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20 May 2017
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Location: RTW, From Vancouver BC 2012
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There is a fair amount of traffic after Prevala as there is only one road here. There was a disturbing number of scantily clad women standing in the byways on the road into Sofia.
 Bulgaria-28 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
Hitting the city we arrived on the opposite side to our destination and the GPS wanted to go straight thru town, but luckily we got on the ring road and around in a much faster time.
 Bulgaria-29 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
We arrived to the same hostel we stayed at last year and Assen from Bumot arranged for us. It is just next door to the Bumot factory. He has planned our a 3 day tour to some of his favourite places in Bulgaria. We will have the day off tomorrow to rest, sort out our stuff, and be tourists. Dan also noted today that after 5 years his Rich’s seat had a seam failure. Well of course Assen says there is a custom motorcycle seat shop in the same warehouse and Bumot. The guy had already taken the seat apart just after 530 pm when we dropped it off and found that the pan was cracked too. He said he would fix it all and have it ready by 10 am and for 25 E.
 Bulgaria-5 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
 Bulgaria-2 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
 Bulgaria-4 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
Welcome drink since its after 6!!
 Bulgaria-3 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
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21 May 2017
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Since we had the day off today to finally take some time to sort out the gear better and finish a few odd jobs we had rented an apartment with a garage for not much more than the hostel last night. We made a detour to Decathlon so Trevor could pick up a few last minute items (silk sac, sunglasses as he sat on his yesterday, and a warmer shirt). We were very happy to have a huge private garage where we could spread out all our stuff and work on 3 bikes at once considering it poured rain for about 3 hours. We added some heat shield under our seats, installed the Beemer buddies on the grips, cleaned and lubed the chains, and installed some 3M on the panniers to offer some protection for our sticker collection.
 Bulgaria-6 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
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21 May 2017
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Some good news today after the landslide victory in the Iran election by the incumbent. They have announced they will start issuing visas to all nationalities June 6. This is cutting it close for us, but we can at least move forward more confidently now. This means we will apply in Yerevan, Armenia, which is a long day ride from the border we need to reach by the 10th. So things are looking up for us. If we are denied then we will be in the right place to get Visas for Azerbaijan and arrange the ferry across the Caspian with everyone else. .
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24 May 2017
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From here we headed up up up. Our goal was the Buzludzha or “ the space ship” perched on the mountaintop. Communist monuments are everywhere.
 Bulgaria_-11 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
 Screen Shot 2017-05-18 at 22.37.58 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
“The House-Monument of the Bulgarian Communist Party (or informally, the Buzludzha Monument) was built on the peak by the Bulgarian communist regime. It commemorated the events of 1891, when a group of socialists led by assembled secretly in the area to form an organized socialist movement that led to the founding of the Bulgarian Social Democratic Party, a forerunner of the Bulgarian Communist Party.”
 Bulgaria-4 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
 Bulgaria-6 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
 Bulgaria-7 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
 Bulgaria-15 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
 Bulgaria-16 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
 Bulgaria-11 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
 Bulgaria-12 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
 Bulgaria_-12 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
 Bulgaria_-13 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
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24 May 2017
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Then we had an almost unobstructed ride down the other side of the mountains. Our next stop was to see the castle In Veliko Tarnovo. Now it is almost 7 pm and we are making for Motocamp Bulgaria.
 Bulgaria-19 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
We had an amazing surprise when we arrived as Orvar (king of Sweden) had beat us there by 40 min. He had pushed another 650 km with no lunch to meet us. We are very thankful to Ivo and Polly at Motocamp for their hospitality. The whipped together a very nice dinner for us with very little warning. Ivo has also been getting our green card insurance for Europe in the last 3 years.
 Bulgaria_-14 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
We were also served a very nice breakfast here to start off our day.
 Bulgaria_ by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
 Bulgaria_-2 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
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24 May 2017
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Last edited by saralou; 3 Jun 2017 at 06:58.
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24 May 2017
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24 May 2017
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By the time we got to Silven it was after 2 and we has lunch in the main park. This involved a bit of illegal riding thru the pedestrian area, but we finally found the grounds keeper who showed us where we could park.
 Bulgaria_-6 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
Now we wanted to make some miles so we hopped onto the secondary highway and joined the main highway just before Burgas.
 Bulgaria_-7 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
From here it was a 30 km ride to the beach town of Sozopol.
 Bulgaria_-8 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
The first place we booked using the wifi in the square turned out to be way out of town and when we arrived they seemed surprised someone had booked…weird aparthotel. That cancelled we headed back to the town and Assen rode about for 15 min and found a nice small hotel where the neighbor across the street agreed to park his car outside so we could put the bikes inside. We are not as concerned as everyone else seems to be about this issue. Assen did have to park outside, but we used one of our bike covers and cable locked it to the fence.
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Check the RAW segments; Grant, your HU host is on every month!
Episodes below to listen to while you, err, pretend to do something or other...
2020 Edition of Chris Scott's Adventure Motorcycling Handbook.
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Ripcord travel protection is now available for ALL nationalities, and travel is covered on motorcycles of all sizes!
What others say about HU...
"This site is the BIBLE for international bike travelers." Greg, Australia
"Thank you! The web site, The travels, The insight, The inspiration, Everything, just thanks." Colin, UK
"My friend and I are planning a trip from Singapore to England... We found (the HU) site invaluable as an aid to planning and have based a lot of our purchases (bikes, riding gear, etc.) on what we have learned from this site." Phil, Australia
"I for one always had an adventurous spirit, but you and Susan lit the fire for my trip and I'll be forever grateful for what you two do to inspire others to just do it." Brent, USA
"Your website is a mecca of valuable information and the (video) series is informative, entertaining, and inspiring!" Jennifer, Canada
"Your worldwide organisation and events are the Go To places to for all serious touring and aspiring touring bikers." Trevor, South Africa
"This is the answer to all my questions." Haydn, Australia
"Keep going the excellent work you are doing for Horizons Unlimited - I love it!" Thomas, Germany
Lots more comments here!
Diaries of a compulsive traveller
by Graham Field
Book, eBook, Audiobook
"A compelling, honest, inspiring and entertaining writing style with a built-in feel-good factor" Get them NOW from the authors' website and Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Amazon.co.uk.
Back Road Map Books and Backroad GPS Maps for all of Canada - a must have!
New to Horizons Unlimited?
New to motorcycle travelling? New to the HU site? Confused? Too many options? It's really very simple - just 4 easy steps!
Horizons Unlimited was founded in 1997 by Grant and Susan Johnson following their journey around the world on a BMW R80G/S.
Read more about Grant & Susan's story
Membership - help keep us going!
Horizons Unlimited is not a big multi-national company, just two people who love motorcycle travel and have grown what started as a hobby in 1997 into a full time job (usually 8-10 hours per day and 7 days a week) and a labour of love. To keep it going and a roof over our heads, we run events all over the world with the help of volunteers; we sell inspirational and informative DVDs; we have a few selected advertisers; and we make a small amount from memberships.
You don't have to be a Member to come to an HU meeting, access the website, or ask questions on the HUBB. What you get for your membership contribution is our sincere gratitude, good karma and knowing that you're helping to keep the motorcycle travel dream alive. Contributing Members and Gold Members do get additional features on the HUBB. Here's a list of all the Member benefits on the HUBB.
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