During our summer on 'Sakar Hills Touring Park' at Biser, campers of many nationalities joined us: on foot, bicycle or motorbike; by car, motorhome or caravan. They came from Britain, Australia, New Zealand, Holland, France, Germany and Italy, as well as Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Poland – but not Bulgaria! Most of them spent a night or two en route to/from Greece or Turkey, while the few who stayed longer to explore this corner of Bulgaria were given every help by the Jeffes family, particularly if they were interested in buying a property or visiting the historic sites.
Apart from the 'usual suspects', we hosted a convoy of German ambulances, donated by the Malteser Hilfsdienst (St John's), being driven by young volunteers to the Afghan border, where they will be handed over to charity workers.
We especially enjoyed meeting Andy Pettitt at the end of July, returning overland from England to his native New Zealand. He rode a beautifully-equipped Triumph Bonneville motorbike, a replica of an earlier Triumph for its simplicity of maintenance and repair. Once a keen cyclist, he had crated his collection of bicycles to be shipped direct to Nelson from the UK. His route involved flying the motorbike from Nepal to Bangkok, to avoid Burma, and then taking a ferry via Indonesia to Australia. We follow his great adventure on www.atriumphtonelson.co.uk: “Not so much about how one man helped save western Europe from the tyranny of Napoleon...more about some middle-aged geezer riding his Triumph Bonneville to Nelson, New Zealand”, to quote Andy. He invites you to email him at: :
Towards the end of August came the first cycle-tourist, Slovenian Boris Sajtegelj, who had ridden from Maribor in 2 weeks. His plan to cycle across Turkey and into Syria (or would it be Iran again?) sounded ambitious, until we learnt that Boris's last long ride took him across Turkey, Georgia, Armenia, Iran and Pakistan to Tibet, then via China, Laos and Cambodia to Singapore for a flight home. This 10-month epic involved an encounter with a road-mending vehicle in China which wrote his bicycle off. The modest 30-year-old is still riding the Chinese replacement bike! Inviting Boris to join us for dinner in the motorhome, we were rewarded with a splendid slide show of this journey, thanks to the wonders of his CD and our laptop.
Boris stayed for 2 nights, taking a rest day – an opportunity for us to show him the area in the comfort of our hire car. After John and Carol had called for coffee, we took Boris to visit friends from New Zealand who live in a Sakar Hills village. Ruth rustled up some lunch while Barry and Boris fixed the flat tyre on her car. The day ended at the home of our good friend Bob, who has a house nearby. Boris couldn't believe there were so many English people in the area – and he didn't even meet the Jeffes family!
A pair of English students, Lee and Carl from Stoke, cycled in just as Boris left. We took them to eat at the excellent 24-hour Snack Bar in Lyubimets and next day they were gone, headed for Istanbul and a return flight to the UK. One came via Narvik in northern Norway and they had met up in the Baltic Republics.
Three days later the last cyclist of the summer arrived – the delightful Jean-Roland Marguin from Lyon, who teaches in Paris. Over a cup of 'thé avec un nuage de lait' we discovered that he has an English mother and French father, so we were spared further French conversation practice! Jean-Roland proved to be well travelled, including work in Central Africa, and we talked easily until 2.30 am over Margaret's supper of fishy pasta, Jean's sticky cakes from Harmanli and local grapes.
Like Boris, Jean-R decided on a rest day before continuing to Istanbul. As he expressed an interest in Ancient History, we took him for a picnic by the Roman road and fort at Castra Rubra. The director of the excavation there, a Professor from Veliko Tarnovo, speaking better French than English, kindly told us about their work and allowed photographs. We collected more brochures from the little Museum in Izvorovo, then drove on to see our friends in the Sakar Hills.
Ruth produced home-made scones and jam, coffee, wine, fruit, banitsa (flaky cheese pie) and salad. Jean-R was enchanted – and enchanting. His French accent and manners charmed the ladies, young (Ruth's daughters) and older!
We had an email from Jean-R a few days later, to say he had safely reached Istanbul (despite 2 punctures near Edirne). He was planning to take a ferry from Cesme back to Italy – a good route, which only runs during the summer months.
.JPG)
.JPG "Camping_at_Biser_(12).JPG")
y nationalities joined us: on foot, bicycle or motorbike; by car, motorhome or caravan. They came from .JPG "Andy_Pettitt_to_NZ_(13).JPG")
cially enjoyed meeting Andy Pettitt at the end of July, returning overland from England to his native New Zealand. He rode a beautifully-equipped Triumph Bonneville motorbike, a replica of an earlier Triumph for its simplicity of maintenance and repair. Once a keen cyclist, he had crated his collection of bicycles to be shipped direct to Nelson from the .JPG "Boris_of_Slovenia_(11).JPG")
ho had ridden from Maribor in 2 weeks. His plan to cycle across Turkey and into Syria (or would it be Iran again?) sounded ambitious, until we learnt that Boris's last long ride took him across Turkey, Georgia, Armenia, Iran and Pakistan to Tibet, then via China, Laos and Cambodia to Singapore for a flight home. This 10-month epic involved an encounter with a road-mending vehicle in China which wrote his bicycle off. The modest 30-year-old is still riding the Chinese replacement bike! Inviting Boris to join us for dinner in the motorhome, we were rewarded with a splendid slide show of this journey, thanks to the wonders of his CD and our laptop. .JPG "Boris_of_Slovenia_(12).JPG")
for 2 nights, taking a rest day – an opportunity for us to show him the area in the comfort of our hire car. After John and Carol had called for coffee, we took Boris to visit friends from New Zealand who live in a Sakar Hills village. Ruth rustled up some lunch while Barry and Boris fixed the flat tyre on her car. The day ended at the home of our good friend Bob, who has a house nearby. Boris couldn't believe there were so many English people in the area – and he didn't even meet the Jeffes family!.JPG "Camping_(1).JPG")
an-Roland Marguin from Lyon, who teaches in Paris. Over a cup of 'thé avec un nuage de lait' we discovered that he has an English mother and French father, so we were spared further French conversation practice! Jean-Roland proved to be well travelled, including work in Central Africa, and we talked easily until 2.30 am over Margaret's supper of fishy pasta, Jean's sticky cakes from Harmanli and local grapes..JPG "Camping_(2).JPG")
decided on a rest day before continuing to Istanbul. As he expressed an interest in Ancient History, we took him for a picnic by the Roman road and fort at Castra Rubra. The director of the excavation there, a Professor from Veliko Tarnovo, speaking better French than English, kindly told us about their work and allowed photographs. We collected more brochures from the little Museum in Izvorovo, then drove on to see our friends in the Sakar Hills. 