And Relax! – 16th to 20th September

As the title says it’s been a relaxed few days for the crew of Red Dwarf…  In my last post we had just arrived on the west coast of mainland Northern Greece to meet up with fellow Hymer owners Jon and Gilly and their Mercedes S660 called ‘Nugget’.

Gilly was back in the UK for a few days so we chilled out with Jon, the most strenuous activity being a trip to the local supermarket for more supplies  😀  We were on a fabulous free camping spot next to a small beach bar – no facilities but beautiful, quiet and West facing so with fantastic sunsets.  There were a few other vans there and we spent a happy few days doing nothing other than swimming, eating, drinking and catching up  😀

Gilly arrived back from the UK on the Sunday afternoon and we went out for a meal at a taverna just down the road.  A happy evening was spent with more catching up and planning for our time together.  The food was excellent, cheap and plentiful and we waddled back to Red Dwarf and Nugget fully sated and excited to see what the next few days had in store.

 The next day we broke camp and headed off on ‘Jon and Gilly’s Magical Mystery Tour’; they both know this area of Greece very well and had some lovely places they wanted to share with us.  We drove through a small undersea tunnel (€5) which saves a big detour around the National Park Of Amvrakikos Wetlands and stopped for coffee at Mitikas a beautiful and typically Greek fishing village.  The cafe backed onto the sea, it was so close I could have blown the froth from my coffee into the waves if I had so desired.  We wandered around snapping away at the blue and white houses and little alleyways with glimpses of the sea beyond.  We stocked up on groceries for a few days and continued to our current secret location, a small restaurant with paid parking (€10 per night), water, toilets and chemical WC disposal.  The drive was excellent, up and down winding mountainous roads, sometimes well laid and sometimes full of potholes but always with the sparkling Ionian Sea not far away.

To say the location is stunning would be a massive understatement; we have the sea on our doorstep, islands are dotted around everywhere you look and as it’s the end of the season the places is almost empty.  Once again swimming, sunbathing and relaxing have been high on the agenda.  Gilly has cooked us some wonderful meals and Jon has satisfied his caveman instincts by cooking on the BBQ in the most adverse of conditions.  In true British Summer stylee as soon as it was lit large spots of rain began to fall.  A quick reconnoitre from the high point of the campsite showed at least two storms circling us; however the rain died away so with a stiff upper lip we decided to continue.  We had thunder and lightning, a few more spots of rain, the wind gusted and changed direction constantly but we prevailed, managing to eat dinner in a perfectly civilised manner and spend the rest of the evening watching the storms marching across the distant islands.

Today the weather has been changeable with more squalls pushing through, Jules and Gilly have been on the beach whilst the menfolk have pottered.  Tomorrow we move on to an as yet undisclosed location and if it’s as good as this (which it apparently is) we will be very happy bunnies indeed.

I’ll leave you with some pictures of our last few days…

Kalispera,

Lee.

10,000 Kilometres! – 13th to 15th September

After a good nights sleep we set off the next day to Zampetas, a motorhome repair and accessory company in Thessaloniki, as there were a few bits and bobs we needed for Red Dwarf.  On the way we popped into Lidl to stock up on some essential groceries.  As we approached Zampetas we spotted an authorised Mercedes garage just down the road so after we had raided the accessory shop we visited the Merc place.

Amazingly Red Dwarf has clocked up 10,000 km since the engine rebuild and it was service time!  We needed a filter and oil change, the chap in the garage was very apologetic and said he couldn’t help us as he wasn’t geared up for large vehicles but he gave us the address of another authorized dealer across town who would be able to accommodate us.  Half an hour later we arrived at Ioannidis Mercedes and were shown to the service area where a lovely guy called Kalantidis booked us in for a service and general check up of Red Dwarf the following morning at 8.30am.  We returned to Agios Vasileios for an early night!

The following morning we awoke to an alarm at 7.00am, something that hasn’t happened in a very long while  😀  When we arrived at the service centre I noticed that we were missing both back hubcaps, we were now down to just one front one  😦  As we were falling asleep last night a couple of the local youths were zooming around Red Dwarf on their scooters, whether it was them who pinched the hubcaps or we had lost them on the pretty dodgy road to Ioannidis Mercedes, we’ll never know!

