Day 71 - Ihtiman to Varvara

 56.5 km - Total so far 3,867.5 km - Route pedalled.      Relive Video (with pictures)

Video of the day: Europe Day 71                        619 Left to pedal

We are safe and secure in Varvara, Bulgaria.

We were very excited about today’s activities because we knew that the first 3.8 or so kilometres was all downhill from the hotel.

Village of Ihtiman as seen from Hotel parking lot

Once we got to the village of Ihtiman, it was easy to get on the old Istanbul Road. From there, all we had to do was follow the road to an intersection and then take the road that follows along side the railway tracks. We were mislead by the navigation application when after about 300 metres, it had us cross the tracks onto another road running in parallel. Problem: nowhere to cross. So we made our own crossing point!

Hélène & Daniel crossing point

We had a bit of climbing as seen in ReLive and the rest was mostly downhill from then on. Most of the old road to Istanbul has been paved over but there is a small section that goes through a village and you ride on the pavers.

Semi circular pattern as seen previously in Dragoman

We stopped for a quick lunch in Velovo and got to witness the toilet paper and paper towels price war. Quite a few of the small stores had walls of the stuff outside and with different prices.

Our first toilet paper price war

It was a very scenic ride with the valley and villages and the one side and mountains on the other. Occasionally we got to see taller mountains in the distance with some having snow caps. 

It got warm very quickly here. Last week, we were in the low 20s and now we are in the low 30s. It’s bearable when you are moving but you can really feel that heat when you are climbing at 3 kph.

We got to our Aqua Park in Varvara and could not wait to soak in the mineral waters. Today made up for yesterday. 

One of the things we decided to do before going for a swim was to do a little maintenance on the bicycles. It was time to verify the air pressure as well as clean and oil both bike chains.  Hélène had unscrewed the valve on my front wheel and used her gauge to read the tire pressure. As she pulled off her gauge, the valve core came shooting out. This should not have happened.  We took the front wheel off, replaced the tube, reinstalled the wheel and inflated the tire.  I will never buy that brand of tubes ever again.

Ours is the middle unit inline with the pool

Tomorrow we head to Plovdiv for a few days rest and planning in detail the last 600+ kilometres to Istanbul. Accommodations are few and far between Edirne and Istanbul. Wild camping  might be an option.