Slovenia – land of the free

Last autumn, Brad and I arrived in Slovenia. We were not there for a holiday (half the luggage weight was laptops and books), but we just wanted to stare at something other than the same study walls that had surrounded us for the past two years. We set up office in a wood cabin. Our view, in the north-eastern corner of Slovenia, was of vineyards.

Come the weekend, the alarm stridently kicked us out of bed at some ungodly pre-dawn hour. We scrabbled for clothes/boots/jackets, threw back a mug...