Time to leave the Black Sea.

The photo above was a group shot as we were getting ready to leave the hotel this morning.  A great bunch of people to ride with.

We were on the road by 8.30am.  We were leaving the Black Sea and wouldn't get to see it every again.  We rolled out of Varna in light traffic and for the next 30kms we gradually climbed and climbed before we got our first downhill.  The landscape today was rolling hills with sun flower plantations on either side of the road.

We started on the expressway for the first 30kms and then turned off for the town of Devnya.  We found a little shop, bought some coffee and just chilled out for 30 minutes.  We had some fruit that we took from the hotel breakfast table.  After all we paid for it.

Back on the A highway instead of the expressway for the next 35kms.  It was a nice road to ride on with little traffic.  We'd stop every now and then for a drink or for photos.  It was a nice leisurely ride.  Our next stop was the town of Stan.  Now this reminded of the film 'Deliverance'.  I'm sure there's been some strange shit going on in this town over the years.

We bought some bread, meat and bananas and made a terrific lunch sitting on the park bench.  One of the local men came over and attempted to talk to us in Bulgarian, and not matter how hard we tried, it wasn't going to work.

Next thing I heard was my bike bell ringing.  This old chap decided to go around the bikes and ring bells.  It was time to get back on the bike and keep pushing to the town of Sumen.  We rolled back onto the expressway and noticed lorry cars overhead.  These cars that looked like something from the snow fields were fill of rock.  They transported the rocks in these cars on overhead cables.  What a unique to transport the rocks from the quarry.

As we pushed on we could see a large storm brewing ahead of us.  We could see lightning in the distance and the tailwind was increasing.  We came to the Sumen sign and turned off the highway.  We were all getting tired after 97kms of hard riding, but before we stopped we still had to climb the 3km hill that led into the city.

We climbed the hill and rolled down into town.  We found the hotel Neon for 40 Lev and immediately set upon throwing our gear all over the place.  A quick shower and we were out for dinner.  The hotel gave us a voucher to use at the Italian restaurant across the road so we decided to check it out.  We all had fantastic dishes, a couple of drinks, throw in the discount voucher and we were down $5 Aussie dollars for dinner.  What a bargain.

We went for a walk of the town after dinner and discussed how we were going to attack tomorrow.  Tomorrow will be longer and hopefully wind assisted. 

This is a photo of the trolley cars carrying rocks to the quarry.

It's now 9pm in Bulgaria and time for the 2 Aussies to go to bed.

Until tomorrow, safe riding.