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May - November 2020
A 175-day adventure by Herbert & Meike Read more
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  • Go East

    Into the Rila Mountains

    August 15, 2020 in Bulgaria ⋅ ☀️ 25 °C

    Cycling in a big city is never fun and we had to cross pretty much all of Sofia from Northwest to South which is 15km. At around 7am, the roads were still empty, so it wasn't too bad and we only had to struggle with the stop-and-go at traffic lights.
    Once out of the city, we stopped for breakfast and then climbed on a smaller road up towards the mountains. We passed really nice houses with an amazing view of the city. Unfortunately, most of those mansions blocked our view over the city 😕
    The smaller road was quiet busy as many people seem to use it for weekend drives. Herbert made friends with one of them who kept a distance of way less than a metre between his Mercedes S Class AMG and our bikes. When Herbert showed him the finger, the bolded gym guy of 2 meters with lots of tattoos pulled over, got out of his car and wanted to fight. Herbert just went on pedalling trying to signal him at the same time to keep a greater distance next time. Looking at Herbert's signs, the guy's face turned from angry to confused and he let off. And when he overtook again, he kept at least a meter of distance 😉
    The rest of the ride to Sapareva Banya was uneventful. The town is a bit touristy because of its mineral spas and a Geysir. But there's a fountain built around it, so it's not particularly interesting.
    Luckily, our campground has some roofs and indoor spaces as there were a couple thunderstorms in the afternoon. More lined up as well, so the night probably won't be quiet.    Read more

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    Relaxing in a mountain camp

    August 16, 2020 in Bulgaria ⋅ ⛅ 15 °C

    Our route for today was very short. Only 16km with an elevation gain of 800m. We could have cycled it yesterday, but as we don't want to hike with all the people on a weekend day, we took it easy. This way, we can go hiking tomorrow, when most of the locals are back to work.
    The morning was slow and we did not start riding before 11am. So our tent was almost dry after all the rain during the night. We had to climb straight away until we reached the "Lift to the 7 Lakes Hike". Here, we could pitch our tent next to a hut and relax the rest of the day. We also ordered chips with cheese, a bean and mushroom soup and an omelet with cheese from the bar. For some reason, the owners thought this is a weird combination, but we didn't mind.    Read more

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    Spiritual mountains

    August 17, 2020 in Bulgaria ⋅ ⛅ 16 °C

    Hiking day for a change. In order to beat the crowds who take the lift up to the mountains, we started our hike from our camp at 7am. 550m higher, we left the forest trails and came into a more mountenous area. Here, the 7 Rila Lakes hike started. We were surprised to see many people up there already, mainly elderly women who had slept in the hotel in the mountain. Luckily, there was a climb at the beginning of the trail, so we could overtake pretty much all of them within the first 15 minutes.
    Maybe 30 minutes later, we arrived at a meadow next to the "Kidney Lake" which looked like a popular picnic spot. Some 10-15 people had stopped there. We were a bit confused as most of them started to change into white clothes. At a closer look, we saw rocks on the ground, laid out in huge circles. We decided to wait a little and more and more people arrived from all sides, all wearing or changing into white dresses. One of the younger ladies told us in broken English they were going to dance in circles when we asked her what this was all about. As it got too cold to sit and wait, we hiked further up a mountain and half an hour later, the ceremony started and we could observe from high above. Probably about 200-300 people had come to participate in what's called "Paneurhythmie". It's some cult of a white brotherhood which takes place only some days in August in the Rila mountains. People follow some ritual dance practices, move in circles, dress in white, some musicians playing in the middle of the circles. For those of you interested, google it 😉
    However, we continued our hike along the lakes as it got cloudy already. Further away from the ceremony, we didn't meet any other people, so we could enjoy the nature. We also hiked all the way down instead of taking the lift, as we preferred to spend the lift money on lots of food in the hut where we could camp.    Read more

