European Tour – Bulgaria (Written by Chris & Gala)
Written by Chris
Just in case anyone thought we were just riding through the flat European countries, let me assure you, Bulgaria is not flat. Many of our last few days have included stretches where we have done at least 30km of linked hills and we have even traversed a couple mountains. By now most of us are in very good cycling shape, but no one likes to finish their day with mountain 6km straight up.
Bulgaria has also been interesting in that no one really had any idea what to expect. For some reason it was just a cultural black spot in most of our minds. I can happily report however that it has been beautiful here – when you get to the top of the mountains – and the people have been extremely welcoming and nice. Even the capital Sofia, which we were told to avoid because it is ugly and horrible to cycle through, had it’s own charm and the roads weren’t any worse there than we have experienced elsewhere. We also had one of our first and only real tests of group unity the other night. After climbing the previously mentioned mountain we had to wait at the top for directions where to go next. What we didn’t know was that the lead group that was supposed to return with directions had been put to work hauling wood and various other camp tasks: this was part of our deal for getting to stay at the accommodation for the night. The group at the top of the hill was starting to get worried however as it was getting dark and then some strangers appeared to give us directions to the camp. Unfortunately, the directions were about as clear as mud and group got lost on the side of the hill with the sun quickly setting. Feeling exhausted from the climbed and with tummies grumbling we phoned the car for help. The only problem was that the car hadn’t found camp either and was in fact stuck in the mud on the far side of the valley. Naturally tempers then began to flare as people began to worry about where we were going to sleep for the night and our stuck friends. We began to think of a few plans, and a search party managed to find the camp down one the other paths and in the end the crises was averted. The car also managed to get unstuck and in the end we were treated to a lovely meteor shower in the middle of a field on the side of a mountain in Bulgaria. On a whole I think most people in the trip will chalk this up to one of their fondest memories. We had all expected this sort of craziness, it just took us until now to find it.
On a whole it seems crazy to think that the ride is almost over. To only have a week of actual ride day’s left seems absurd as it really feels like we just started. Even today we saw our first sign counting down the kilometers to Istanbul (492). There was a huge cheer that went through the group as we saw it followed by small pang of regret that this journey will soon be over. All we can hope for at the moment is to continue to try and get the most out of every kilometer we ride and savor the last few daze. It will all be over far too fast.
Written by Gala
lightning storms have followed us to almost every big city we’ve been so far. waking up in a puddle in Prague, racing through the rain in Vienna, having a slightly more weather friendly Budapest, and then continuing with the trend while drinking hot cocoa on the steps of a school gym on the outskirts of Sofia last night while watching neon stripes crackle through the sky every 4 minutes into the night. definitely an unexpected trend to note on a trip through eastern europe, where i fully expected my -3 degree sleeping bag to be much to warm to get any effective use of. jokes on me! the rain is really making an effort out here, making for much more memorable rides, like this morning’s ride out of Sofia around the epic ring road and onto the A1 towards Plovdiv.
“hole!” “bump!” “tire chunk!” “gravel!” my hands come off the handlebars for a moment as i point out the obstacles on either side of our 1 metre wide stretch of highway, between giant truck tires and hot black exhaust fumes on the left, and funky asphalt lips that have formed on the right from pressure over time. its a fast start to the morning, jumping right into the thick of things with no real buffer to warm up with. the trick is to find yourself in that fine line between being extremely alert and aware of your surroundings, and being calm enough to shut out any external hubbub distracting your focus. and then, if you find yourself up front of your 5 person pod, its finding that perfect pace that won’t frustrate the fast guy, and won’t wear out the (*ahem*) less fast guys (and girl). but then it really doesn’t matter because suddenly on the right is a big shiny oasis of a gas station and its all red and shiny and beautiful and there are goodies inside, and you might even spend 6 Leva on some carrot juice and a cappuccino because, honestly now, you deserve it, and then you pull into the gas station and your pod is all like, what’s going on, girl? and you just tell it straight: i need a break, boys.
bulgaria has definitely been the most interesting terrain we’ve seen so far. and we’ve been waiting for this, too. the mountain ranges that had me second guessing whether or not i should go on the tour have found us, and they aren’t all that hectic. you just do it. and riding in and out of this country’s capital was almost a slice of cake, too. my apprehension has now been averted towards the ride into Istanbul, but recent conversations have suggested that we all ride as 20 bicycles in car formation taking an entire lane for that dramatic impact. (i say we do it slathered in gold paint, as well. why not?)
in other news. we stayed in a place called svoge the other night. and unexpectedly, because our host was a crazy un-normal gypsy mountain person that erin found on couchsurfing, we ended the ride day with a 6km cycle straight up the bulgarian mountainside and into the woods. but less easily than that sounds, because upon arrival at the top, we found that the “town centre” was actually an empty town hall style building, a house that sold 1.5L bottles of beer, and a watering trough. and our host, Ian the tall scottish man, who said he would meet us there at 4pm, didn’t show up for 2 hours with an explanation that “sometimes people say they’re going to do something or be somewhere, and then they aren’t… did you try the water? it’s lovely.”
our campsite was still another 30 or 40 minute walk down some dirt trails, so two of us stayed in centre in order to wait for the following pods to make it up the hill, while 6 others followed Ian down the dirt trails towards camp. long story short… about 12 of us ended up wandering through the hills completely perdu with our bikes and the impending darkness, and the real chance of having to pitch our tents in the middle of the forest with only blackberries for sustenance. (highlight of trip? maybe…) our cries for help were answered with echoes of help as we stood helplessly on the mountaintop overlooking the valley. but, no hard feelings for those who didn’t turn right around to come back and show us the way, because it turns out our hippy friends, who are in the midst of manifesting love throughout the world from their hilltop viewpoint, had sent our friends to work hauling wood and arranging water devices upon their arrival at the camp. so much for Ian’s offer to get Maggie to help us cart our baggage to camp. (Maggie is a very thin and weak looking donkey that lives with our teepee dwelling Ian)
OK, maybe you get the idea. or maybe you don’t because that run on sentence of a paragraph was probably confusing unless you were there. but the best part is, there was also a meteor shower that night, and we slept really close to the stars.
and now, I’ll leave you again, because i still have sunlight to play in and a little town to explore. although, this popmusicplayingnetcafe is probably the most bumping spot in town.
