Storms and Forest Fires !

It’s a record ! Our shortest day yet! After a night of storms and forest fires, dawn broke to a grey and foreboding sky. We had our teas and coffees, breakfasted, showered and started to break camp just as the first spots of rain began to fall once more. I guess we should have put the tents back up there and then but we though we would be able to ride out of it, however that was not to be.  Within the hour, as the rain got heavier, we stopped for a coffee ,thinking that we could wait for it to pass, but the rain continued to fall relentlessly.  So the decision was made that we would look for a reasonably priced hotel in the next town, Gheorghieni. Arriving at the town square, we parked the bikes and as I kept an eye on them ,Taz and Joel went looking for hotels. Taz came back with a huge grin on her face after trying the first, a fairly run down looking place that we though would be dirt cheap…they apparently wanted 800 Lei for a double room, about £140! We all fell about laughing, then just as we were about to ride off the manager came running out, it seems there had been a misunderstanding and the woman on the desk had added an extra 0 so Taz went back to look at the rooms. However as she could get no sense out of them on the issue of WiFi , she tried another hotel just up the road where I knew they had WiFi as I’d already connected to it on my iphone. Having negotiated a discount there, the 3 of us checked in to the Hotel Rubin at 100 lei for a double room and 80 lei for a single including WiFi and breakfast; bargain!

But to back-track a little to yesterday; we had enjoyed a superb and picturesque run up from Sighisoara, through some really old villages to wild camp just below Suseni almost next door to a huge quarry, but as it was Sunday all was peaceful. On the way we had stopped at one of the Szekler villages and called in at their “village day”. It was a bit like a village fete in the UK, with it seemed, all the villagers in attendance, some in traditional costume, although we were too late for the dancing. We did however try a couple of the local delicacies which were delicious! One I had tried previously at the next door neighbour to the house I was working on with Adrian in Bulgaria, although this one , a kind of deep fried flatbread, was huge and served up with sour cream, cheese and Garlic. What a pity we hadn’t long had lunch or we could easily have devoured more of them, and at 4 lei (about 75p) they weren’t going to break the bank!  The other was a sort of mutton goulash, merrily bubbling away in a huge cauldron over an open log fire. It was one of a whole row of different dishes being cooked in the same way and was also very tasty.

The Szeklers, a Hungarian speaking ethnic group, whose name means “frontier guards”, live in eastern Transilvania . They came to Romania about the same time as the Magyars, probably around the 11^th century.  One of the interesting things about the Szekler villages are the traditional, highly elaborate, carved entrance gateways, most of which also feature a dovecote built along the top. Many of them date back to the 1800s although there were also quite a few which appeared to be brand new, so it was nice to see a tradition which is being kept very much alive today.

 

 

As we rode further north the landscape of rolling hills changed , with high mountains, the Carparthians,  starting to dominate the views. We climbed steadily through a beautiful landscape of rolling fields, woodland and wooden chalets to about 1000m, when we came across what it seems is the largest quarry of road-stone aggregate in Romania complete with it’s own little viewing platform and information sign boards! I must confess to more than a little bewilderment, as picturesque it was not; it even made North Wales slate tips look quite appealing! Anyway we rode on to the next village where we found a road-side water pump from which we filled our water bottles and of course the Ortleib shower which I carry, then backtracked to a little woodland just short of the quarry, where, just like a trio of Romanian Gypsies, we set up our camp once more. It has become quite a ritual with us now although it can take a little searching before all are happy with the location. Basically, we look for a spot which is hidden from view, fairly flat, has some shelter from the sun so that we can set up the kitchen in the shade and if at all possible, has water. Generally we are happy to settle on the first 3 with running water being a bonus; and so it was last night… 3 out of 4 ain’t bad!

Whist cooking dinner we looked across the plain to the wooded slopes on the hill the other side and spotted what appeared to be a forest fire starting to take a hold on the forestry there. We could even see flames shooting up at one point, although we were probably 6 or 7km away. However it soon appeared to die down once the rain started to fall and we retired to our tents content that no catastrophe was unfolding just up the road.

Having now just had lunch at the Hotel Rubin, I can say that the food is superb and the value for money outstanding! Our meal for the 3 of us, including drinks came to less that £4 per head. Yes, it is a littler more expensive than Bulgaria but compared to Greece or the UK, it is still great value for money. I can’t wait to choose dinner tonight from their extensive and varied menu although it may well mean I’ll put back on a few of those pounds I’ve lost over the last couple of months….

Tomorrow (or the day after!) we head further East towards Bicaz, to ride what appears to be a fantastic road past the Red Lake and on through a narrow gorge; at least that is the plan at the moment but with our usual built inflexibility, anything could happen!  

Sighisoara

Spent an interesting couple of hours wandering around the medieval part of Sighisoara this afternoon, then tonight we went to one of the many restaurants which surround the square for a really good meal; a great way to round off the day and all for the princely sum of about £4.33 per head including drinks! I think Romania may yet grow on me…..

 

Our Hotel

 

Goodbye Bulgaria, Hello Romania…

It’s funny how you can have preconceived ideas about a place you’ve never visited, mainly I guess from what one reads, whether in guide books, on the internet or indeed by talking friends and acquaintances. In my case Romania certainly comes into that category, In my mind it was distinctly third world, ranking alongside places like Bulgaria, Albania and parts of Africa that I had visited… what a mistake!





The fully loaded ferry ready to cross the Danube!

