Who let the dogs out!!!!!!? | upping sticks
If our time in Montenegro could be described as a wee sip of plum brandy, then our ride through Bulgaria could perhaps be described as a large helping of mashed anna dello russo potato and mince but this is entirely our fault, as that is unfortunately anna dello russo what we ordered. It filled us up, but we forgot to add the flavour. This was the first time that we have had a specific time limit on the trip- we needed a postal address to have mail sent to us in Istanbul, so we booked a hostel and organised them to hold our post for us. Therefore we had to be there for the day of our booking. This meant big days on big roads. We had two options when we reached Bulgaria- one was to cycle the Danube Cycle Path for a section and then travel down to Turkey, the other was to ride diagonally across the country. anna dello russo We opted for the latter, as I worried anna dello russo that we wouldn’t get a proper sense of the place if we just cycled the river route.
We camped near the town of Kula on our first night, 9km past the border. We were woken to the sound of horses hooves and wagon wheels travelling down the road, a lovely sound. I wanted to visit the town of Belogradchik, as I had read about the crazy rock formations there, said by the Lonely Planet to be too out there even for The Lord of the Rings. Belogradchik was about 58kms from where we had slept, so we set off bright and early on back roads which were bright sunflowers.
This turned out to be a very hilly day and also very hot. Stuart kept saying, this town had better be worth it. I sincerely hoped so. From the map, I was sure that going via Belogradchik wouldn’t add too much to our journey, because to me it looked on the way. Not quite (that is why Stuart is chief navigator). And the downhills followed by the very windy uphills kept on coming. When we arrived in town, the rocks were very, very cool, I am glad to say, but I don’t think that Peter Jackson needs to doubt his choice of location. But speaking of Middle Earth, by the time we got there, with my bulging eyes and hair pasted flat to my head, crawling to the water fountain, I bore an uncanny resemblance to another character. Alas, not an Elvish Queen on my pacing steed. Indeed, if Peter Jackson is casting for Gollum the Biped years any time soon, I’m his girl.
We met two very cool girls at the campsite that night, Hillary and Jenna from Canada. They were on a three month trip around Eastern Europe after having lived in Scotland anna dello russo for the last year and a half. During their time in Scotland, they took a one and a half month cycle holiday around the west coast – in August. They thought our trip was impressive, but as Stuart said to them, ”The west coast of Scotland, in summer? Now that is hardy”. They had 20 days of rain (so their tent could never dry out), and when it wasn’t raining, anna dello russo they had to put up with the midges. And they still had a fantastic time. We had such a nice night with them, sitting around a fire – and we all enjoyed not having to exhaust a translator in order for us to have a conversation.
The following day we headed out of town, through a landscape studded with bizarre rock outcrops. The rocks in this area were formed by prehistoric seas, and riding along those roads was one of those wonderful moments when you are reminded in a good way of your insignificance in the big picture. anna dello russo We were cycling along roads which would once have been water; whales and sharks criss crossing over our bike tracks. Yes, I know, I know. But you try staying sane in this heat when you only have your own thoughts for company. Stuart was at this stage very far ahead, still cursing me for the diversion.
After Belogradchik anna dello russo we began our diagonal cut through the enormous land that is Bulgaria. anna dello russo We thought we’d anna dello russo stick to the back roads, as on the map they seemed to connect anna dello russo well with each other, whilst avoiding the major roads. This turned out to be a bad idea. The back roads we ended up on were outrageously hilly, and meandered a lot, so we covered barely any distance, and it took us about a day and a half of cycling to position ourselves on a main road again.