Three and a half hours later Red Dwarf was handed back to us full of fresh oil, a new filter and pronounced in good health with brakes, suspension and steering all functioning correctly and no other work required  😀  We set off in the direction of Prevezas as we were meeting up with more fellow Hymer owning friends.  It was a long old slog of about 5 hours, for the most part on good roads, but well worth it as we are now parked up for free within spitting distance of the sea on a west facing beach, looking forward to some sun, swimming and chill out time.  We’ve got enough supplies to last us a few days so we ain’t going nowhere!

Yamas,

Lee.

Bye Bye Bulgaria, Greetings Greece (Again) – 12th September

This morning we made ready for our Bulgarian exit.  We left our lovely host, Sara, at Kamping Kromidovo – a fabulous spot fully recommended by the Red Dwarf crew.  Although it has only been open for a year they have created a lovely oasis for visitors to this peaceful rural location.  They have embraced an eco-friendly lifestyle employing solar power to heat their water and encouraging recycling of everything from household rubbish to grey waste which they use to irrigate their garden.  The site is small and friendly and Sara (her partner Jon was away when we stayed) welcomed us along with her three dogs and four cats.  Truly a life to aspire to.

Before we left there were a couple more places we wanted to visit; first up was Rupite home of Baba Vanga a blind Bulgarian mystic and clairvoyant – known as the Bulgarian Nostradamus.  There is a park surrounding the area in which she lived complete with statues and gardens.  We walked around whilst people were picnicked and generally enjoyed the late summer sun.  A couple of kilometres down the road there were sulphurous thermal pools as the whole of this landscape is situated in the caldera of the extinct volcano Kozhuh.  We parked up and saw locals relaxing in the hot pools although with temperatures in the low 30’s we decided to give it a miss!

From here we drove to Melnik, capital of Bulgaria’s wine region; a small town full of bars, restaurants and not surprisingly wine shops.  We resisted the temptation of anymore booze as we had run our Bulgarian currency down to virtually nothing.  Melnik had a nice relaxed atmosphere and would make a pleasant weekend break, sampling the local produce!

Next it was on to Greece, or should I say back to Greece.  We set course for Agios Vasileios and the free aire we had stayed at previously.  Attentive readers will remember this was our stopover after the stressful ‘engine noise incident’ when we first came to Greece a month ago.  No such problems today and we arrived relaxed and happy.  We dined out again at Gyroplatanos, a small local restaurant and in true friendly Greek style the owner recognised us immediately.  We are now back aboard Red Dwarf formulating the next stage of our Greek Odyssey.

Kalinychta,

Lee.

Wine Time – 11th September

A bit of a slow start today, even by Red Dwarf standards, mainly due to a late night last night where we entertained ourselves into the wee small hours when we discovered we could make shadow puppets on the blackout blinds.  Using a variety of household objects, including Yoda, we created a series of amusing (to us anyway) scenes which we photographed, artistically of course!  As the evening wore on and the rakia flowed the scenes became ever more lewd.  What a surprise 😀

So it wasn’t until after lunchtime when we set off for the Orbelus winery on our trusty bikes.  After a short cycle ride we arrived at the impressive building which is designed like a huge barrel half buried in the ground.  We parked up our bikes and were greeted by Pieter who took us on a tour of the facilities.  From the arrival of the grapes, refrigerated storage, pressing, fermentation, low temperature filtration, bottling, corking and labelling; everything was explained in enough detail to make it interesting.  We asked plenty of questions and Pieter usually knew the answer.  We were surprised that they used French oak barrels to ferment some batches of wine in as well as for the maturing process.  Orbelus prides itself on making some of its wines completely organically and has won both silver and gold medals in this category at a prestigious French wine makers competition.

After the tour we went up to the tasting room and elected to go for the 8 leva package which allows you to taste three different wines.  We tried two whites; a Chardonnay Viognier blend a Chardonnay Pinot Gris blend and a Melnik, a red made from the local grape variety of the same name.  I liked all of them whilst Jules was less keen on the Chardonnay Viognier.  During the tasting we chatted with Pieter about the winery and its wines (although he admitted he was more of a beer and rakia man) but also his views on the current situation in Bulgaria.  In his opinion the government is corrupt, with politicians siphoning off money from the EU which was meant for improvement projects and people were leaving Bulgaria in their droves because wages were low and they could get paid up to three times as much for doing the same job elsewhere in Europe.

After an enjoyable hour or so we left with a bottle each of the Melnik and the Chardonnay Viognier and also a bottle of their rosé, which we hadn’t tasted but looked nice.  We had planned to visit another winery a couple of miles away but having already consumed the best part of a bottle between us – Pieter wasn’t stingy with the measures and neither Jules nor I used the small bucket provided, presumably for spitting – we decided discretion was the better part of valour and headed back to Red Dwarf to relax and plan our return to Greece.