Having crossed from Bulgaria by ferry, even first impressions were definitely not what I had expected. For a start, there were people everywhere, and cars, and buildings; no not the semi-derelict abandoned houses that I had become used to over the last few weeks in Bulgaria, these were peoples homes and work places. OK, they may not be what we are used to seeing in the UK and parts of Europe somewhat closer to home, but they were still buildings that were “alive”. There were cars everywhere, nose to tail as I left the little border town of Zimnicea and headed north for Alexander. I reflected on the town from which

Svistov Town Square

I had embarqued, Svistov. A town probably of a similar size but seemingly full of nothing but bars, all eagerly awaiting the next, very scarce customer. Few shops seemed to have survived in the buildings surrounding the huge and quite pretty, town square, yet just the other side of the Danube life seemed, on the surface at least to be flourishing. I must admit to a twinge of almost disappointment!!It’s not that I like to see people struggling, but this was little different to France, Spain or Italy and I was looking for something more, something  that had an awful lot to live up to after the delights dished up by France, Italy, Greece and, most recently Bulgaria on this trip so far.

I rode on to Alexandria, a sprawling town far larger than I had been expecting. Here I managed to buy a new road map at a road side kiosk as my map of Bulgaria didn’t cover much further north, and I was heading ultimately for Sighisoara via Pitesti and the Transfagarassen Pass. It was getting late as the ferry hadn’t departed until 4pm for the 30 minute crossing and I was looking to get just north of Pitesti before camping up, leaving a relatively short run for the pass in the morning. For tomorrow is Saturday and I had been warned that under no circumstances was it sensible to ride the pass road over the weekend due to amount of nutters on the road on both 2 and 4 wheels… Listening to tails of doom and gloom is not one of my strong points, so of course I was completely ignoring it; well perhaps not completely ignoring it, as I reckoned that I would be at the top if not halfway down before most of them had eaten their breakfasts. Also, with a huge bike show in Veiliko Tarnovo expected to attract about 25,000 bikers, plus the Bruno Grand Prix taking about the same number off the roads, I reasoned that  I’d be OK.

6.45am and ready to roll!

So 6am and a new dawn saw me already up and packing my kit in the little orchard where I had wild camped in the last light of Friday evening. In view of my desire to get moving , breakfast was a nice juicy peach washed down with a glass or two of sparking water ! It didn’t quite hit the spot like a cup of tea and sultana pancake which was my norm but it would suffice. A quick, cold shower under an apple tree and I was back on the busy highway by 6.45am. Yes the traffic was already quite heavy in both directions. In Bulgaria I was lucky (unlucky?) to see more that a couple of dozen vehicles all day most days, but Romania was abuzzing. Once I cleared Curtea de Arges the traffic thinned a lot and it seemed that my plan was going to pay off.  And indeed it did, the run to the top was virtually traffic free with many bleary eyed people just sticking their heads out of their tents where they had been wild camping amongst the heaps of rubbish ! I am so glad I got the late ferry on Friday and had to camp up before I reached the main road to the pass.

The lower reaches of the pass were a bit like riding around the Elan valley back home in Wales. Nothing really to see except pine trees and bends, oh yes, there were certainly plenty of bends! I passed a couple of cars but that was about it. No doom and gloom, no near death experiences, not even too many idiots really. However in view ,I guess of the all the hype it receives, I found the Transfagaressen Pass a little disappointing. Then you get to the top and are confronted with all the tackiest of souvenir and food stalls you’ll ever come across and that I’m afraid just finishes it for me. I stopped just long enough to take a couple of photos and I was on my way down. Once again I realized how right my early start had been, the traffic was certainly starting to build up, with line after line of bikes of all shapes and sizes heading rapidly for the summit.

 

It was now time to try to catch those pesky Canadians once more, so the medieval town of Sighisoara was to be my next stop, where my good friends, Taz and Joel had forsaken the joys of wild camping for the luxury of the Pensiona Phonix at 100 Lei per night.

Once more I wondered why the GPS wouldn’t take me the way I wanted to go !!! Then once again I found out!!! The road I wanted was just a loose gravel surface for about 10km, but hey that was fine, I’ve ridden enough dirt roads over the last few months for the feeling of dread that used to ensue when confronted with gravel whilst riding a fully laden, make that overladen, GS, to leave me once and for all. Enroute, I stopped for some food supplies at a small town only to be accosted as I left the shop by a man asking for money. Needless to say he didn’t get any, but this is the first time on the entire trip that this has happened to me in any of the countries I have visited. Anyway, town, hotel and wayward Canadians have all been successfully located and I’m now also installed in the luxury of the Pensiona Phonix for the night

.

Romania here I come !

Just about to get up and sort myself out for the ride north to Romania later this morning. I’m not too sure quite where I’m heading for yet as I’ve had a message from Taz & Joel with there whereabouts but I’ve also still got a bit of a recurring problem with my bike. I had various ideas of the problem which make it drop onto one cylinder on occasions but basically putting it down to fuel starvation. Now Adrian who also runs an “airhead” has suggested that it is probably a diaphragm problem and if he is correct then I may have to run to Bucharest to try to get replacements…

I’ve had an interesting couple of days in Adrian’s company, starting on Wednesday when he drove up to Mogilino to have a look at the house I was thinking of buying there. In the end we came to the conclusion that as nice as the house was, it had a few to many problems and it would cost way too much to fix up properly. Then yesterday I spent the day with him, helping to fix a roof at a house his son owns. When I say “help” I was basically just labouring, sorting and carrying tiles to the guy that was doing the actual roofing. However it was invaluable knowledge gained on the strengths and weaknesses of roofs made with the common Turkish tiles that are found out here. Whilst one can’t become an expert in a day at least I now know a bit more of what I need to look out for and just as important how to go about fixing some of the problems. So all in all a tough but useful  day.

Then last night we out for a meal where we had Sushi, another first for me! The restaurant had a balcony that looked out across the gorge in which Veilko is built and the view from out table was nothing short of stunning.

