18-19 November 2023, Burgas, 34.29km
Bolarska 10 40lev [R419]

You may remember that on a blisteringly hot day in Morocco, we met a South African couple, Deon and Mathilda, travelling in a 4x4 campervan. When they caught sight of the flag fluttering from the back of Charl's bike, they did a U-turn to accost us for Afrikaans conversation and Coke with ice. We have been following their travels ever since. They are currently in North Macedonia and posted a photo today of snow on the mountains, describing the weather as bibberkoud. I don't think there is an adequate English equivalent, so shivercold will have to suffice.
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Winter arrived in eastern Bulgaria this morning. No snow, but bibberkoud, wet (drizzle not downpour) and very windy. Luckily we had under 40km of easy terrain between Nesebar and Burgas, a city of 210,000 squeezed between lakes and sea.
The road here was double-carriage in both directions and relatively busy. For most of the three hours or so we were on the bikes, the wind blew from our right, a substantial westerly that threatened to gust us into the path of the traffic on our left. Between the wind, rain and traffic, it was a noisy ride, made noisier by the fact that not only the edge line, but the middle line is painted with rumble dots. We could hear cars moving across these as they gave us a wide berth. Reassuring.
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Enterprising property owners all over the Balkans have converted sometimes unlikely properties into budget accommodation perfectly suited to us. Today's apartment looks disappointing from the outside, but is warm and comfortable within. The bathroom is one of the smallest I have seen; I particularly love the space-saving corner cistern.