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Published: June 22nd 2018
The original plan today was to go on a narrow gauge railway, but upon further investigation I realised it was a 10 hour round trip and much of it goes through scenery we have already driven through.
Plan B was a half hour drive to Sapareva Banyans, where a bunch of women were blocking the road rollerskiing and making it look like hard work. From there we drove up to the Rila Mountains towards Seven Lakes, which are glacial lakes situated between 2,100 and 2,500 metres above sea level. Glyn had though that as we were hiking to lakes, that it would be flat, ha ha, he was wrong! On the way up, Glyn stopped so we could do a Pokémon raid in a woodland walk where naff fairytale character paintings were nailed to trees. They were very worn, one missing a head and we have no idea why they were there. We filled our water bottles with water from a nearby well, the water was a bit misty but settled later and drinkable. Or I haven't had un upset belly yet.
After driving for around half an hour upwards, we then took a chairlift for around 25 minutes,
even further upwards!
The chairlift cost 18 lev return each and was a ski lift where a chair hits two people, scooping them up. Passengers pull down a 'safety' bar to hold them in, but I had to hold it down with my foot as it kept popping back up. The view was awesome, fir tree forests stretching out to the horizon and snow capped mountains covered in mist. Being open, we didn't have to worry about dirty windows ruining photos. What we had to worry about was dropping anything that would be lost forever and falling out.
We were concerned about getting off, these lifts are designed for people wearing skis sliding off. But in summer, passengers have to leap off and run in opposite directions. To our surprise we managed without any mishaps or hilarious accidents to recount later. Sorry about that.
We arrived in an open area surrounded by mountains to climb further. The landscape was rocky with multiple landslides and massive boulders littering the grass. The grass was mixed with a huge array of colourful mountain flowers that appear so delicate, its a miracle they survive. I recognised pansies, crocuses and buttercups, but
there were lots of others in blue, yellow, orange, pink and purple.
There were maps, in Bulgarian with no 'you are here' type arrows and so we started off going the wrong way, up a steep path. I decided to check google maps and realised that we were walking away from the lakes. Sigh. So we had to go back down and start again.
The paths around here don't just follow streams, they often ARE streams and this was no exception, so we trudged up the slippery rocks and soon came upon our first stretch of dirty snow. It's really solid snow and took some kicking to break a piece of to see how white it could be. We came across a first lake, with waterfalls in the distance and a frog hopping across the path.
The path took us over a few rivers and I wasn't happy crossing the wet rocks as they were not always fixed. One particular crossing, I just didn't want to risk, so we decided to go off piste and up a hill that didn't look that bad...
The hill wasn't that bad, but the pile of huge boulders at the
top were not part of the plan. That took some clambering and climbing and we had to admit that we might be a bit lost. Never mind, onwards and upwards!
Continuing up, we were walking beside gushing waterfalls crashing over rocks and it was all very picturesque. Finally we came to a lake that mirrored the snowy mountains perfectly. Time for a chocolate box lid photo opportunity.
We'd only seen a few people in the far distance, but at this point a young man appeared asking if we spoke English. He was lost and hoping for guidance. Fat chance, he had totally lucked out finding us, we probably were the most clueless people in the Rila Mountains. However, I could see some hikers far away across the lake, maybe he could catch them up and ask? He didn't seem too concerned, I hope he made it back to the chairlift before 4pm, or it's another couple of hours hiking down.
We spent 15 mins at the lake and then decided to risk taking another route down. This avoided rock climbing over boulders, but did result in us having to cross the dodgy river I'd avoided on the
way up. But I didn't fall in, again, sorry to be boring. The walk back was quicker than expected and good job too as the sky was turning very dark and thunder started to crack overhead. I wasn't too worried as it thunders a lot here without rain.
Getting on the chairlift like experts, we looked forward to a pleasant journey down. I'd put on my waterproof because I expected cold winds. Glyn doesn't feel the cold, so he did not. How smug was I when it started to rain?! But then it really rained. It's hard to get into your bags on a chairlift as the space is tight and there's a real danger of dropping precious things like car keys into the forest below, so Glyn was getting wet as the rain drops were huge. I manage to fish out my cap for him to use and was able to get my brolly which we huddled under midair, but it couldn't completely protect us. The guy in front of us was stuck out there in just a tshirt but seemed to embrace the situation, waving his arms about as if shrugging it off.
The rain managed
to get worse as I drove back down the mountain and visibility was poor. The road was so soaked that pot holes were hidden and a few swear words were uttered as we jolted and bumped unexpectedly.
Various motorists parked up in unsafe places such as hairpin bends and junctions, with their hazard lights on. I assumed they had broken down but came to realise that they were just waiting for the rain to ease. They had a long wait. However, after hitting a few more pot holes, driving through deep water and not being able to see, Glyn suggested we pull up for a while. Fork lightening prevailed and thunder banged on for some time before I was ready to set off again. The rain still pounded on through the the entire journey but the roads were better further down the mountain.
Back in Borovets, we parked up below the Happy Duck so we could avoid the guy at Sunnys trying to get us in there again to eat a pig. The Romanians we'd met at Sunnys were also in the Duck, probably avoiding the same man. After shaking hands with the owner, we ordered our meal
and the waitress brought a tray with a napkin, spoon and a shot. Now this was a bit odd because if it was a complimentary drink like the other night, surely you get it at the end of the meal and shouldn't there be one each? I drank it anyway. When Glyn's Sach (sizzling meat and vegetables Bulgarian style), the waitress had had to bring another shot to pour over it to set it alight. Oops, I'd drunk some of Glyn's dinner! Afterwards, we went back to the apartment as I had three cans of Bulgarian beer left to drink before leaving tomorrow. Well someone has to!
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D MJ Binkley
Dave and Merry Jo Binkley
Mountain Lakes
stunning