So this morning’s plan is to get my kit all packed up then whip off the carb tops to check the diaphragms before I check out (just in case I need to stay on !!!!) If all goes well I should be on the road by around 10am heading for the border and a ferry across the Danube to yet another new country, Romania….

We have been at our wild camp just outside Mogilino in northern Bulgaria for the last three nights whilst I ponder on the wisdom (or otherwise) of buying a property in the village! So far I’ve had two builders give me vastly different quotes for the same work so now I await a fellow Brit, Adrian’s input. We met Adrian, who lives in Veliko Tarnovo at the Moto Camp last week. He has renovated a couple of Bulgarian properties in the area so knows a lot about prices and who to use (or not use!) and he’s input will be much valued. Meanwhile today (Monday) we went with local estate agent, George to view another property in a nearby town, but although the house looked quite nice as it had been partially renovated, the renovation hadn’t been well done and I was unimpressed with the village it was in. I’m not sure exactly why, although they do apparently have a bit of a Gipsy problem. The local we met in the town square were certainly friendly enough but the whole place had an odd feel about it.

Tomorrow is going to be rather a sad day ,as whilst I stay to try to sort the house, one way or another, Taz and Joel must carry on with their trip! The thought is that I will catch them up in a few days, the reality may be a little different as we will have to rely on the availability of WiFi to get in touch as they do not travel with a mobile phone. I must admit that I will really miss them both, just as I did when we parted in Italy, second time around it won’t be any easier, in fact it will be tougher as our bond of friendship has grown even stronger. Hopefully I will be on my way north by Friday or possibly even Thursday although I really don’t want to do the Transfargassen Pass at the weekend so I may meander a little to delay that momentous ride until Monday!



The place that I very nearly bought for £4000 in Mogilino, Bulgaria

Meanwhile as we prepare to spend our third night at our wonderful wild camp just under 3km from “my” house in Mogilino under a clear blue sky, with the sun starting to sink, it has become almost home to us. It will be a little strange here tomorrow night all on my own, but it really is that nice here; far enough from the road and hidden from view but with superb, uninterrupted views over the surrounding hills. We have even established a nice little shower room in the trees. It’s going to tough topping this one.



As we part tomorrow I head south to Veliko Turnovo to check out a few more properties at one of the other estate agents in the area, whilst they head off to catch a ferry across the Danube to Romania. I wish them safe and happy travels till we meet once again.

Count Dracula here we come!

Three days of R&R at the MotoCamp Bulgaria and we are all up raring to go again! It’s quite strange but all three of us seem to have about the same level of “stayability” before we need to get moving once more. Day one, Wednesday was a day of pure joy, just rest, talk, eat, drink. Thursday we rode into Veiliko Turnovo to get new tyres fitted to all the bikes; in fact mine could have done a few thousand more kms before changing but as my TKC’s had already done over 16,000Km I was happy to change them whilst I had a chance of getting something that I liked in the way of rubber. So my old girl now sports a nice new set of Heidenau K60 Scouts which seem to run a little quieter than the TKC and certainly have plenty of “bite” on the gravel roads, it just remains to be seen how well they last.

The other thing that we did on Thursday whilst in VT was to take a walk around the estate agents offices as I am seriously thinking of buying a property out here as they are so cheap. Oh boy, I though UK agents were bad, but this lot take bad to a whole new level! It is a sure sign that the property bubble has burst as all the British agents that were working from VT appear to have faded away, or at least we didn’t find any, and the other just didn’t seem to care that they had a “real” potential buyer in the shop; could that be the Internet sales working against face to face selling I wonder? Anyway, taking the proverbial bull by the horns I down loaded a few likely pics of  properties from the internet and  yesterday morning we set off to find them, needing to be back by about lunch time as the mayor of Idilaovo was showing us around some empty houses that were for sale in the same village as the moto camp.

And what in interesting morning it turned out to be! We set out for Musina about 30km away with the good ol’ GPS set to shortest distance and found ourselves riding about 3km of gravel track in the middle of nowhere! However it was quite a good track, nice and firm most of the way, so presented no real problems for any of us. Arriving at Musina, we rode slowly around the village comparing property after property with the photograph which I had put on my GPS but to no avail. Spotting someone peering cautiously around a garden gate post we stopped (probably nearly giving them a heart attack!) to enquire if they new the place. No luck, however they directed us to the “square” in the centre of the village where we found a tiny shop which was run by a Bulgarian lady who of course spoke no English. My GPS was solemnly handed around to the customers who seemed to appear from nowhere to throng around us, then the shop lady had the bright idea of summoning the Mayor, Christo, who spoke very good English. In no time at all I was clambering through the overgrown garden to look at the property depicted on my GPS. As usual with estate agents pics , this one didn’t tell the full story as the property was right on the main road, not wjhat I was looking for at all.

Christo then said that there were plenty of other properties for sale in the village and led us back up the road from the shop to another house where the British couple who owned it had started the renovations but then split up and needed to sell it. The price was right at 10,000 leva (about £4000) but unfortunately the property wasn’t. So Christo jumped on his push bike and urged us to follow him on our motorbikes. One of the people that had gather at the shop was Shirley an elderly English lady from Cornwall that had moved out to Bulgaria 4 years ago, bought an abandoned house and had it completely renovated to her own ideas and it transpired that the house next door to her was for sale. First came the guided tour of her beautifully restored home, it really was a joy to behold. Then it down to viewing the empty property next door which entailed beating our way through the overgrown grounds before we could even seethe house. Whilst obviously requiring a lot of work the place appeared quite sound. So then it was time to try to get inside to see what sort of state that was in. I found a tiny window at the rear with all the glass missing which led to what would have been the toilet (at least that was indicated by the fact that there was a toilet in the room although unconnected) It was one hell of a tight squeeze and I was glad of the weight I have shed on this trip which made it a little easier to slide through the hole. Once inside I was able to open a much bigger window for Joel to get in through. The place certainly had promise even though it would need gutting before you could even start to make anything of it, but at 10,000 Leva (£4000) it still made me think very hard. By the time we left Musina I think we had met about half of the villagers all of whom seemed to be very friendly and happy to meet us all. I asked Shirley how she fancied having bikers living next door to which she replied that she wouldn’t mind as long as I took her for a ride occasionally !

