From the Bulgarian sea to Veliko turnovo

Tuesday 6th July

Decided today to head away from our beautiful beach location, as it was about time we continued our journey. We headed up the track for the final time and out onto the road, stopping at the petrol station to get fuel and another weekly Vignette (Car tax!).

Then set off up north along the coast again passing through Varna and headed for a spot called Kaliakra Cape. We had heard there were some old ruins overlooking the sea and that dolphins were often spotted. On arriving it wasn’t as nice as we had thought it would be, as in the centre of the ruins was an army post! We did spot a couple of dolphins just off shore mind, so that made up for it.

We carried on north along the coast to find somewhere to park for the night. Just before the village of Tyulenovo, we found a spot with a car park and small tourist kiosk overlooking the sea. This part of the coast is cliffs rather than beaches and were we had parked up there were some old ruined settlements, from the Byzantine period. After a quick look around, at our final piece of coast till northern Europe in October, we retired back to Hymer for the night. We will certainly miss being on the coast, especially in the height of summer! All of the countries now on our route are inland.

Wednesday 7th July

Headed sadly away from the sea inland to the town of Vileko Tarnovo. This ended up being a longer journey than we had thought, as on the Bulgarian roads the potholes make it slow going! One thing I have noticed in Bulgaria, which must stem from Communist times, is on leaving most towns or large villages there is always a small old Police check post.

It was another lovely drive through Bulgarian countryside and sunshine to a campsite on the outskirts of the town run by a British couple. We only had an idea it was somewhere around the village of Dragizhevo. As there were no signposts and plenty of roads, we asked the always helpful Bulgarians who pointed out the way. Nicky and Nick at the campsite were very helpful and nice people to chat with. Their campsite was new and in a great location with lovely views over the countryside.

Thursday 8th July

Woke up to rain, which just continued all day long! Ended up spending a day inside on the net and reading. We had spent the last few days planning our next route, up through Transylvania and into Northern Romania then through Ukraine and into Poland. We discovered though on the internet that Romania and Ukraine were experiencing some very heavy rain and floods. As the countries don’t have the best infrastructure, the floods were causing major damage and people were dying! After some more research we found that the worst area’s were where we had planned to go. We somewhat regretfully decided it would be best to avoid the countries at present and plan a new route. We opted instead to head through Serbia and into Hungary, then up through Slovakia into Poland.

Friday 9th July

Even though it was still a little drizzly we left the campsite and headed into Vileko Tarnovo to explore the town. The town was lovely, compared to many we had seen in Bulgaria, and seemed pretty vibrant. We even found a small English second hand bookstore, where we swapped some of our read books for some new reads! On the trip so far we have been reading a heck of a lot of books and it’s always good to get our hands on some fresh words! It seems like this area has a lot of expats living around, judging by the amount of estate agents! Intrigued with the country and the very cheap house prices we ventured into one to find out more! After the chat my mind, and even Lorna’s, was considering paying out a stupidly small fee for a old place with land and renovating it! The cost of an old place and land is pretty much the same as the cost of our motorhome. Bulgaria certainly seems a good option to live in, as it is still cheap. Some food for thought, maybe even serious thought. Anyway we’ll see as we would have to save first, even though you wouldn’t have to save for long!

We drove away from the town and took a long journey west towards Belogradhik, our next destination and last before Serbia. Again the countryside viewed as we passed by was lovely and unspoilt.

We had also noticed the abundance of butterflies while we were in Bulgaria, decided it’s possibly down to the fact there are less Chemicals used in the farming here. The day was getting on so we headed down smaller roads before the town of Vratsa, looking for somewhere to wild park. After a drive around we found a spot outside of a village called Kalen. It was down a strange tiny road that leads to a huge monument/statue on a hill overlooking the countryside! They love their statues and monuments in the East, more money spent on them, then the roads!