Day 24, from Goze Deltschew to Dospat

Day 24, from Goze Deltschew to Dospat.

Today we drove 50 km by taxi at 8:15 am, as there was only one main road leading to our starting point. When we arrived in Vaklinovo near Satovona, we first bought a coffee and ate our packed milk bread. In the cafe, like everywhere here in Bulgaria, there were already some men early in the morning! One of them approached us in broken English and asked where we want to go. We explained our route to him. This man told us that we should not take that route because the destination is too far away, we would get lost on the way, and there is also a very bad road leading there. We should take a taxi from point A to point B, and he also had a room available for us. I showed him my satellite navigation device, and he smiled. When the talking became too much for me, I gave the signal to leave. We walked about 2 km along a gravel road to take a shortcut at a hairpin turn, which was marked on the hiking map. We followed the path for a little over 500m and then took a downhill path towards the valley, but the path soon led to nowhere. Now we tried to follow tracks left by wild animals, but they also kept ending. Now there was also a cliff below us blocking the way, Willi searched left and I searched right, and eventually we tried the right side. Eventually, we reached the bottom, with a mountain stream in front of us and no path to be seen. By the way, we had already realized a little earlier that we had missed the right path up at the saddle. We were now about 400-500 meters away from our actual route. Now we had to follow the river upstream - hopping over rocks and stones, taking off our shoes, crossing the stream, putting on our shoes again, taking them off again, crossing back to the other side, putting on our shoes again, taking them off again, and so on. It was quite laborious to make progress. After some time, according to the map, we had to climb the mountain about 150 meters high to reach a gravel road. That also took a lot of strength, as there was no path leading there either. This shortcut had cost us a little over 2.5 hours. 3 hours later, we arrived in the village of Barutin, where a Mercedes driver stopped to ask if we wanted to ride with him. We gladly accepted the offer and rode with him for the last 4.5 km to Dospat, which is located at 1400 meters, where we had booked accommodation.

I never felt unsafe at any time on this day, partly due to the satellite emergency communication device we brought!

Here in the Rhodope Mountains, we are mostly at 1000-1300 meters altitude, so you can only find fruit to eat in the gardens of the villages, if at all. We now have to change our system of food intake! Drinking water sources can be found here about every 500 meters!

(Willi) Luckily, the travel angels were with us again. It seemed like we had to swim to continue. But then we found an exit after all. We are probably the first people to choose this route.

Along the way today, there were also very heartwarming experiences and genuinely enormous helpfulness. Thank you!!!