It was then back to base to meet up with the other Mayor and look at 3 more empty houses, it seems that of about 240 houses in the village, nearly half of them are empty but these three were all at that magic 1,000 Leva proce level, one having been on the market only a year or so back at 20,000 Leva and the owners then refusing to accept 17,000 Leva for it. This was the one that had mostr appeal to me as the location offered nice views across the valley and it felt more “open” than the other two. Unfortunately I was unable to see inside, although the owners apparently still use it occasionally at weekend, not that too much should be read into that with regards to it’s condition. Today we head north, stopping at another village to actually meet with an estate agent which I found on eBay to look at a couple more places, then Romania, the Transfargassen Pass and Count Dracula beckon!

Follys Galore!



Hotel Kalina



We left the hotel Kalina on a damp and gloomy Sunday morning heading further east into Bulgaria in search of the relatively newly discovered Roman ruins at Perperikon. The sky soon cleared giving way to intermittent sunshine with a backdrop of distant rolling thunder. The roads were almost empty and the riding great. On the way we spotted a sign for an ancient hill top fortress which we thought might be worth a bit of a detour so headed of slightly to the north of our route up into the mountains. The road was really good for such a byroad and had obviously seen an injection of those ever flowing EU Euros… We road up through a small village and received welcoming waves from many of the people we saw. There were of course the inevitable empty bars and hotels built, one can only guess, on the unfulfilled promises of hoards of tourists visiting the fortress…

At the far end of the village we found a single sign for the fortress pointing left, the only problem was that there were in fact two tracks both heading in roughly the direction the sign was showing; we chose the slightly better but still unsurfaced one and got it right first time. About 2km of fairly good gravel road brought us to a good sized car park containing just one vehicle behind which was a nice new reception building with, it seemed, 4 staff!  It was a stiff walk from the car park to the “fortress” but the view from the top meant that it was well worth the effort! The fortress however required some vivid imagination to envisage as there really was very little to see inspite of the large amounts of money spent on building a walkway right around the perimeter of the mountain peak; yet another bureaucratic folly!

Arriving at Perperikon late in the afternoon we were amazed to find our first Bulgarian tourist site that appeared to have a reasonable amount of visitors in attendance, at least judging from the number of vehicles in the car park, although there were still far more kiosks selling tourist “tat” than the numbers could possibly support!

We opted to find a camp site and visit first thing the following morning as the guide book suggested that it would require at least 2 hours to do it justice. Yet again lady luck smiled upon us and another superb site was located quite close to the local village in the midst of a lovely, mature beech woodland, complete with our own spring! We have all really taken to wild camping to the point where we no longer even look for established camp sites, preferring the tranquillity of a secluded spot hidden in either woodland or along unused tracks.

Tuesday morning saw us back at Perperikon by 9am and paying our pittance of an entrance fee and even smaller parking fee before yet another long uphill hike to the remains. There were quite a few vehicles already in the car park but these turned out to be the Archaeologists’ vehicles rather than tourists, we were in fact the only tourists up there at that time! Once again however the hike was well worth the effort expended, both for the views and the ruins themselves although once more a vivid imagination was required to see it’s former glory. I have absolutely no knowledge of archaeology but I find it incredible how they manage to interpret a few rocks and come up with not only a complete floor plan but also tell us what went on in the various rooms is beyond my completely comprehension!

It was time to turn north towards the Shipka pass and Motocamp Bulgaria but of course not by the direct route! Our meandering through the “roads less travelled” led us to another wild camp high in the mountains before arriving at the small town of Shipka at the foot of the Shipka pass where we discovered the Shipka Memorial Church, an amazing church with huge golden “onion” domes.

Then it was off up the pass and a visit to the Shipka Memorial and the incredible Buzludja building which was a celebration of the founding of the Bulgarian Communist Party but now, sadly left derelict and rapidly decaying along with the business of two adjacent hotels!

Our visit to the Shipka memorial coincided with that of the Bulgarian president, which meant that instead of being able to ride almost up to the door we had to walk up over 600 steps to it; nobody can accuse us of not getting any exercise on this trip; once again the agony of the walk was well worth it for the views. However the Shipka memorial was completely overshadowed by the Buzludja building, a huge tower (the tallest building in Bulgaria) adjacent to a spaceship like dome sat high on top of the mountain.

Unfortunately the doors which were previously open, had now been welded shut so the faded glory of the interior was hidden from us. It was still quite a spectacle to behold and a ongoing monument to the stupidty and megalomania on the communist machine. The ride down from the pass was horribly slow due to the amount of heavy traffic which put us at Motocamp Bulgaria in time for a nice cold beer before dinner.

My day at the Hotel Kalina has been spent alternating between  sleeping, contemplating my life on road and abject horror at the realisation that not too far down the road I must return to what passes in our so called “civilized” world as normality. For me the world can never be as it was, far too much has happened over the last three years for a simple return to the status quo of “ normality”. Not least over the past two months I have been given a glimpse of an alternative life style, lived by many , many people that I have met, that offers for me at least, something far better. My only problem is how to reconcile the opposing torments within me to finally arrive at an equable solution!

