The first men on the moon must have needed fistfuls of faith. Trust too, in bucket loads. Plus an unquenchable thirst for adventure. Entering the unknown. Their journey planned and executed with a fraction of the onboard technology that’s inside Beastie.
Our leap of faith starts tomorrow. Into the unknown for us. A new country, in a new continent. Full of the interesting and different. Maybe the curious and curiouser. We’ve planned. Put everything in place. But . . . we’ll soon find out. Will we be venturing into the sun? Or the dark side of the moon?
At this precise moment, it’s hammering down. As if the king of all pop riveters is working Beastie’s roof. The time is 15.37 and 50, no, 51, no, 52 . . .seconds on Tuesday 30th April 2024. We’re on day two of our two-night stop-over at Sakar Hills Camping. 35K north of the Turkish border. Exactly on schedule. This English run site, along with its counterpart Camping Dragijevo, situated near the old capitol in Veliko Tarnovo, were the very first two camp sites to be officially set up in Bulgaria, sixteen years ago. They are part of a small group of sites that have been leading the way for MOHOmers and the like, to explore this beautiful country.
This site is the perfect location, but . . .
Yesterday afternoon hemmed us in too. Giving us the opportunity to master a new game – Mancala. On loan from our fab friends Sue & Dave. Looks simple, but it’s a thinking game of anticipation and preparation. One where you can never be sure whether you’ve won or not, right up to the very last move.
The near village of Bisar provides our short walkabout this morning. A nose and mini shop. The housing a real mix of run down and on the way out; those just managing to sustain an equilibrium; those owned by hopefuls with something more elaborate in mind. How, or to whom they’d ever sell to in the future, a mystery.
It’s stopped raining. During the time it’s taken me to write up today’s post, Mrs S has been busy too. With a more artistic project.
Not quite the end. The rain stops. We decide to skip into town. It doesn’t have one of everything. But it does have one shop and one restaurant. We’re hungry. The waitress approaches. Ready to take our order. A young girl and her friend realise we’re English. Rush over from the far side of the room. Viki, a modern looking second grade student, is keen to practise her language skills. Exudes confidence as she acts as our translator.
We decide to have dessert. Then we decide not to. The table immediately behind becomes occupied by two men. Their wine arrives. Time to light up. Despite a no smoking law that’s been in place since 2012.
We walk back to camp in the rain.
[The next blog post may be some days away. We need to source Turkish sim cards, hopefully with enough coverage and data.]