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    Rila Monastery

    August 18, 2020 in Bulgaria ⋅ ⛅ 19 °C

    Our day started with a great 30km downhill until we reached a bigger town to have breakfast. Afterwards, the more exhausting part started. We could follow some back roads at first, then turned into the valley of Rila.
    The valley is very scenic. The villages are full of vineyards hanging around most of the houses. On both sides, the mountains rise pretty high which leads to scenic views. We climbed about 600m with sweet tail winds until we arrived at Rila Monastery. It's probably the most beautiful monastery we've ever seen and it's in the middle of the mountains. Definitely a cultural highlight of our trip.
    We weren't sure where to sleep at night. On the way up, we had found some ok spots for wild camping as well as camping next to a hotel, but nothing was really convincing. However, about 1.5km behind the monastery, we found a campground in the middle of nature which we liked, so we pitched our tent. All afternoon and evening, we could hear the thunder in the mountains and even see the dark clouds. But so far, we've stayed dry. Let's cross fingers for the night!
    Funnily, where we are now is roughly only 6km away from where we hiked yesterday - as the crow flies. However, on the bikes, we had to cycle more than 80km and even descend to 400m above sea level in between.    Read more

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    Bulgarian Chamonix

    August 19, 2020 in Bulgaria ⋅ ☀️ 15 °C

    Last night ended with a spontaneous invite from our campground neighbours from Germany. Over a glass of wine, they told us they would have been on the Pamir Highway this year if it wasn't for Corona.
    In the morning, we left early as usual. There had been a thunderstorm with heavy rain during the night, so we didn't sleep too well. The roads were still wet and dirty, those crystal clear streams from yesterday had turned into mud brown rivers.
    After a 42km descent, we stopped for breakfast, bought some fresh bread at a Lidl and sat down at a typical Bulgarian coffee place. Pretty ugly, but the coffee is good and cheap and we have chairs and tables to eat our breakfast.
    Then we continued going South. First, we could cycle on a quiet secondary road, but had to turn into the main road once we headed into the next valley. We had to gain about 900m of elevation over 24km. It's not too steep, but no fun with lots of traffic. On the way, we saw lots of huge signs next to the road, advertisements for spas, resorts, clubs and alike, so we were already wondering if we had chosen the right place for us. But when we arrived in Bansko, it surprised us in a positive way. Once we had past the resort area, we got into a quiet residential area where our guesthouse was located. The owner was nice, he had received a package with spare bike parts for us. So we could spend the afternoon fixing my rear break.
    Afterwards, we went exploring the town. Part of it is a typical ski resort with lots of bars, restaurants, hotels, nightclubs etc. But it also has a really nice historical center where we also had dinner at a restaurant.
    Overall, Bansko is VERY empty this year, half of the stores and restaurants are closed. Our guesthouse owner told us that they have no foreign tourists at all this year and Bulgarians only come on the weekends. It's sad to see how Corona hit this town. But for us, the situation is kind of lucky as I don't think we'd enjoy the normal amount of tourists here.    Read more

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    Bike&Hike in Pirin National Park

    August 20, 2020 in Bulgaria ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C

    As the mountains here looked nice and the weather forecast was good for the next days, we wanted to go hiking in the Pirin National Park. So in the morning, we left our guesthouse with empty bikes and cycled up 16km and 1000m in elevation in order to get to Vichren Hut. There were lots of cars on the small road which was a bit of a downside. We didn't understand why they don't close the road for normal traffic as there's not even many parking spaces at the top, so there's chaos with cars parking along the side of the road. Plus, there's a lift going up most of the way, but people are just too lazy...
    From the hut, we went on a beautiful hike around some lakes. The scenery was fantastic, especially with the colours in the sun. On the way, we had to pass a herd of cows. The dogs guarding them were huge and wanted to play with us. Obviously, it was too boring for them to sit around herding 😉
    The way down was fast, so we had enough time for another walk in the town, some icecream and an extended dinner.    Read more

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    Camping at Lake Dospat

    August 21, 2020 in Bulgaria ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C