Living on the road can be amazingly cheap if you do it right and I have a host of people to thank for showing me just where I was going wrong. Foremost must come Taz and Joel, their gentle humour and quiet ways have taught me so much in the weeks we have travelled together and I can only hope that in some small way I have been able to return just a little to them from the way I travel. Hanno, our German friend that we met at the Horizons meeting and who travels on less money than many spend at the pub over a weekend; Alex, another German and one who must rate amongst the luckiest of men, for not only finding salvation from his depressions in the world of travel but also for finding the girl of his dreams, the very beautiful  Mila, on the road! Just how lucky can one man get? He supplements his travel budget by writing articles for an agricultural magazine. There are many more I could mention such as Iain and Debs, at present in Korea, living their dream but as the song says “ behind them the queue stretches right down the hall”.

One of the first questions that always crops up when you talk to wannabe travellers (amongst whom I classify myself) is the thorny one of cost. “ How can you afford it?”  The biggest problem is that there is no single answer, and certainly not a simple one. I remember being told when I was very young that I could do anything, be anything I wanted ,if I set my mind to it; and to be honest that was not too far away from the truth! You just have to want it bad enough! Taz and Joel live like students in rented accommodation when they are not travelling shoving every penny they can earn from long working hours into the bank for the next spell on the road. Iain and Debz sold their comfortable home to finance their dream of travelling the world together. Hanno, lives for his small amount of benefits to arrive, sometimes staying on a wild camp site for days, until the cheque hits the bank. One thing however, that all have in common is that they have learned the art of managing quite comfortably on a very small budget.  Many people also use a variety  of web sites such as www.workaway.com , www.couchsurfing.com, and www.housecarers.com  to find both accommodation and work to help along the way. It is also fascinating and an utter joy to learn how quick like minded people are to offer their help and their homes to fellow travellers. On this trip we have been offered a 10 bed roomed mansion in the Italian hills for the winter, a village home on one of the Greek Islands, Chios for whenever I want to go there. Not to mention similar offers from Athens, Munich, Chalkidiki and various other points around Europe.

So where does that leave me??? Until I get home and do my final reckoning, to be absolutely honest I don’t know. What I do know however is that my daily budget has dropped dramatically  over the past two months or so, partly due to travelling less miles each day; after all, what’s the rush? My 4/500km per day average is now down to around 200km or even less. With fuel being the largest part of my budget that means I travel for twice as long on the same money and an added bonus is that by travelling slowly I see far more and meet more people because I stop more often! By finding wild camps rather than paying over inflated prices to pitch my tiny tent on a patch of land and use their filthy toilets, I save another 10 to 15 Euros, easily enough to pay for the odd restaurant meal or, as at the moment, a couple of nights in a reasonably priced hotel. My guess is that the final tally will be around £25 or 30Euro per day and for that I get to see a myriad of beautiful places, meet amazing , very interesting people AND choose what weather I want by just changing my destination!  This could really be heaven I guess! Although there is still a little fluffy thing missing from my paradise !!!

So where next? Again I have to answer that I don’t yet know, possibly Bansang, possibly India or Thailand! But one thing I do know is that spending the winter in cold, wet Wales looks ever less attractive.

Saturday 11th August 9am

Ooo, that was a rough night by any standards…. After leaving our 6000ft wild camp, we continued to make our way slowly through the Rodapi mountains past lakes, reservoirs, forests and … athletes ! Yes, that’s right, athletes, it seems that the area through which we were riding is used extensively for the training of athletes for the winter Olympics and everywhere we went there were people skiing down ( and up) the roads on inline skates, sculling on the lakes, mountain biking and just running. I don’t mean your usual weekend keep fit nutters, this was very serious stuff being undertaken by some very fit athletes!  However all those fit young bodies did nothing to detract from the incredibly beauty of the area. Every where you turn you are confronted with one mind-blowing vista after another!

All day long we had been hearing the rumble of thunder behind us and as we rode into the afternoon it became apparent that we were losing the battle to out run the following  storm. So in spite of it only being about 3pm we decided that it would make sense to find somewhere to camp before we got a thorough soaking. We turned off the main road in favour of a little side road, as it’s generally easier to find a good wild camp spot on the smaller roads. A couple of likely tracks were investigated and dismissed, then I spotted some abandoned building by the road side, one with a huge Red Star on the end of it… Walking up the track into the yard I found that there were 3 partly demolished buildings and a fourth which was in a reasonable state of repair, even having a fence around it, although It didn’t appear to be inhabited and to top it all off there was even a working tap in the yard. Perhaps I should explain for those reading this that have never wild camped; carrying sufficient water for drinking, cooking and washing is always a bit of an issue. We have it down to quite a fine art and carry 8 x  1.5lt full water bottles between us which we fill from local springs by the side of the road, of which there are many. However, if we can find another water supply by way of a river, spring or tap it makes life a bit easier as we can wash out some clothes and even have a good shower in the morning before we leave which sets us up nicely for the days riding.

Anyway, we got the tents and tarp up just in time before the rain started hammering down and got down to the serious business of preparing the evenings repast! I have always thought I eat well whilst camping, but Taz takes it to a whole new level, we had even bought some frozen meat, although it proved not to be quite what it seemed, as the picture on the packet clearly showed minced beef from which we were all looking forward to a nice Spag Bog… but without the Spag as Taz tries not to eat flour or other grains. Instead we found that we had bought a form of sausage meat, so we had a sort of Meatball Bog! Either way, as always, it was delicious, particularly when washed down with some 1Euro/Lt Red wine !

