Day 17: Canyon, Chocolate, and…

Day 17: Canyon, Chocolate, and the Book of Waiting for Adem

Sofia → Plovdiv | 173 km

A big day on paper: climb to 1,034metres, then nothing but downhill into Plovdiv. We knew about the climb. We did not know about the first 80 kilometres.

Cycling through a canyon with mountains rising on both sides, snow still sitting on the distant peaks, the kind of scenery that makes you forget you are also going uphill. It felt like Austria. It was Bulgaria. A genuine surprise, and one of the most beautiful stretches of the entire trip. ⛰️

Somewhere in the middle of all this beauty, PJ asked Adem whether he had remembered to take the chocolate and cheese from the minibar before leaving the hotel. He had not. This is becoming a pattern, and we have a working theory: Adem had not had his morning coffee before leaving the room. The routine may need adjusting.

The morning packing situation also deserves its own mention. Adem has a system: everything comes out of the bags, gets organised, and goes back in. Structured, thorough, complete. PJ operates on a different principle: if it does not need to come out, it stays in. The result is that PJ is consistently ready first, which has given him valuable time to work on his book. Current title: Waiting for Adem. It is coming along well. 📖

The temperature management question continues to fascinate. Adem sets off in full winter layers, fleece and all the rest. PJ is in a polo shirt and shorts. Same weather, same road, completely different internal thermostats. We have stopped trying to explain it.
A small correction is also needed from Saturday's post, when we celebrated reaching the highest point of the trip. Today we climbed to 1,030 metres, which is about a hundred metres higher than that. We will not be updating the previous post. Newspapers print errata too, and nobody reads those either.

Lunch charging happened at a coffee tent in the middle of nowhere, run by a man who turned out to own a mountain e-bike and therefore immediately understood what we were about. Bikes welcomed, tables available, plugs in the wall, room to work. Exactly what you need at the halfway point of a long day. ☕

Around six in the evening, as usual, we started working out where we would land for the night. Plovdiv was within reach. Adem pulled up his pre-prepared favourites list on Booking, because of course he has one, and we started calling ahead. Not just to check availability, but to ask the two important questions: can the bikes come inside, and is there any room to negotiate on the price? Today the answer to both was yes. A stunning hotel room, Jan des Bouvrie style throughout the whole building, €71 including breakfast. If you ever find yourself in Plovdiv, we can recommend it without hesitation. 🏨

Back in the Netherlands today was also the Cycling Elfstedentocht, and we know Martine was riding. Hopefully plenty of other colleagues joined too, because every hour on Strava adds to the total for the cause. Speaking of which: 246 donations and almost €13,000 raised. We are not stopping there. 🙏

Tomorrow: Greece, possibly. Or maybe still Bulgaria. We will see what the road decides.
Have a lovely evening. 🚴‍♂️🚴‍♂️

#FindPenguins #DenBoschToIstanbulRead more