Leaving Serbia
Entering Bulgaria and back into the EU
First sign for Istanbul
Dani our couchsurfing host in Sofia
Central Sofia had some really impressive building that wouldn’t be out of place in any other european capital
looks like it will be a fun cycle out of Sofia
After cycling out of Sofia camped with a great view of the city
You always begin to question your route when you see the mountains looming in the distance
We stopped here for lunch after hearing Bulgarian folk music blaring from a concert sized speaker. A group of 5 men ranging from 20 to 70 years old were working they’re way through a litre of vodka. After polishing off the bottle and having a dance on the bonnet of their lada they bought another bottle of vodka and drove off. We let them get a while down the road before following them.
We skirted south along the mountain range before turning east and crossing them.
EU funded motorway being built
They love the european union in Bulgaria
The state of a lot of the rural houses
Cheesey chips, yes please
Cycling up to ski resorts
On the look out for some icecream
nice pointy hill
Descents are the best way to end the day
Grabbing water from on of the many fountains on the roadside in the mountains
Some fishers came and fished beside us for a while
Descending’s great
Target practice
Mushroom fountain
Nearly there
Just what we needed after a day in the mountains
Better than pasta anyway
Leaving the restaurant it was pretty dark luckily we found a campsite just down the road.
Not only were the mountain villages picturesque but most of them had free open wifi
Picked up this peice of shrapnel on the descent
Hugo relaxing while i replace my tube
Another great camp spot in the Bulgarian mountains
Good morning
Any excuse to stop on a climb is welcome, especialy if it’s some sort of multi coloured beetle
Riding until sunset after being invited for dinner
Istanbul in cyrilic
Not bulgaria’s best roads
After it got worse we decided to try and get onto the nearby highway
This involved squeezing through a break in a fence.
Hugo removing a sheared bolt from his frame
The huge line of lorries waiting at customs did not impress Hugo
don't hurry the journey 
Bulgaria has a longstanding custom of color-coding roads. On the map a red road is “first grade”—a surprising color choice given its universal traffic light command to stop—and an orange road is “second grade.” A yellow road is “third and fourth grade” (possibly combined because it’s hard to come up with a legible color lighter than yellow). An outlined white road noted as an indefinable but nevertheless carefully named “other road,” which is somehow of higher quality than the next category, the thin black line used for a “dirt road.” But what on earth would the Bulgarians use to identify the lovely road you show that seems to have broken in two?!