The rain continued on and off for most of the night, although it takes rather more than a little rain to stop us all sleeping soundly once ensconced in a nice peaceful, wild camp spot. I don’t think organised camp sites with their myriads of people and sounds will ever be quite the same again! As morning broke it was obvious that for the first time since leaving France in early June the tents were going to have to be packed away wet!  So breakfast over, which incidentally tends to be my job and this morning was scrambled eggs cooked with onion and spicy salami, we had a break in the rain to get everything packed away, shower and get back on the road… that was where I made the mistake that would come back to bite me of filling two of my water bottles from the tap!

Our goal for the day was to be Smolyan and easy ride by any standards, even at our leisurely pace! The scenery continued to fill senses whilst after a couple of hours or so the thunder once again filled our ears. We stopped for a quick coffee at Dospat, where we also bought a freshly cooked chicken straight from the Rotisserie and on we rode. Lunch came and went in a roadside shelter and the temperature dropped so much we all fastened our coats right up, another first for some weeks!

Stopping at the picturesque little town of Siroka Laka to take some photos and have another coffee, the storm finally caught up with us again. The rain started softly but by the time we were ready to leave it was bouncing off the road, making the thought of riding, never mind camping decidedly unattractive. At first we though we would just sit it out, but about an hour later there was still no let up. It was at this point that as she paid for our coffees, Taz noticed that the bar we were in also had letting rooms, it looked a bit beyond our budget but it was worth asking anyway. Taz’s jaw dropped as she discovered that it would cost us just 20 Lev or about £8 each to stay at the hotel; and that included breakfast. It didn’t need a lot of discussion – wet camp or warm dry room? We checked into a 2 roomed 3 bed apartment for less money that we had paid on many camp sites…and none too soon, as that was the point at which my mornings mistake of filling my water bottles from the tap started to bite me.

At first I though it was just a little bit of indigestion from the chicken and warm bread we had eaten for lunch so I took a Zantac tablet. However to no avail, my distended stomach was now beginning to really hurt and I was also feeling very tired and a bit nauseous. By the time I got to my bed  I was really beginning to feel bad, dinner was out of the question, as was the nice ice cold beer I had been looking forward to.  Trying to analize what I had eaten or drunk different to Taz and Joel ,who were so far unaffected, suspicion centered on the tap water in my bottles. I had only drunk a little of it at lunch time as it looked a bit cloudy and had an “off” taste, but although I had spit most of it out, I had probably swallowed a little. It took another hour or so before the suspicion of food (or water) poisoning   was confirmed and I just made it too the bathroom before being violently sick.

Thankfully that was the worst of it over although I did run a very high temperature for most of the night and had just one more trip to the big white phone! Today I’m hopefully on the way back up although feeling very weak and wobbly. Breakfast in the hotel consisted of a rather heavy pancake covered with fresh fruit jam about ½ inch thick and a nearly cold cup of coffee. I guess I managed about half of it and take the fact that I now feel hungry as a good sign!

In view of my condition (to say nothing of the fact that it is still pouring of rain!) we have opted to stay at the Hotel Kalina for a second night and see what tomorrow brings… That’s one of the joys of not having a fixed schedule, we can afford to just chill for the day!

Bullshit and Bunkers

Wednesday Aug 8^th

What a day! We started the day at one amazing wild camp and ended an even more amazing one!  Last night we camped way above Rila Monastery in an ancient forest in a clearing beside a small river. It was at just over 1200m in the Piran mountains. The scenery was stunning and our location was about as remote as it was possible to get on a motorbike. We had ridden about a mile along an unmade track before we came to what appeared to be and old communist holiday retreat. Passing straight on through the old buildings, some of which were inhabited, although we have no way of knowing whether as permanent or holiday homes, some way on we found a small clearing which had obviously seen previous duty as a camp site and the remains of an open fire could be seen. It really was a beautiful place to stop! After the intense heat of the day, stripping off and pouring bucket after bucket of the ice cold water over our heads was just so refreshing and it set us up nicely for dinner. It was a particular joy to find as we had intended to stay on an organised camp site, but after one look at the toilets and showers which were filthy, we were unanimous in opting for a wild camp (much to the disgust of the owner).

Morning dawned bright, clear and already warm, we had decided on a fairly early start back to the monastery to try to beat the crowds. Arriving at the almost empty car park we were confronted by a sullen oaf of a man telling us that we couldn’t park there as it was reserved for coaches. Our queries of alternative parking was met with nothing but shrugs until he eventually decided we could park at a charge of 10 lev (about 5 Euro) per bike at which point we left trying hard to run over his toes on the way out! Parking on the other side of the Monastery we then encountered a Danish guy who had stayed in the monastery overnight and was shall we say, less than complimentary about his stay !

I guess the confrontation with the idiot in the car park together with the crass commercialism of the place had sullied my mood somewhat as I could take little joy from the beauty of the place, taking just a few photographs, although I did light a candle for Sam in the church. Even as we left an hour so later the coaches for which we had to move, had failed to materialise. Next stop was a small supermarket where we had shopped the previous day; Taz and Joel were amazed to find that the two Bulgarian brothers and their father who ran the place, all spoke perfect Spanish, a language in which they too are fluent. Discussions about the local Hooch, Rakia, elicited information that they could “obtain” some home distilled for us and we were calling to collect. Sure enough a 700ml bottle was produced at a cost of just 8 lev (about 4 euro) something to look forward to later! It was then time to head for the hills once more and away from the intense heat, although that involved a 40km ride along the main highway to Sofia amongst the homicidal Bulgarian drivers which was “interesting”!

