Since landing on the Hook of Holland and the European main land at the start of July, we’re coming to you again with the sea air filling our lungs. The weather, Brians hip, our first puncture and general pushing of the mileage means we’re giving ourselves a little longer, 3 days, to refuel the tanks!

Sozopol like a mini Bondi

As always it feels like a mass of time has passed since we last posted.  On leaving our previous rest day we were met on the road out of a village by a man running along dragging a coffin like trailer and half a tree behind him….not a Bulgarian farmer gone do laly but an extreme marathon runner on his way from Poland to Istanbul.  Just when you feel like you’re becoming a proper adventurer, their’s always someone to bring you back down to earth.  The photo below shows the fella was literally bones and bumps with a wafer of skin on top, in your box Donkey & Horse!!

Mini iron man, grrrrr

Our first day back on the road took us to the museum town of Koprivshtista.  Before the founding of Sofia as the capital, this town was considered the centre of commerce at the end of the 18th Century.  Wherever you cycle in Bulgaria you’re met with various monuments and statues commemorating the countries liberation in 1876.  Allied forces with Russia saw them freed from the Ottoman empire which came at a price, part of which meant that commerce outside of the country died a slow death and so to did the exports of Koprivshtista.  A wonderful place to see though and with a thunderous downpour the next morning we locked in for another day off and gorging on clay pot cooked Bulgarian stews.  Our cockles were thoroughly warmed as we took to the tarmac again the following day.

Koprivshtista painted buildings

Horse in a horsehair cape – an export of 18th century Koprivshtista

From here we met The Valley of Roses, where not a bud was to be seen.  For those horticulturists amongst us you already knew we’d be too late for the season but we were a little forlorn to of missed the blooms as we passed through the wide flat plained valley, at the end of which we arrived in the town of Shipka. Another place for which the fabric of its existence was pinned together by the 1876 revolution.  At one end of the town sat the memorial church for the Russian and Bulgarian soldiers who had lost their lives in the revolution and on the mountain pass to the north of the town sits the imposing abandoned Mt Budludzha Monument.

Church monument Shipka

This latter monument is very hard to describe so we’ve included a link here to its history.  Due to its size you can see it on the top of the mountain as you cycle down the Valley of Roses from around 50km away and as you draw closer the scale and size is pretty overwhelming.  On reaching the pass summit we were lucky enough to meet a lovely English couple, Andy and Charlie, and their smiling little 8 month old boy, Dylan.  As the last bit of the climb was to be on foot they kindly let us pack our bike bags into their car and we hiked the remainder en troop.  Andy is a fan of urban exploration in the UK so had done his research on the monument, which meant we found a hole in the wall on the side and climbed into the shell of the building to be met with another level of imposing, faded communist glory spectacularness that we didn’t think possible. (We appreciate we may be embellishers sometimes however this really isn’t exaggerated at all and hopefully the pictures below give you an idea of the grandeur of what is a breathtaking feat of architecture).  Apparently if you google top ten abandoned buildings in the world this bad boy will come up and to us it was a representation of the muddled past of a country struggling to find it’s indentity in a new European present.

Mount Budludzha

About to enter…

Inside the tardis – picture courtesy of Andy and his wide angled lense

Tiled walled in central theatre

Mind blowing mosaics of Bulgarian comrades!

Amazingness

From the monument we glided deliciously down hill to Tryavna for a night then onto Veliko Tarnova for a couple of days R&R camping in the garden of a hostel.  Since leaving the UK this was our first night in a hostel hanging out with other people on the road and was a great opportunity to share stories and relax with new company.  Chatting away to fellow travellers presented me with a turning point as we left.  Hearing the journeys people were on and the end points that were coming made me realise for us we don’t know when that will be.  As our wheels starting rolling the following day, after a great nights sleep I felt my mind finally relax into ‘this’ as our way of life for the foreseeable future, like a slow sigh I was finally there…..those who know me well can vouch that it sometimes takes a lot for me to let go, but we’ve made it!

As if to put us straight back in the fighting spirit we met a hill on our way out of Veliko Tarnovo (VT) that would of made Arnold Schwarzenegger wince, even without being restricted by some weightlifting speedos.  Sometimes you need to know when to get off and push, and that we did. Still sweating like a pair of badgers on a rubbish tip, the top came, the snickers were eaten and we were back in the fast lane of the undulating Staraplanina mountains.  We knew that leaving VT would put us in no mans land before we met the coast so that night we whacked the old tent up for a night of camping on the wild side.  As we were running out of carbs I actually managed to shallow fry us some tiny square chips on our trangia stove for dinner, this firey little giver of food never ceases to amaze and always ensures we’re up and raring the following morning.

Brian made a little friend whilst walking around the fort in VT

It was to be our last day in the Staraplanina mountains and as the hills slipped away and the arable lands began to flatten ahead we were reminded of a forgotten challenge of cycle touring.  The three H’s as we all know are a veritable challenge but when your little wheels take you on a straight, 20km in view, flat road, in the scorching sun with a magnificently strong head wind….it makes grown men want to cry, or at least scream obscenities at mother nature.  As is the benefit of being part of a team, we egged each other on, ate some gummy bears and bore down till our arrival in Karnobat.  Unfortunately Karnobat had a slight drought of affordable accomodation and we had to splurge our budget on a night at the Rotary Club, ouch.

To the point we raised above of not knowing when our adventure will end, this is in part because of our budget of 12 pounds 50 each per day.  When the Rotary club comes knocking for a nights board you can imagine how it laughs in the face of such punity.  Lodging, food and snickers on 25 smackers a day presents it’s own challenge, which luckily for me with my project manager experience is quite good fun.  Since the last post though we have had to ween ourselves off the almighty Magnums, RIP, as on doing the math we realised these were creaming 10% off our daily allowance.  The Magnum of course still makes a guest appearance but the change in weather is taking us back to where our hearts belong, snickers the keystone of our lives!

So now here we are in Sozopol.  We managed to find a wonderful lodging house in the old town with a huge room, private terrace and sea view for 9 pounds a night and have had the chance to catch up on admin and consider our change of itinerary. Post Istanbul, we’re going to do a loop down the Mediterranean cost then over to Cyprus for a couple of weeks before heading back to Istanbul via Cappadocia to fly to Sri Lanka in early December.  We’re both really stoked about seeing more of Turkey and visiting Cyprus so with the whole of central Asia left for another adventure sometime, we’re happy boys.

Sozopol kitchen view

Tis making our souls sing to be back by the sea

A quick thanks to everyone who has dropped us a note since we’ve left, it’s always wonderful to hear everyones news, and as the next months eb closer it’s a treat to know we’ll be seeing some familiar faces 🙂

So it’s with my project manager/budget hat on I leave you now…. to cut Brians hair….I think a couple of gin and tonics to take the edge off and then it’s time to unleash the scissor magic within, I don’t know who’s more brave (or stupid), gulp!

Our love coming wherever you are as always.

Brian and Tommy

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