Being Hounded

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Yes, that's right. I've not had a pleasant time with the canines in this country. I have been chased into and out of very city, village and country road that there is - or so it seems - by feral, rabid dogs and, truth be told I am getting rather weary of it.

Cycling out of Sofia began well. I started early but as I reached the outskirts of the city I was chased by two dogs on one side of the road. When I crossed to the other side of the road, I had 2 more chasing me until I was cycling in the middle of the road with traffic passing me on either side. I was very happy to say goodbye to Sofia after that adrenalin rush.

My destination on that day was Rila monastery and I was making good headway. The sun was shining, I had an unfinished road relatively to myself until I got to Dupnitsa and I was enjoying the countryside. Then it started to get hotter. And hotter. My cycling was getting slower, and slower and I was getting paranoid that I would miss my turn-off for Rila altogether. This is not difficult to do in a country that does not believe in sign-posting all that much and when it does it is not always clear for what it is, especially when it is in the Cyrillic alphabet. I am however, starting to figure out some of the place names but I do still constantly consult my map just to make sure that I have interpreted it correctly.

I knew when I arrived in the village of Rila that I could not go any further as the monastery was still another 27km away. I decided to cycle there the following day, sans baggage, instead. Wise choice. It was uphill the whole way but well worth it. The monastery was impressive by its sheer size as well as its location and is Bulgaria's most well known monastery. This was apparent by all the buses that had beaten me to it. The tourist trail to the monastery is a well worn one. So far, this day was probably a highlight for me as the scenery to get to the monastery was exquisite. Beautiful beeches and elms providing shade for me, and higher up the pines. And always the river Rila to follow.

That evening, the guesthouse's owner, on asking what my further travel plans were suggested that I go to Melnik instead of my preferred option, Bansko. Bansko is a mountain ski resort and I thought it would be good to try out the mountain legs. The owner said that Melnik was a beautiful Bulgarian village, in the south, famous for it's wine, architecture and tobacco. OK, I was won over. Mountains could wait.

So, another early start. Another hot day. But, I made it to Melnik which, although it is not mountainous, did have some ridiculously steep hills to get over to reach it. My reward for energy expended was very reasonably priced rooms and comfortable too.

I explored Rozhen monastery, one of Bulgaria's oldest, which was only about 7km from Melnik the following day and also took in some of the sandstone pyramids around the area. It was a relaxing day and I was very pleased to have left the bike behind and just walked.

Now, Melnik is situated very close to the Greek border which means that I had actually ventured further south than I thought I would. As I didn't want to go to Greece, nor go back the way I came, the only other option was to kind of go sideways. I had planned to make it to a place called Dolen, which is after Goce Delchev, the following day. Another early start, another ridiculous amount of dogs chasing me. Sounds like every other day although this would be the start of the mountains for me.

There is a price to pay for spectacular scenery - energy. The road, which is part of the Pirin Mountains and is meant to be home to bears, wolves and lynx, took every ounce of energy from me. The gradients were steep and the road was endlessly winding. But I saw eagles, heard woodpeckers and many times just had the road to myself. Beautiful yes, but by the time I got to Goce Delchev, at about 3, I had decided I would settle there for the night so tired was I. However, as I could not find anyone to help me find somewhere to sleep other than the too expensive hotel I moved on. Well, the only thing that comes after the Pirin Mountains are the Rhodope Mountains and I started to climb again. Oh man, by the time I got to this village that I thought was Dolen (but instinctively knew wasn't as it didn't have the appearance of being a picturesque village as the guidebook had suggested) I was done. Give me a room. Any room. And so my prayers were answered. I got a squalid room, with plenty of dead blow flies on the floor and dust on every surface. But I didn't care. There was no water to have a shower, there was no water to flush the toilet. But I didn't care. I went to bed totally and utterly exhausted to the point of feeling slightly nauseous.

That day determined my pace for the next three days to come. I did not have the energy to continue at the pace I was setting, nor the will and so I broke up my days. I stayed in Dospat, then Shiroka Lake and yesterday made it to Smolyan where I took the bus to Plovdiv. The day to Shiroka Laka saw me cycling in rain and ending up being completely soaked through but thankfully I had the forsight to pack most of my things in plastic so had minimal stuff to dry. Even though it would have been preferable to have seen a bit more sun, the scenery was breathtaking. Gorges and mountains and always a river.

Most of those 3 days I cycled uphill, or so it felt. There was a lot of pushing of the bicycle as well let me tell you. There was a lot of downhills yes but these required total concentration as the roads were extremely bad in some (most) places. Now that I am in Plovidiv, having spent today visiting Bachkovo Monastery and Assen's Fortress in Asenovgrad I need to determine where I'm going tomorrow. If I go north, I need to cross the Balkan Range. More uphill. I don't know whether my mind or my body is ready for that kind of challenge yet. I feel like I'm still getting over the last couple of days...

Although I've been in Bulgaria now for almost 2 weeks I feel like I've been here for a month already. Time just has gone quite slowly which is kind of weird. I have decided though that I would like to spend more time on the Black Sea and set up my tent and just camp and relax for a while. I'll be taking a few more buses when the going get too much that's for sure. This is my holiday afterall. And, I'm also thinking of taking the ferry to Istanbul instead of going through a road border crossing and trying to cycle into Instanbul over a few days. But that is still a couple of weeks away.

Whichever way I go out of Plovdiv, I do want to go to Veliko Turnavo and Shumen and then Varna. That is the forward plan but, this may change. I may hear good things about other places and take up other suggestions. Whatever direction I take, I am asking the powers that be to please give me some reprieve from those blasted hounds.

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Comments

[Charlie]

Hello from the non-blasted hound
Hello, and as per the title - hello from Bodhi - I think he misses you - especially seeing as I am never home at the moment with all the nutty things I have due. It's been a hell of a week and I just wanted to say thanks for providing some ulterior entertainment!! These blogs are great. As you can see the charliie thing has started to happen - i have all the paperwork - now just need a day to do it. My work email has changed though - Charlston.Kia@ - because the jobshare has started - going quite well - it been great to be able to take sunday and tuesday off this week to finish stuff - especially texts and images which in the end I tried to do from scratch the day before it was due using abobe photoshop and illustrator - thanks - OH MY GOD!!!!!! - what was I thinking. It has been really strange trying to explain to my existing clients why my email address doesnt seem to have anything to do with me. Keep writing - Ill keep reading and hopefully after next week will have time to write more - although it wont be nearly as exciting (as yours, not as above) take care!! have fun and that camping by the Black Sea thing sounds like a fantastic idea to me!! love charlie aka.......