are thankful that the rain avoided us for most of the trip.

We are extremely grateful to Nemenja who very graciously packed our bikes for us, and to Nikola and Dragana for putting us in touch with him. Vlad and Dragan acted as our transportation officers to the airport and checking in was only a minor hassle with the two bike boxes. The biggest issue was with the tools packed in the luggage - apparently the torque wrench (with its contained spring) looked like it might be a modified pistol! Thankfully a quick unpack and repack resolved that problem.

The flights were ordinary in the way that can happen with international travel. Everything was delayed, but we were lucky that the delays cascaded through the system and meant that extra time in the airport in Belgrade meant no time in Abu Dhabi and we managed to catch the last flight back to Canberra, arriving about 2 hours after the scheduled time. Our own beds were most welcome when we got home!

James has been diligent and the bikes are reassembled and ready to go again. Gillian has decided she loves hers, which was completely reliable (if not always completely comfortable) and didn;t miss a beat throughout the whole trip. A couple of parts went missing in the transfer (Gillian's bike box was pretty extensively beaten up by the airline), but for the total sum of $13 these were replaced by the local bike shop. We're actually looking forward to getting cycling again, although maybe not quite as much or quite as far for a little while. Stay tuned for the next adventure...