Our first attempt to get into the hill was blocked by a park ranger who informed us that the road had a barrier across it some way up to prevent vehicle access to the national park, so we turned around and headed off on the road to Borovets, one of Bulgaria’s major ski resorts. We stopped to try to get some shopping at a small supermarket on the edge of the town, but found the shelves almost bare, indeed as it was out of season the place was almost deserted and whilst there were a lot of very modern hotels there, the rest of the place had a distinctly run down look about it

 Joel had spotted a lake on the map which looked high in the mountains and this was to be our destination for the day. It took a little bit of searching to find the right road but once on it we had a great ride into the hills. At one we rounded a corner to find a raised barrier by the road with a policeman sat beside it, however he made no attempt to stop us so on we went.  Finding a turn off to the left, the direction of the lake, we took it and not only ended up a dead end, but in front of us was a huge steel door blocking entry to a bunker in the side of the mountain, it was to say the least a little spooky! So we beat a hasty retreat back to the main road and carried on up the mountain. Spotting a concrete road heading off to our right on the apex of a hairpin bend, or switchback as Joel insists on calling them , we tried our luck again and surprise, surprise, this time we found two more bunkers in the mountainside along with a couple of semi-demolished barrack buildings and a long dead straight concrete road which on later investigation ran absolutely north – south. 

Things were getting spookier by the minute, when Joel came back from another little track with a huge grin on his face and beckoned us to follow him. Just round to the side of the buildings he had found not only a perfect camping spot, but it came complete with a picnic table and benches built around a huge pine tree, a stone built barbecue AND a spring dispensing ice cold water right next to the table. Wow, that one will be hard to top! And it was far enough from the road to mute the sound of the odd passing car so we spent a blissful night talking, laughing, eating and sipping Rakia… A little to much Rakia if I’m honest, as I hadn’t blown up my sleep mat and it seems that I had to get Taz, who had also consumed a little too much, to blow it up for me as my lips apparently didn’t want to work ! I have absolutely no recollection of this you understand !!! Then in the middle of the night it started raining and neither of us had flysheets on our tents. Trying to attach a flysheet in the rain whilst half-cut and half asleep takes on a new dimension, but with a little help from my friends it was accomplished well enough to keep most of the rain off me and I was soon snoring peacefully once more.  So this morning saw a rather slower that usual start to our day, partly due to the Rakia, but mainly due to us waiting for the tents to dry out in the morning sun which was a little weak as we had camped at almost 6000ft !

Bulgaria

Crossed into Bulgaria at about 4pm yesterday with a minimum of formalities and found a superb wild camp 1274m up a mountain complete with a crystal clear mountain stream for a nice cold shower this morning. Whilst at the stream this morning what looked like a pole cat came slinking down from the forest behind me. I'm not sure which of got the biggest shock!

We are now at a little place called Melnik sat at a small Mexaha enjoying a coffee and local food.

About Turn !

Sunday 5^th August

Sorry no photos, but uploading at a quick internet cafe stop. Will try to add pics later.

We arrived in Thessaloniki at about 5pm just nice for our 5.30pm rendezvous with Lefteris who came along with a surprise package… A young Russian girl “couch surfer” called Elena. She had only arrived in Greece the previous day to try to arrange accommodation for her forthcoming years study at the University of Macedonia in Thessaloniki . I was amazed that she could actually attend university in Greece and study her chosen subject of Economics in English! Anyway, having met up with the two of them Lefteris guided us up to the house in Vavdos, owned by his grandmother, where he has a ground floor apartment. The house is over two hundred years old and situated high up a precipitous mountain road which had a deep drainage gully in the centre… quite in interesting ride on a heavily laden bike but well worth the stress! They have a bar and a restaurant inn the square just a short walk down the hill and we took good advantage of both.

The night passed peacefully and was relatively cool thanks to the altitude ( almost 1000 mts) however awaking early as usual I made the mistake of taking a stroll around at about 6.30 am to take some photographs and managed to set every dog in village barking…  Whilst packing the bikes after breakfast we had another demonstration of just how differently Greece interprets the EU rules and regulations that blight our lives in the UK. The local goat keeper arrived in his 4x4 pick up with a big tank  in the back, which was not in any way refridgerated, into which he dipped jug after jug as he sold his fresh goats milk to the eager locals!   Try that one at in the UK and see how long you stay out of court! We were then  invited into the terrace of the hours opposite by Lefteris neighbour to sample her homemade apples in syrup; they were delicious although not exactly diet food. 

We finally got moving at about mid-day and headed up to a viewpoint even higher up the mountain from where you can see all three “fingers” of Chalkidiki, that is if the weather is clear, which unfortunately it wasn’t but it was still a nice walk from the carp park to the top. As it was Saturday and also peak holiday season the traffic was quite heavy once we got onto the main route to the middle of the three fingers, heading for a wild camp on the beach at a favourite spot of Lefteris’ . What he didn’t know was that the road to the beach had been improved, allowing not only hundreds more people to get to it but a beach bar had also been set up completely with the usual loud tuneless noise that passes for music. The whole place also looked like an open sewer ! It never fails to amaze me how people can so quickly destroy an area of beauty by their utter stupidity and carelessness. We did eventually find a relatively clean corner in which to camp but it was a huge disappointment to us all. The sea was wonderfully warm and crystal clear although very crowded and noisy the so called music going through until sunrise, at which point I got up and had a swim in a completely deserted sea… that’s far more to my liking.

Breakfast consisted of my famous sultana pancakes washed down with tea (or coffee), a quick swim and we were ready to leave… well to be more accurate three of us were, as Lefteris and Elena were nowhere to be found; in fact they were still in the sea.