Nazdráve,

Lee.

Rila, Wrecks and Bike Repairs- 7th to 10th September

After paying the measly sum of 12 leva for our peaceful overnight stay on the outskirts of Sofia we set sail for Camping Bor, in the Rila Mountains.  We were off to visit Rila Monastery, the largest and most famous Eastern Orthodox monastery in Bulgaria.  It dates from the 10th century and is one of the country’s most important cultural, historical and architectural monuments.

The approach to the monastery took us up the 107, a beautifully smooth wide road which climbed gently following the course of the Rilska River.  Once past the monastery (our campsite was about a kilometre further on) the road deteriorated until as we entered Camping Bor we were on a rutted track.  The toothless old chap in charge came out and with much arm waving and a smattering of German we communicated that we wanted to stay for two nights.  Once parked up we spent the rest of the day sprucing up Red Dwarf.

The following day we walked down to the monastery and the bars and restaurants which have sprung up around it.  We sat at a table and waited for the waiter to come and serve us.  As we waited and waited some more we noticed people walking past carrying bags full of some sort of pastry.  After 10 minutes and no service we decided to give it a miss and carried on to the monastery.  We saw a queue of people at a small window in a building that was part of the monastery complex, the source of the bags of pastries.  Then I remembered that the monastery has a bakery so we joined the queue, still not sure what we would get, but the smell wafting out of the window was delicious!  It turned out they were a type of doughnut; we bought eight and they were absolutely gorgeous.  As we sat by the river chomping on the sugary snacks we were both glad the waiter at the restaurant had been a bit slow  😀

Doughnuts consumed we entered the monastery courtyard and were dazzled by the beauty of the tiered archways, painted black and white and the frescoes on the vaulted ceilings.  The backdrop of the tree covered, craggy mountains and blue skies only served to enhance the beauty of the architecture, which to our eyes appeared somewhat Moorish in style.

The remainder of the day was spent relaxing and planning the final part of our Bulgarian tour.

The following day we bade farewell to our toothless host and set off towards Melnik, the premier wine producing region in Bulgaria.  We backtracked down the mountain pass and stopped off at what we thought was a scrap yard on the off chance we could pick up a hubcap for Red Dwarf to replace the one we had lost in Albania.  Only it wasn’t a scrap yard but some sort of museum.  It was packed full of old cars, signs, farming equipment and many other items, presumably from a time when Bulgaria was under communist rule.  We were greeted by a lady who gave us a written description of the museum, in English, which stated that it contained many culturally significant ‘icons’.  She also told us that her boss had been collecting for the past 25 years!  Our favourite exhibit was the BMW Isetta bubble car taxi with a large bust of Stalin inside!  We wandered around taking photos of anything and everything and left a small donation, although we didn’t find the aforementioned hubcap!

We continued towards Melnik, stopping off at a bicycle repair shop to get Jules’ bike fixed.  The back wheel was buckled after I had inadvertently reversed into a signpost during a difficult manoeuvre when we became trapped down a narrow street in Croatia.  Again with some sign language and the help of an English speaking friend of one or the employees, whom he called on his mobile,  we were told to come back in an hour.  We did a grocery run at a nearby supermarket, dodged a torrential downpour and returned to find Jules bike sporting a shiny new back wheel all for 35 leva – about 16 quid.

We continued on to our stopover for the next few days, Kamping Kromidovo, and settled in for the night.  Today we have pottered, Jules has done two loads of laundry and I have ‘readjusted’ the bike rack (cue much hammering!) which also sustained some damage in the reversing incident.  Tomorrow we will visit some of the nearby wineries which do tasting tours – hence the need for two working bicycles  😀

Chin chin,

Lee.

A Short Stopover at Sofia – 6th September

Today has been a day of driving, so not much to report and no pictures.  We’re on our way to Rila Monastery, a journey which takes us past Bulgaria’s capital, Sofia.  We debated taking some time out to visit but neither of us is in a big city mood at the moment; sorry Sofia…

I had identified a potential overnight spot on the outskirts of the city on Archie’s Campings, one of the database apps we use for finding campsites, aires etc.  There wasn’t much information on the internet but it appeared to be a motorhome dealership that allowed overnight stops.  We had a Plan B if it turned out to be a wild goose chase.

