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Published: September 15th 2023
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Tom made noises about a late night swim when we returned from dinner but I think it was more bluff than reality. We woke the next day and prepared ourselves before breakfast in the pool cafe from 8am.
At 8am there was nothing happening in the pool cafe and in fact no one there. We waited another 10 minutes before I went looking for someone. Eventually I found the manager and they said we could order from the menu and it was not included in our room fee. We weren't happy. First we had waited around to 8am for breakfast, second it wasn't included in the room fee (althoughwe're sure we saw it advertised that way) and third, there went our lunch plans! We eventually left Hotel Afrodita (Hungry!) at 8:30am.
We had 75kms to travel today and we had a late start. The morning air was cool but it was going to be another hot day. No big hills today, the main one was just over a 100m climb at a low gradient, nothing we haven't done many times before on this trip. About 10kms into the ride we passed through a small town and I spotted a
small mini mart. We pulled in and grabbed a bite and drink for breakfast and we all got made up rolls for lunch as well. Luckily I still had 20 BGN left in cash (about $16.60). Altogether, our breakfast and lunches had cost about $8.30. Feeling a lot better in the belly we continued on for Svilengrad.
The scenery has taken on a bit of "same-ness" lately. We get lower tree covered hills, wide open pastures which have mostly been harvested now as we're into the third week of Autumn, and futher off, mountains which creep in and out of view. We're on roads which take more traffic again, so we all ride in close formation (most of the time) and keep a reasonable speed up.
Just before 11am we passed through a town called Harmanli and I spotted a fruit stall. We stopped and I bought 3 peaches which Jeff and I ate while we took a short break. We went went to leave Jeff noticed his back tyre was quite soft, but not flat. We decided we should try and get some air at a petrol station since we were in a town. The first 3
petrol stations couldn't help us. The last one, on the edge of town, also had no air but he did have a little compressor in his boot that he offered to let us use. SO he got it out, connected it to his car battery and Jeff was able to get a full load of air which did last out the day. We thanked the man and were off for the rest of the day's ride.
With only 14kms left for the day, lunch was at a town called Lyubimets. We stopped outside the local soccer "stadium" to eat the rolls we got earlier in the day, which just happened to be next to the prison.
The final ride into Svilengrad was done as the day began to get much hotter. Energy levels fall drastically and we tend to slow a bit, although we did roll up just after 1pm, covering 75kms after getting a late start so I think we did pretty good. We are staying at a very nice hotel called Hotel Parish, and breakfast IS included tomorrow.
Svilengrad literallly translated means, "City of Silk". In 1932, 25% of silk in Bulgaria was made here, though
that's not the case any more. Svilengrade is considered one of Bulgaria's most important border town and has a number of luxury hotels and large gambling houses which have historically been enjoyed most by the visiting Turkish
Tomorrow we travel from Svilengrad into Greece at the beginning of the day and then from Greece into Turkey to finish the day off at Edirne. It's a relatively small days ride of about 60kms.
Distance travelled today: 75kms
Distance travelled so far: 4,186kms
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