“Trans Bul­ga­ria Trail”

We start each day at 9am for our respec­tive daily stages and arrive at our camp sites for the night around 5:30pm. Our mee­ting point is a hotel in Belo­grad­shik and we finish our trip in a beau­tiful hotel on the Black Sea. Appro­xi­m­ately in the middle of our tour, we will set up camp not far from a great reno­va­ted moun­tain lodge, so we will have the oppor­tu­nity to use the clean sani­tary faci­li­ties and take show­ers there. We will orga­nize a typi­cal din­ner for our group.

01/09 — Arri­val in Bul­ga­ria, mee­ting of the group in MAGURA hotel com­plex. The hotel is loca­ted in the imme­diate vici­nity of the epony­mous Magura Cave.
The pre­his­to­ric wall pain­tings of Magura have a great simi­la­rity with those of the Grotta dei Cervi in Italy, which are of extra­or­di­nary expres­sion and artis­tic depth and are con­side­red the most important works of art of the Euro­pean post-Paleo­li­thic. For more infor­ma­tion, see Wiki­pe­dia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magura_Cave

02/09 — Day 1 (106,6 km) The first mor­ning we explore the cave
And then drive to the fort­ress Belo­grad­chisk (Kaleto), where they can visit from the inside and have a short cof­fee break and. Next is a drive on forest roads that takes us to Reduta Moun­tain, from where we have a great view of some of the bizarre rock for­ma­ti­ons.

03/09 — Day 2 (108 km) Today we will ride the lon­gest moun­tain ridge in Bul­ga­ria. As we con­quer some of the hig­her peaks, our souls fill with humi­lity, at the latest when we con­quer the moun­tain KOM with our vehic­les. An adre­na­line-fil­led ride to this maje­s­tic peak must not be miss­ing on our tour, of course.

04/09 — Day 3 (72,4 km) This day is dedi­ca­ted to more extreme off­road sec­tions. Depen­ding on the capa­bi­li­ties of the vehic­les and dri­vers, we may have to make a detour here. We will con­quer the moun­tain Mur­gash, where there is a meteo­ro­lo­gi­cal sta­tion and a beau­tiful 360-degree pan­orama. From now on we are out of civi­liza­tion, wit­hout shop­ping faci­li­ties. We end the day with a wild camp in a huge, hundreds of years old beech forest, near one of the oldest cot­ta­ges in Stara Pla­nina — Chav­dar 1925

05/09 — Day 4 (103 km) We start with a gentle climb to the hig­her and bare part of the moun­tain and we con­quer more peaks to enjoy a view of Ser­verna and the sou­thern part of Bul­ga­ria. One of the most impres­sive things about this day is the huge open pit mine and its asso­cia­ted faci­li­ties. We will pass through an aban­do­ned, unfi­nis­hed tun­nel to des­cend to civi­liza­tion — to the town of Etro­pole, where there is an oppor­tu­nity to refuel and shop. We visit the Etro­pol Monas­tery and the water­fall next to it before dri­ving on inte­res­t­ing off-road tracks to our next camp.

06/09 — Day 5 (92 km) With the begin­ning of the sixth day we go again to the degree of Stara Pla­nina, to the “Arch of Free­dom” to the Bek­le­meto pass, where we ride a little along the pan­o­r­amic road to reach the Der­menka hut. Next is the des­cent to the town of Sopot and through the town of Kar­lovo (pos­si­bi­lity to refuel or buy sup­plies at Lidl) to reach the foot of the reserve “Jen­dema” in the foot­hills of the Bal­kans, where our next game camp will be next to the river Byala.

- 07/09 — Day 6 (91.3 km) Again at the foot of the Bal­kans we will drive to the vil­lage of Tuzha, from where we will climb the moun­tain along the “Rusali Pass”. On the way to the ridge we enjoy quite beau­tiful views and pass the lar­gest water­fall in Bul­ga­ria “Kadem­liysko Pras­kalo”. The height of the fall is 72 m. Below the water­fall is a cross spring and a small cave. In 1965, the area around the water­fall was declared a natu­ral monu­ment on an area of 1 ha. From there we con­ti­nue to the hig­hest peak of Stara Pla­nina — Mount Botev at 2376 meters. After enjoy­ing the view, we des­cend the other side of the moun­tain to make our bivouac to the vil­lage of Ost­rets (where we again have the oppor­tu­nity to rep­le­nish fuel or pro­vi­si­ons).

08/09 — Day 7 (108 km) Today we move east to the geo­gra­phi­cal cen­ter of Bul­ga­ria and after a plea­sant rest with a won­derful pan­orama we drive to two cult monu­ments con­nec­ted with the history of Bul­ga­ria … Monu­ment to Free­dom — Shipka and Buz­ludzha Monu­ment (offi­cial name BKP Monu­ment House) is the popu­lar name of the lar­gest ideo­lo­gi­cal monu­ment of the com­mu­nist regime in Bul­ga­ria. The site is part of the Shipka-Buz­ludzha Natio­nal Park Museum, which has been declared a his­to­ri­cal and archi­tec­tu­ral reserve. Then we con­ti­nue along the ridge with a short stop at ano­ther view peak before the evening approa­ches and we set up camp in untouched nature.

09/09 — Day 8 (95.7 km) We will con­ti­nue along the ridge towards the east in the direc­tion of the sea through inte­res­t­ing anci­ent beech forests over the top of Chu­merna to reach an area where the first waters of one of the lar­ger rivers — Kam­chia — meet, where we will end the day with a bivouac at the sources of the river Kam­chia.

10/09 — Day 9 (110 km) This is the day when the ride along the crest of the pla­teau is like a rol­ler coas­ter ride, as we climb stee­ply up and down in a series of small peaks bet­ween large trees in the forest. We have the oppor­tu­nity to explore a noble cave and visit a town that has pre­ser­ved a small part of the old hou­ses — Kotel. If we are lucky, we will fall in love with a flock of vul­tures living in an area along the ridge. We will have the oppor­tu­nity to taste natu­rally rising salt water from the springs near Var­bitsa and, if the wea­ther is sui­ta­ble, take a beach break at the mine­ral pool. We end the day with a sleep in a hun­ting shel­ter, after the Rishki Pass.

11/09 — Day 10 (101 km) As we approach the sea, the moun­tain beco­mes noti­ce­ably lower and flat­ter.

12/09 — Day 11 (15 km) On the last day we will make a final des­cent from the moun­tain to the waters of the Black Sea and have time for the beach and some rela­xa­tion. Finally, we check into a hotel by the sea. If you wish, you can stay a few days at the Black Sea before the long jour­ney home.

Weni­ger lesen…