This morning, after filling and emptying Red Dwarfs various orifices and saying goodbye to the campsite cats, we set off towards Sofia.  The first part of the journey was retracing the route we had taken to get to Belogradchik.  We stopped off at a Kaufmann supermarket for some much needed supplies and continued on.  As with all journeys in Bulgaria this one involved mountains; the early part of the drive was fabulous up wide, sweeping and well surfaced roads.  We seemed to climb forever and as always Red Dwarf took it all in his stride.  Then we descended only to climb again, this time on one of the worst, longest roads we have experienced.

Holly the satnav informed us that the speed limit was 90 kph but we barely managed half that for most of the time.  It was like somebody had collected all of the old tarmac from the worst roads in the world (yes Albania I’m looking at you) and stuck it haphazardly end to end, with a good selection of monstrous potholes to add to the fun.  It was relentlessly shocking for a good two hours.

Eventually we reached our destination shaken but not stirred.  We pulled into the gates and were encouraged to see a number of other motorhomes parked together on the compound.  The security guard looked a bit nonplussed as we rolled in but after much arm waving and shouting from various members of staff we were directed into a space and shown the electric hook up.  No one speaks any English and obviously our Bulgarian is limited to a few pleasantries.  As yet no money has changed hands and we are now alone on the site apart from the security guard and some friendly dogs (presumably his).

Tomorrow we continue to Rila and it’s monastery.

Nighty night,

Lee.

ps:  we keep hearing a cicada.  I thought it was a ringtone on Jules’ phone and she thought it was outside.  It would seem it’s in Red Dwarf somewhere and only ‘sings’ when we put the heating on!

On the Rocks at Belogradchik – 2nd to 5th September

A bit of catching up to do, so I’ll crack on…

We had another day at Koprivshtitsa, although after the excesses of the night before I have to admit we didn’t do much other than mooch around town a bit more.  The following morning we got ready for our next stop; Belogradchik, famous for it’s fortress and unusual rock formations which local legend says were formed when God petrified a beautiful nun, her lover and a bunch of monks who were angry after she became pregnant following an illicit affair with said suitor.

We had found another hotel with campsite combo nearby so set out for Camping Han Madonna.  It was another long drive over mountains (as is nearly everywhere in Bulgaria).  Once again it was incident free apart from a yet another episode of entertainment in the form of Stage I of the 2017 International Tour Of Bulgaria cycle race, running from Sofia to Troyan.  As we approached the outskirts of Sofia, before swinging north we saw police motorcycles and cars coming towards us, with lights flashing.  They gestured us and the other vehicles to slow down or pull over, we weren’t sure which or why we were being stopped.  We continued slowly until we reached a group of stationary cars.  Then we saw more police motorcycles and a few advertising and support vehicles go past and we twigged what was happening.  I grabbed my phone, got out of Red Dwarf and climbed up onto the roof to get some pictures.  In a flash they were gone, maybe a hundred riders, and we were on our way!

We arrived at Camping Han Madonna without any further excitement and pulled onto the site.  We were greeted by the cheery owner and when I enquired about checking in  he suggested we should ‘drink beer first’!  Never one to ignore such sage advice we did exactly that.  We had hoped to stop for supplies on the way here but had not seen any supermarkets so we elected to eat at the restaurant that evening.  I had the house special kebab which was in fact a pork and cheese dish topped with a hard boiled egg made to look like a pig wearing a ginger wig (Donald Trump, anyone), served in a pot au flambe!  Very nice it was too!

After dinner we retired to Red Dwarf and did something we haven’t done since leaving France…  and it meant we didn’t get to sleep until gone 4am!  Those of you with dirty minds go and stand in the corner  😀  We watched TV, more specifically, the entire first series of ‘Victoria’ which was rather addictive.  The next day was obviously a bit of a non starter so we had a (very) late lunch and did little else other than make friends with the campsite cats (they also have geese, turkeys and peacocks!).

Today has been a lot more productive, we have visited the rock formations and fortress at Belogradchik and snagged a few essential supplies to tide us over.  The fortress dates back to 1 AD and was originally built when the region was part of the Roman Empire.  It was expanded in the 14th and 19th centuries and holds a commanding position over the surrounding area with the rock formations forming part of the defences – only the northwest and southeast are protected by man made fortifications.  As you enter the fortress complex you feel like you have strayed onto the set of a Lord Of The Rings film and the views from the top are breathtaking.  We spent a good couple of hours scrambling about indulging in some ‘extreme photography’ and can thoroughly recommend it.