It was really difficult cycling through anna dello russo some of the villages on these back roads. There are so many shades of poverty in this world, and I know we’ve only seen a little. anna dello russo But what we found in these villages was the absolute poverty of possibility- these were the people who had slipped anna dello russo through the cracks, and there was no real hope of their situation changing. The houses that people were living in were so wretched and broken, it was shocking to see. I cycled past one house of two storeys, with every window broken on both floors. I assumed it was derelict, but as I reached the last window, I saw an elderly man sitting at his table; drinking his coffee, smoking a cigarette and just staring out the window. anna dello russo
Life was obviously really hard for the people in the towns that we were
If our time in Montenegro could be described as a wee sip of plum brandy, then our ride through Bulgaria could perhaps be described as a large helping of mashed anna dello russo potato and mince but this is entirely our fault, as that is unfortunately anna dello russo what we ordered. It filled us up, but we forgot to add the flavour. This was the first time that we have had a specific time limit on the trip- we needed a postal address to have mail sent to us in Istanbul, so we booked a hostel and organised them to hold our post for us. Therefore we had to be there for the day of our booking. This meant big days on big roads. We had two options when we reached Bulgaria- one was to cycle the Danube Cycle Path for a section and then travel down to Turkey, the other was to ride diagonally across the country. anna dello russo We opted for the latter, as I worried anna dello russo that we wouldn’t get a proper sense of the place if we just cycled the river route.
We camped near the town of Kula on our first night, 9km past the border. We were woken to the sound of horses hooves and wagon wheels travelling down the road, a lovely sound. I wanted to visit the town of Belogradchik, as I had read about the crazy rock formations there, said by the Lonely Planet to be too out there even for The Lord of the Rings. Belogradchik was about 58kms from where we had slept, so we set off bright and early on back roads which were bright sunflowers.
This turned out to be a very hilly day and also very hot. Stuart kept saying, this town had better be worth it. I sincerely hoped so. From the map, I was sure that going via Belogradchik wouldn’t add too much to our journey, because to me it looked on the way. Not quite (that is why Stuart is chief navigator). And the downhills followed by the very windy uphills kept on coming. When we arrived in town, the rocks were very, very cool, I am glad to say, but I don’t think that Peter Jackson needs to doubt his choice of location. But speaking of Middle Earth, by the time we got there, with my bulging eyes and hair pasted flat to my head, crawling to the water fountain, I bore an uncanny resemblance to another character. Alas, not an Elvish Queen on my pacing steed. Indeed, if Peter Jackson is casting for Gollum the Biped years any time soon, I’m his girl.
We met two very cool girls at the campsite that night, Hillary and Jenna from Canada. They were on a three month trip around Eastern Europe after having lived in Scotland anna dello russo for the last year and a half. During their time in Scotland, they took a one and a half month cycle holiday around the west coast – in August. They thought our trip was impressive, but as Stuart said to them, ”The west coast of Scotland, in summer? Now that is hardy”. They had 20 days of rain (so their tent could never dry out), and when it wasn’t raining, anna dello russo they had to put up with the midges. And they still had a fantastic time. We had such a nice night with them, sitting around a fire – and we all enjoyed not having to exhaust a translator in order for us to have a conversation.
The following day we headed out of town, through a landscape studded with bizarre rock outcrops. The rocks in this area were formed by prehistoric seas, and riding along those roads was one of those wonderful moments when you are reminded in a good way of your insignificance in the big picture. anna dello russo We were cycling along roads which would once have been water; whales and sharks criss crossing over our bike tracks. Yes, I know, I know. But you try staying sane in this heat when you only have your own thoughts for company. Stuart was at this stage very far ahead, still cursing me for the diversion.
After Belogradchik anna dello russo we began our diagonal cut through the enormous land that is Bulgaria. anna dello russo We thought we’d anna dello russo stick to the back roads, as on the map they seemed to connect anna dello russo well with each other, whilst avoiding the major roads. This turned out to be a bad idea. The back roads we ended up on were outrageously hilly, and meandered a lot, so we covered barely any distance, and it took us about a day and a half of cycling to position ourselves on a main road again.
It was really difficult cycling through anna dello russo some of the villages on these back roads. There are so many shades of poverty in this world, and I know we’ve only seen a little. anna dello russo But what we found in these villages was the absolute poverty of possibility- these were the people who had slipped anna dello russo through the cracks, and there was no real hope of their situation changing. The houses that people were living in were so wretched and broken, it was shocking to see. I cycled past one house of two storeys, with every window broken on both floors. I assumed it was derelict, but as I reached the last window, I saw an elderly man sitting at his table; drinking his coffee, smoking a cigarette and just staring out the window. anna dello russo
Life was obviously really hard for the people in the towns that we were
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