Week 6 Novo Selo - Ruse

Bulgaria differs in many ways from Serbia. The villages and partly the cities are very neglected and dilapidated in appearance. Defective vehicles remain on the roadside or pavement and rust away there.

There are still horse-drawn carriages and donkey carts on the roads, but there are also many fancy cars. This clearly shows the difference between rich and poor.

There are still small shops, fruit and vegetable stands, and drinking water fountains everywhere, but unfortunately no more bakeries.

At Vidin, we take a detour into the mountains. We drive from the Danube to Belogradchik in 2 days, which is at an altitude of 560 meters. The red rock formations there are super beautiful. We were also very impressed by the huge Magura Cave with ancient rock paintings.

After that, we meet the EV 6 again in Lom and have 3 exhausting days, covering many kilometers (108, 104, 97) and accumulating altitude meters, as we repeatedly climb up to plateaus from the valleys. The view from the top is our reward!

In a small village, we encounter a loaded cyclist coming towards us. We stop to chat. It's Walter Leppers, who has been on the road since 2011. If anyone is interested in reading his website: http://www.radtraum.de. A toothless old lady joins the three of us, who wants to be in the photos and then gives each of us a tomato as a gift.

On the way, we see many storks nesting in the sandy cliffs, and cowherds still graze their herds. We save turtles from traffic several times.

An overnight stay in a private room is very special. The host and his friend are grilling and drinking when we arrive in the evening. We are warmly welcomed, given tomatoes, cucumbers, and melons from the garden, and of course Raki, which is constantly refilled! We have a great time communicating with gestures, drawings, and broken language. In the morning, we are provided with coffee and sandwiches, and we also have to take a bag of vegetables with us.

Today we took a day off and visited the rock church of Ivanovo.

Current kilometer count: 2675