And that is about all I have for you at the moment.  Tomorrow we are on the move again towards the Rila Monastery but we will have a stop off in between as it’s quite a trek.

Bye for now,

Lee.

Kerrang! Koprivshtitsa – 1st September

Our destination today was Koprivshtitsa (try saying that without yer teeth in!) an historic town in central Bulgaria, it is famous as one of the centres of the 1876 April Uprising against Ottoman rule and is known for its authentic architecture, which characterizes the Bulgarian National Revival period of the 19th century.  It is a very popular tourist destination and hosts a huge folk festival every five years.

Our journey up into the Sredna Gora mountains was spectacular if uneventful; we descended the Rhodope Mountains, crossed the valley floor and climbed up towards Koprivshtitsa on relatively good roads with little drama other than the occasional car overtaking in the opposite direction and diving into a non existent space at the last second!  But as veterans of Albanian roads and driving we took it all in our stride.

We arrived at Koprivshtitsa early afternoon and parked Red Dwarf in a large flat car park at the northern end of town.  The Park4Night app informed us that it was free and should be OK for an overnight stay.  As it happened there was a small ticket office occupied by a couple of ladies; I asked them, using much arm waving and sign language if it was alright for us to stay the night in Red Dwarf.  The answer was yes, for the princely sum of 12 lev (about £5.60).  There are no facilities other than a ‘squat toilet’  which we could use to empty our cassette if the need arises as we have a SOG unit and don’t use chemicals.

We elected to eat out for lunch and this we did in one of the many hostelries surrounding the square; Jules had a chicken salad and chips and I had a traditional pork dish with pickles and courgettes in a tasty cream sauce.  Both were excellent as was the weissbier I had and the Bulgarian Sauvignon Blanc that Jules had (so much so that we’ve noted down it’s name in case we see some in the supermarket).  As an aside these were the closest to ‘chip shop’ chips we’ve tasted on our trip so far – it would seem in Bulgaria, in particular, and in the Balkans in general when you order chips/french fries you get proper freshly fried, hand cut ones not those miserable reconstituted examples we have to suffer in many places in blighty.  Anyway I digress!

After lunch we wandered around the small square area and noticed several banners bearing the name ‘Kontrax’ strung up about the place; we also saw a stage being constructed, complete with speakers and lighting gantry – live music maybe?  There were also lots of people milling around wearing red, green and white t-shirts emblazoned with the ‘Kontrax logo’.  Our interest was piqued, we wandered back to Red Dwarf, stopping at a small grocery shop next door to the car park for some essentials (beer, milk and toilet roll) and did a little research.  Kontrax is a Bulgarian IT company, celebrating it’s 25th anniversary this year, so we surmised that we had stumbled into their corporate shindig to mark this auspicious occasion.  We had a post luncheon nap as we were both stuffed (my meal had been so large I bought half of it back in a plastic box to eat later) and as we dozed we listened to the roadies soundchecking by running through a selection of heavy metal standards.

That evening at around 9pm we got ready and went back to the square to have a late dinner and see what was occurring.  As we approached the stage we could indeed hear a live band; a blues/rock outfit doing a very good job of belting out some Bulgarian boogie woogie.  There was a small free bar set up but unfortunately it was for employees only.  So we bought a couple of large bottles of the local brew, scrounged a couple of plastic ‘glasses’ from the free bar and sat down on a wall to watch the show – how classy are we!  The many restaurants were rather full so as we weren’t particularly hungry we decided to get something later.

The boogie woogie boys were playing up a storm and the crowd danced and sang along enthusiastically; pretty soon they had finished their set and left the stage to rapturous applause.  We thought that might be the end of the night but no, just at the point I had gone for a tactical toilet break there was a firework display only yards from where we were sat – our second in two days (cue much zip fumbling and rapid washing of hands!).  As if that wasn’t enough a second band took to the stage, fronted by an amazing female singer.  They opened with a couple of punky numbers and a group of bare chested young men formed a good natured mosh pit at the front, much to the delight of said singer.  They continued to whip the audience into a frenzy with a selection of what seemed to us to be traditional Bulgarian folk songs played at thrash metal speed with choruses of Hey! Hey! Hey! and Oi! Oi! Oi!  They dropped in a couple of cover versions and left the audience wanting more at about 11.30pm.