We rode around the rest of the “finger” together before leaving Lefteris and Elena heading down to another beach whilst Taz, Joel and I headed North.  North? Ah, yes, North… there had been a bit of a change of plan; Joel was suffering badly with the heat which was running at about 44c at sea level , so instead of heading South to Chios and then Turkey we are now on our way to Bulgaria. In many way it makes a lot of sense for all of us as we would only have been able to do a tiny part of Turkey before heading up to Bulgaria and would then not really have had time to see either Bulgaria or Romania properly if I am to get back to the UK in time to compete in Sam’s Memorial Canoe Race on the 22^nd September… so Bulgaria here we come!

Tonight, Sunday, we are camped beside a forest track high in the mountains once more, about 170km south of a minor crossing into Bulgaria, with not a sound except the odd Cicada chirping. We should be far enough from the little road not to be seen by the odd car that comes along every couple of hours or so which is just how we like it

Edessa

Thursday Aug 2^nd

A quiet but very pleasant day in spent in Edessa. Martin left for Bulgaria at about 7.30am and with Taz opting to relax in their room, Joel and I decided to have a look around this rather nice little town. We wandered through part of the old town to find the famed waterfalls and were once again astounded to find a large tourist project which must have cost quite a few million euros, all but abandoned.

That Lift !

The main way down to this folly was via a two stage lift which was covered in graffiti and so badly vandalised that neither of us were very keen to risk life and limb in it, even though it silently and eerily appeared at the push of a button. Whilst the falls were certainly still attracting a few visitors, the huge Hemp Museum was completely derelict with it’s adjoining café bar complex looking as though it hadn’t been used for a very long time. There was a futuristic, water powered children’s play area and vast terraces all just left to return to nature. The aquarium was open but empty and even we didn’t part with our two euro to see it.The falls however were well worth the climb down countless steps ( and of course, up again!) with three separate chutes dropping spectacularly from the town above into the chasm.

The Hemp Museum

It was of course then coffee time and we were definitely spoilt for choice of where to sit and pass some time people watching. Eventually we chose a shady little corner outside a bakery shop in which to enjoy our Frappe which was served up with a fresh cheese straw to nibble on and passed the time in amiable conversation. It’s really nice the way I seem to have connected with both Taz and Joel and conversation is always easy and pleasant with all of us being equally comfortable with the spaces between! A bit of a wander then back to the hotel to check on Taz and it was time for lunch. Getting a little jaded with the ubiquitous Souvlaki, Joel and I found a Greek fast food joint with Joel trying the Chicken whilst I had an oven baked cheese and pepper dish with French fries all washed down with an ice cold beer…
Then the thunder started ! I’ll say one thing about the weather out here when it rains, it really rains. We sat in the café for well over an hour whilst another storm of tropical proportions rained torrent of water from the heavens sending everyone scattering for cover except a few hardly soles that appeared not to notice the deluge.

Late in the afternoon having collected Taz, now much recovered it was once more coffee time this time as ther sun had moved we sat at a bar on the other side of the square and Taz got into conversation with one of the waiters about a place to eat He recommended a little restaurant some way down into town that served mezes, a Greek version of the Spanish Tapas but slightly larger and so we had what we all agreed was our best meal so far in Greece. Three meat and three fish dishes were set before us with amazingly, a green salad rather than the more usual Greek salad washed down with a little tsipouro ! what a way to end a day…

So now we head off in the morning to Thessonaliki to meet up with Lefteris for the weekend and to see the countryside and coast around his home area and I for one can’t wait !   

Back on the road again !

Wednesday 1^st August



Pramanta Monastery

Tonight I’m sat in my room in The Hotel Elena in Edessa. It’s the first time I’ve used a hotel since leaving home on 9^th June and it’s due to Taz not feeling too well so we thought a bit of luxury might just help her recover her usual joie de vivre! For 25 Euro for a single room, it’s clean and comfortable and also well placed for a stroll around the town and down to what are supposed to be quite spectacular waterfalls just on the edge of the town.

It took us a long time to drag ourselves away from the Pramanta Refuge on Monday, leaving behind some really good new friends which I am sure that Taz, Joel and myself will surely keep in touch with. Dimitris looked totally exhausted, although that wasn’t helped by the fact that he was up till 4am drinking with Babis and a few of the refuge staff! We had all opted for a fairly early night before the Tsipouro got flowing too liberally.

A last Coffee with Effy in Pramanta

We left Hanno and Alex sorting a few minor repairs to Alex’s bike whilst Mila had a lie in! Martin is now riding with us although I think he may well head off north towards Bulgaria tomorrow which will leave our original trio to head over to Thessaloniki to meet up with Lefteris, whom we met at the HU meeting, for the weekend. We have had a really nice 3 days meandering through the mountains since leaving Pramanta traversing  a new pass which involved riding over 8km on the unmade section  of roadwhich is still being worked on .



Lunch/Swim spot



Then this morning after leaving our wild camp by a load of telecommunication masts we had another 10km of great unsurfaced road to cover which took us to a lovely little town high in the hills called Kleisoura. It is yet another town where all the inhabitants were shot by the Germans in 1941 with the town then being completely burnt to the ground. I had no idea before this trip just how much devastation was wreaked upon Greece and it’s people by the Nazis during the 1939-45 war. In most of the mountain ranges you come across village after village, town after town of what are described as “Martyric “ villages.

Kleisoura

The previous night had been spent on a free camp site just out side of Petruli. Apparently it was originally a training base for the local Forestry Wardens but it was then left as just a free camp site. Somebody looks after it, cleans the toilets and empties the bins… but nobody seemed to know who! However it was a good place to spend the night, peaceful and cool at just over 1100 mt. high.

Time now to try and find some food, something which is fairly easy in Greece as every town and village appears to have a plethora of bars and restaurants, far more than the local population and the occasional tourist could possibly support. How they all survive is a complete mystery to me!

Just left of center near the bottom you can sea the road we were on !