Last week after Plovdiv and high in the oh so green Rhodope Mountains it was down, down, down from the mountains and the temperature climbed up and up in the plains. ArchieVan stutters. Suddenly the van, which hasn’t missed a beat for sixty six thousand miles, started to stutter and loose power. We had about […]
The Cornish Wanderer
Plovdiv. Bulgaria’s finest?

Bears and other beauties. Last week we left you at the Dancing Bears Sanctuary, high in the Rila Mountains above Belista and about to start one of the great drives of our lives. It’s a slow start. The first few kms were on a track, and when the tarmac started there wasn’t enough room to […]
Shifting perceptions. Bulgaria.

In which Bulgaria grows on me. I may learn to love it. Mission Kromidovo. We were still on Crete. Minty was researching various traveller groups, getting a feel for how the virus would affect our onward journey. Almost as a throwaway line she read “Do you fancy running a campsite in Bulgaria?” After exchanging a […]
Border crossing. Bulgaria.

Border crossing. We used to cross borders every month, sometimes several times a month, but it is approaching a year since we arrived in Greece. That was a worry. You’re only allowed to have a vehicle in Greece for six months before you re-register it. Friends regularly sent us articles about cars being impounded at […]
Greece. The final week.

Near the mouth of the Corinth Canal fragrant pines provided enough shelter until morning when the early sun forced us up and back onto the road. The canal is a feat of engineering completed by the French in 1893 but started by an incredibly ambitious Periander, tyrant of Corinth, 2500 years earlier. To the east […]
A tale of two cities.

I’ve skipped a few days. Fortunately I did the publishing side of last week’s blog on Wednesday morning. Since then it has been too hot to contemplate the laptop. Now it’s Saturday morning. I’m sitting under a stand of young chestnut trees, perhaps planted for a millennial event. We’ve had our best sleep in a […]