Throughout the evening Jules and I had been wracking our brains to determine the significance of the different coloured corporate t-shirts; different office locations maybe? but their website listed only one address, different departments?  We had no idea so as the crowd were drifting away we asked a group of green shirted Kontrax employees if they could solve this riddle.  Yes, said the lady, it’s easy; red, green and white are the colours of the Bulgarian flag!  Doh!  Obviously the large bottles of strong continental lager and lack of any dinner had addled our brains  😀

We weaved our way back to Red Dwarf and were soon in the land of nod!

I include the last photo, a monument in the square, for no other reason than it looks like the TARDIS…

Stay tuned for more Rock ‘n Roll,

Lee.

Fishing, Fun & Fireworks at Lake Batak – 30th & 31st August

Our original plan, dear reader, was to stay at Lake Batak for just a couple of days.  However it was so relaxing and peaceful we ended up staying for four.

After my appalling fishing performance the previous day you’d think I would have learnt my lesson, but no, like an idiot I was up at the crack of 8am (a ridiculously early time aboard Red Dwarf) and off to do battle with the monsters lurking within the depths of the lake.  Once again I failed miserably despite the kind donation of three small perch, as bait, by another fisherman who clearly took pity on me.  Excuse alert!  In my defence I didn’t see any of the other fisherman catch anything and later chatting with the site owner learned that the lake was at an unusually low level which obviously reduced my chances of success!  😉  Despite the lack of fish, I still had a fabulous day, satisfying my inner caveman, topping up my tan and being amused by the locals…

Around mid afternoon a couple of Bulgarian chaps and a woman drove down to the waters edge with a decent sized inflatable dinghy in tow.  The lady, who I will describe as Rubenesque, was encouraged to get in the boat before they launched it as she only had normal shoes on.  After some ‘help and encouragement’ she tumbled into the bottom of the dinghy laughing heartily as she went ‘@rse over tit’.  The two chaps set about launching the boat, which soon became stuck on the trailer.  The lady was then instructed to move to the back of the boat, thus shifting it’s centre of gravity in their favour, and bounce up and down to assist in launching.  This she did with some vigour and once more ended up in a less than elegant heap in the bottom of the boat!  To her credit throughout this whole procedure, (which would only have been improved by the addition of a Benny Hill style soundtrack) she barely stopped laughing!  😀

Eventually the boat was launched, the engine fired up and off they went.  Five minutes later they were on their way back, then they turned around and set off back the way the had originally been heading.  This pattern continued for about 15 minutes – ‘they’re not going to catch much if they don’t stop’ I thought to myself.  After a while longer they returned and beached the boat, got out and tried to pull it up onto the shore.  This was clearly too much for them so I wandered over to give them a hand.  At this point I noticed that the boat was half full of water and as we got it far enough up the bank it began to gush back out through a sizable hole!  Much head scratching ensued and eventually one of the chaps found a repair patch and they set to work on the boat.  I was thanked profusely for my help and shown some pictures of various large fish they had caught between them in the past.  With that I wandered off to try my luck elsewhere.

We decided to eat out that night at the small restaurant just down the road.  I had catfish, caught from the lake, and Jules had a ‘heavily spiced chicken dish’, which in reality was quite mild and more aromatic than spicy, with lots of paprika.  Both meals were very nice and less than £20 including a couple of drinks.

The following day, our last at Batak, we went for a walk around part of the lake passing many caravans which looked to have been set up for the entire summer.  There were horses grazing at the waters edge and today’s amusement was provided by two blokes engaged in a futile attempt to dig out a large, expensive looking Mercedes saloon which they had managed to bury up to it’s axles on a soft part of the beach.  This had presumably been the source of the loud and relentless engine revving which had woken us up this morning at about 5am!  When we walked back past, about an hour later, one of the chaps was still at it (not surprising as his equipment comprised one small spade of the type employed by small children to build sand castles!).  It was clear to anyone with a modicum of common sense that the only way to shift it was to get it towed out by a tractor or hefty 4×4.  Indeed when we left the following morning the car was still there…

That evening we dined on smoked mackerel, cooked outside on the Cadac, to avoid stinking up Red Dwarf, with couscous and tomato salad.  Later on we were treated to a fantastic fireworks display, we think from the same restaurant we ate in the other night.  Unfortunately I forgot to ask the site owner if he knew what is was all about so we will never know…

Tomorrow we head north to a typical Bulgarian town called Koprivshtitsa.

Stay lucky,

Lee.