Seven Lakes hike

We woke up this morning with a plan to walk 5 of the 7 Rila lakes but when we spoke to our campsite host she confirmed what we had been told yesterday... that the chair lifts to the lakes were not running on Mondays and that if the website said they were it must be out of date.

Despite this, we decided to drive the 30 minute trip up to the lakes anyway. Lucky we did because it turned out that the chairlifts were running!

Parking was interesting... cash only. We were initially turned back by the parking attendant on the basis we had no cash. Then Sara remembered that we had some Euros so we turned round and tried again. The parking guy practically snatched a 5 euro note out of Sara's hand and gave her some local currency in change. Turns out that parking only cost about £2.50 for the day.

Then, on to the chairlifts, where we still weren't sure if we could pay using a card. Luckily we could so it was all systems go.

Onto the chairlifts and up to about 2100m, getting colder by the second.

The walk itself was fantastic, if a little muddy and slushy in parts. Fantastic views and beautiful weather. Pretty much perfect. Lots of snow about. Too much for us to go up to the 2 highest lakes but that didn't matter - we wouldn't have wanted the extra climbing anyway.

Then, back down on the chairlifts and back to the campsite for a dip in the pool and a quick sauna.

We ended the day by going up to the local town for a pizza this evening.

Overall, a pretty much perfect day.Read more