Bulgaria 06

[Andysr6]

Hi All, This was the first foreign trip myself and my very good mate Calum did together, we have toured around Scotland and Ireland many times over the last 20+ years and seperately biked in foreign lands.

Due to Calums remote location (he works as a game keeper) and lack of internet or even TV i organised this trip. This was always going to be a fly / ride (off road as much as possible) holiday and we had discussed a number of different countries but Bulgaria won mainly due to cheap flights, cheapish bike hire, low living costs and great offroading available.

Flights were booked Easyjet and Wizzair; and bikes rented from Motoroads.com in Sofia. Calum had the large heavy African Twin and i had a relatively lightweight XT600 which worked out well as Calum is far more experienced off road than myself and it balanced out well in the offroad sections.

Day 1 We first headed South into the Rila Mountains and visited the ski resorts of Borovets and Bansko.

Day 2 Toured around the Rila Mountains.

Day 3 Then further south into the Pirin Mountains where we got very lost following a logging trail (this became a normal event in the forests) and had to rely on navigation by compass, we eventually came out at Gotse Delchev.

Day 4 Heading East into the Rodopos was another day lost for hours before hitting a road near Devin. Calum had a very scary moment when a snake went for him as we drove past it (i still haven't stopped laughing).

Day 5 We then explored around the village of Trigrad before travelling across logging trails to Mugla and Smolyan (this was probably the best offroading)

Day 6 Long day in the saddle, we tried to make the Black Sea in a day but it proved too far, then accomodation became impossible to find, as dark fell we pulled into a petrol station and noticed small chalets which we able to rent, panic over.

Day 7 Made it to the Black Sea but got lost agian and ended up at the Turkish border in the very South East of Bulgaria. Headed North along the coast and enjoyed the best tarmac roads yet, visited Sozpol, Burgas, Nessbar, sunny beach (don't go ) and finally stopped at local village on the coast about 20 miles North of Sunny Beach.

Day 8 Toured around local area and chilled on beach.

Day 9 Headed West along main route, head down and put in some miles, turned off into the rough agian towards Troyan and once agian got totally lost, found the most amazing monuments, it was getting late and couldn't find a bed then suddenly in a very quiet remote village a large hotel (with pool ) appeared. It was a hotel for kids on summer camp but they rented us a room and we soon had a 10 year old interpreter following us around.

Day 10 Head down agian, heading for Sofia, then the rain came and the roads became rivers but we couldn't stop as the bikes were due back.

Day 11 Do the tourist thing in Sofia that day and night.

Home, Cheers Andy
PS We loved Bulgaria which is why we returned for Bulgaria 08 (with Sri Lanka inbetween) enjoy the photos Bulgaria 06 at Bulgaria 06 - a set on Flickr

[Caminando]

Nice pics lads. How much were the bikes to hire?

PS I used to be a ponyman or ghillie on the Fisherfield Forest (Ach an Iasgar) in the 70's for a season. That's when Whitbread had it and it stretched from Loch Maree to An Teallach.

[Andysr6]

Hi, That year worked out pretty cheap with all flights costing about £120 each and bike hire was 45 Euros per day. Since that trip i now own an XT600E and Calum has an African Twin as we both really liked the bikes we hired. We went back this year and they now only rent BMW Dakars at 65 Euros. They are very good bikes on rough roads and reasonable trails although i found them too heavy in the rough stuff. it is a beautiful area around loch Maree Andy

[Mony 63]

Hey Andy,

Great pictures again!!!,especially from Trigrad Gorge and Rodopa Mountain.

Just for interest stake,how you found the riding with AT in the mud?

Congrats for the trip,unfortunately we are going to miss our meating as your way is different than ours,but next time when you come here for offroading,please just drop me a line!,I think we can show you onother beautiful parts of Bulgaria...

Cheers,

Simon

[Andysr6]

the AT was certainly a handful in the mud and provided me with lots of laughs watching Calum trying to fight the 'beast' through the mud while the XT would sail through.