Don riding the final 3km all uphill to Belogradchik. There was a cafe at top which served thirst quenching beer.
One of the near deserted villages we rode through with boarded up houses. No shops and little other infrastructure. They had certainly seen better days.
We saw quite few stork nests during the day. This one nestled on a telegraph pole in one of the villages.
Farming methods are still pretty basic.
Some passing traffic we shared the road with. The backroad we travelled on was tranquil and interesting. After we took this photo the people in the wagon had a good laugh at us on bicycles.Montana to Belogradchik (Monday 1st June; 55.13km @ 17.8kph)
We had read in the Lonely Planet that Bulgarian breakfast is coffee and cigarettes. From our observations that seems to be spot on. Very hard to get something decent to eat in mornings. So we left Montana feeling still a bit under-nourished and headed out of town. It should have been straight forward but we managed to miss the main road and got onto a smaller road going slightly north of the highway. We could still get back to the main road 45km on and we would not miss our turn off to Belogradchik which was our goal fot the day.
We enjoyed a traffic free ride, passing small farming villages where horse and carts were the main mode of transport and the land was still worked by human labour. Quite a contrast to the previous afternoon when we saw young ladies at intervals along the main road. The first one waqs dressed in bikini top and miniskirt and when Don asked what she was doing there we naively thought catching a bus maybe. After a couple of more had been passed we realised that was not the case.
The landscape had lost the mountains on the southern side of the main road and was now undulating with middle grade uphills and corresponding down hills . Just had to concentrate on dodging the rather deep pot holes. But all went well and the riding legs have defnitely kicked in .
Some turnoffs were totally unmarked and the trickiest thing is, when you ask people for direction you have to remember that in this country they nod their heads for NO and shake their heads for YES! It is causing us a lot of laughs. I have resorted to thubs up/down or "OK?" (and eyebrow movement is very effective)
We had lunch in what is supposed to be a town, Ruzinci, but found it more or less deserted and boarded up. A couple of ladies in yellow vests were sweeping the street (council workers ? or "work for the dole"????). You wonder what for.
After lunch we headed up a valley and then up in the hills ( 3 km uphill) towards Belogradchik.
This town was nominated for "The new 7 Natural Wonders" but I think it missed out. It is however a lovely place with amazing rock formations and an old Fort built into the rocks. We met up with Maddi again and had dinner at a great little restaurant . Good hearty food and a jug of good local wine.
We have decided to spend a day in this fascinating place.
We had read in the Lonely Planet that Bulgarian breakfast is coffee and cigarettes. From our observations that seems to be spot on. Very hard to get something decent to eat in mornings. So we left Montana feeling still a bit under-nourished and headed out of town. It should have been straight forward but we managed to miss the main road and got onto a smaller road going slightly north of the highway. We could still get back to the main road 45km on and we would not miss our turn off to Belogradchik which was our goal fot the day.
We enjoyed a traffic free ride, passing small farming villages where horse and carts were the main mode of transport and the land was still worked by human labour. Quite a contrast to the previous afternoon when we saw young ladies at intervals along the main road. The first one waqs dressed in bikini top and miniskirt and when Don asked what she was doing there we naively thought catching a bus maybe. After a couple of more had been passed we realised that was not the case.
The landscape had lost the mountains on the southern side of the main road and was now undulating with middle grade uphills and corresponding down hills . Just had to concentrate on dodging the rather deep pot holes. But all went well and the riding legs have defnitely kicked in .
Some turnoffs were totally unmarked and the trickiest thing is, when you ask people for direction you have to remember that in this country they nod their heads for NO and shake their heads for YES! It is causing us a lot of laughs. I have resorted to thubs up/down or "OK?" (and eyebrow movement is very effective)
We had lunch in what is supposed to be a town, Ruzinci, but found it more or less deserted and boarded up. A couple of ladies in yellow vests were sweeping the street (council workers ? or "work for the dole"????). You wonder what for.
After lunch we headed up a valley and then up in the hills ( 3 km uphill) towards Belogradchik.
This town was nominated for "The new 7 Natural Wonders" but I think it missed out. It is however a lovely place with amazing rock formations and an old Fort built into the rocks. We met up with Maddi again and had dinner at a great little restaurant . Good hearty food and a jug of good local wine.
We have decided to spend a day in this fascinating place.
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