17-23 June 2008

Hair has been lost, lycra is exposed and the team step up to the plate giving 110% (The Good Doctor, 2008, unpublished). We’ve clocked up another overnight train and cycled over 1000km from the flats to the hills. The Roller is enjoying the most cleavage he has ever seen before we depart on another overnighter to Istanbul.

Overnight Belgrade to Sofia, Sofia to Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria (total 14 hours by train)
At some time during the night we entered a new time zone (GMT +2).
We don’t think we’re qualified to comment on Sofia – it’s not a city of awe-inspiring features nor an especially defined centre, however to say that it’s not worth visiting would be unfair as it did have a good atmosphere, is overlooked by mountains and is the epi-centre of Bulgaria. The ride from the train station to the centre was not very easy to navigate.

We did find an excellent outdoors shop with staff who were on the same page as us who advised that we head south and cycle the valleys between through the Pirin and the Rodopi mountain ranges. Thanks Victor at Cheetah Outdoors!

We duly headed out of the city by train to Blagoevgrad. We found another communist relic with a view to stay in and stocked up on supplies for our journey ahead.

Blagoevgrad to near Dobnniste, Bulgaria wild camping ( 71km)
This region is stunning and under intensive EU-funded development. It’s a great place to visit now – either for summer walking or winter sports, and an easy trip to get there from Sofia (by bus is faster than by train for those without wheels) – hopefully this will last.

Bansko is a ski resort area with phenomenal construction in contrast to traditional farming using donkeys and rakes. It’s preparing for a bid to hold the Winter Olympics 2014. The area has a breathtaking landscape – but the climbs by bike were not the rolling riverside ride we had anticipated. It was scorching as we ascended from 150m to around 1000m. We stopped at a roadside barbeque restaurant near the summit, and afterwards were rewarded with a shirt-bellowing, eye-watering, stomach-lurching descent at deserved speeds up to 54km/hr. After luxuriating in thermal pools at Dobnniste for an hour we found a wild campsite and parked up for a night of fitful sleep – due to Di’s nerves at the possilbility of the farmer telling us to push off or wild dogs attacking our tent.

Wild campsite to Dospat, Bulgaria ( 91km)
The Roller woke up with numerous bites on his scalp – some unknown beast had attacked him during the night – he suspects D Spencer, but she pleads innocence. Another really tough day, climbs and relentless sun. We set off by 7am and the first couple of hours were amazing – mainly downhill and a tail wind following the river. Local people were taking their herds of goats and cows to pasture. The world was waking up to mist on the hills and bells in the air and we felt a sense of contentment to have our powerful legs participate.

Until we reached the hill that never ended. Our destination was the lakeside village of Dospat, which as a final test of our endurance was at the top of a very sharp incline – Roller managed to ascent the 13% gradient on his bike but Di frustratingly had to hop off and push for the first time. We had heard from a Welsh couple at a picnic spot that there was a campsite in Dospat by the lake, but as it transpired the campsite was over another huge hill we decided to indulge in a room (which turned out to be a suite) at a local hotel – for 10 euros each it was worth it. We awoke to calls for prayers from the mosque and watched the sunrise over the mountains from our balcony.

Dospat to Siroka Laka, Bulgaria (51km)
A beautiful gorge, uphills with rewarding downhill set – check out the video. The Roller is sporting a new do – unfortunately it is not the desired perm but a respectable number, and will no longer allow any insects of the biting nature to take refuge in the mop.

Siroka Laka to Asenovgrad, Bulgaria (76km)
Tough climb up to another ski field at around 1500m. However the team are becoming ever the wiser and set out at the crack so got to the summit before it started baking. From here it was all downhill back out of the mountains to the… plains.

The Stick (aka D S Spencer) was chased by three dogs on two separate occasions, however the Roller had been preparing himself for this moment and took the opportunity to go about 180 and head straight for the beasts while yelling in his best Scottish ‘Get to f*@k ya wee b$£tards’. Worked a treat (thanks to Kenny for the grammar lessons). Both the uphill and dog incidents stirred up a healthy appetite so we stopped a roadside grill for some Bulgarian dishes and half a chicken.

We cycled down the gorge and as we furthered ourselves from the small rural mountain villages the population increased and so did the traffic. We headed into town and found ourselves another block hotel at affordable prices to spend the night. This one is extra special as we can see two large stacks from our sixth floor suite and we will finally be able to dry our handwashed smalls on its baking sills. We are taking the overnight train from Plovdiv to Istanbul. Robert has had his final pre-mou shave before we hit Turkey as requested by the Bats.