    The first 50km were easy today, mainly downhill on a nice canyon road. We can feel it's late summer now, as it's colder in the mornings and it takes longer for the sun to climb above the mountains.
    The second 50km were much harder as we had to cycle uphill with some rolling sections as well. Finally, we ended our bike day at Lake Dospat where we went for a well deserved swim in the cold water.
    Our Bulgarian neighbours invited us to a glass of wine, so we stayed up and watched the sunset.    Read more

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    Riding into devil's throat

    August 22, 2020 in Bulgaria ⋅ ☀️ 29 °C

    Our furry cat friend came into our tent during the night and slept there until we had to pack it in the morning. Furthermore, a dog was happy to see us at sunrise, so he had some company, so he decided to run with us for some kilometres. What a good start of the day if there's animal friends around!
    We had our breakfast stop in one of the villages at the lake and were pleasantly surprised by a bakery selling sourdow break - yum! Then, an amazing day of riding in the Rhodope mountains began. First, we passed an area of a mix of forests and meadows. Later, the mountains became rockier with steep canyons. The road to Devil's Throat was one of our highlights in Bulgaria so far.
    In Bulgaria, there's is countless springs along the roads, so it's easy to find water. Most of them have benches and tables with a roof or even a bbq oven with firewood next to them, so it's an ideal picnic place. Today, we used these for lunch and an early dinner.
    We wanted to do wild camping tonight as we thought it would be nice to sleep with the mountains and canyons around us. However, the problem with those canyon is that they are very narrow and there's absolutely no space for pitching a tent. We also couldn't get down to the river as the shore was to steep. The only two roads to access it ended in a private property for the rich and famous.
    We went further and further until we got out of the mountains. From here, it was only 35km to Plovdiv where we were heading. It was after 6pm and we decided to race it through before dark. So eventually, we ended up sleeping in a guesthouse, but at least enjoying a beer after this beautiful but exhausting 155km-day.    Read more

  • Go East

    Plovdiv

    August 23, 2020 in Bulgaria ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C

    As we already arrived in Plovdiv last night, we had a whole day to explore the city. And for the first time in ages, we had a bit of a sleep in before we started our walking tour.
    First, we climbed up to Alyosha monument where we had a great view over the city and its surroundings. Even at 9am, it was extremely hot at only 200m above sea level.
    Afterwards, we spent time exploring the city center with the Roman stadium and the Kapana area. Kapana is the artist quarter of Plovdiv, lots of streetart, little boutiques, shops and stalls and full of cafés, bars and restaurant. It was fun just walking through the little streets and watching the people. In Plovdiv, life feels normal, not many signs of the pandemic.
    After Kapana, we visited the ancient part of the city. It's located on a hill, so sitting in the Roman theatre gives you a view of the surroundings. There's also old churches and houses to see.
    Before heading back to our guesthouse, we stopped on the main shopping street for some icecream and went for a stroll through the Garden of Tsar Simeon, a nice park with a huge fountain. Kids and their parents definitely had fun playing in the water to cool down in the heat.    Read more

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    Wonder Bridges

    August 24, 2020 in Bulgaria ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C

    Today, we had to cycle a mountain stage. After only 30km, we were up above 1500m after we had started under 200m above sea level. It was a continuous 4-7% climb, so not too hard. The following descend of 800m wasn't much quicker though, as we rode on a trail which was partly muddy, steep and rocky, so we had to go slowly and even push a few sections. However, we really enjoyed having a technical trail again! Plus, no cars and amazing views!
    In one corner, my tyres slipped on the dry mix of sand and rocks though, so I went off the bike in slow motions. Nothing happened to me, but the front fender broke, so we had to dismantle it. We wanted to reduce weight on our setup anyways in the future, so why not start right now 🤷‍♀️
    Our destination today were a natural site of interest, the "Wonder Bridges". In order to get there, we had to climb again. It was a narrow road with lots of potholes, but at least a continuous elevation gain again. When we arrived at the site, we had climb about 2200m today.
    The Wonder Bridges are impressive! It's always amazing to see what nature can create. Can you spot Herbert standing under the bridge in the 4th photo? Good we can camp next to the site and enjoy our dinner at this wonderful place!    Read more

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