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!
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