We Do Adventure

We haven't owned a car since we left the UK and, despite having access to vehicles through our work with Novi Most, I think we can say we've significantly cut back on our personal use of the combustion engine. The truth is, however, that this hasn't been driven by any strongly held environmental convictions but simply by the fact that both in Mostar and now in Jajce it is quicker and more convenient to walk, due to how close we've lived to where we are working. But as with every rule there are exceptions, here's evidence of us about to make an inexcusably short drive!

Last night I was talking to some of the young people we used to work with back in the UK. I had showed them some video of what we’re up to in Mostar, answered a whole bunch of their questions and finished off by talking about the big lesson I know I’ve learned since arriving in Bosnia and Herzegovina. I talked about what it feels like to cycle up onto the mountains around Mostar and ponder just how many deadly explosive devices still litter this landscape; how strange it is to have a conversation with a former Army bomb disposal expert about what hitting an anti-personnel mine might do to me and my mountain bike. Such a scenario is obviously best avoided. This is just one, admittedly dramatic, example of the lesson that is “don’t let fear run (or ruin) your life”. It’s all too easily done. At the less life-threatening end of the scale is the fear of making a fool of yourself with a failed phrase in local language. The temptation: to keep your mouth shut. Back on the bike the temptati...