Sofia; 4th October - 8th October - From Aqtau

Sofia; 4th October - 8th October

4th October - 8th October

We arrived into Sofia after a comfortable bus journey. The border crossing happened in the late evening, after which I slept well until approaching the city.

After getting ripped of by a taxi driver, we arrived at the BnB close to the centre of town and met the manager, Dennis. He had kindly agreed to accept the bike parts package on our behalf. Unfortunately, they still hadn't arrived.

We met up with Chris that evening and had a kebab. We then said goodbye as he went to catch his bus to Budapest.

The following day, on the 5th, the Rohloff spokes and oil arrived. However, the rim and SON hub were due from in a different delivery. After several conversations with the courier over a few days, they said the rim and hub would arrive around the 10th October.

This is the rim condition post crash. Rohloff hub was fine.

Deciding that this was too long, we asked the bike shop to build the Rohloff onto a DT Swiss rim they had in stock. I laced the wheel as I wanted to ensure it matched the pattern of the previous build to avoid new stress on the hub flange.

The bike shop guys were excellent. After some discussion on spoke tension, Valento built the wheel up and also fixed the rear mudguard with some cable ties, as it was still damaged from the crash. He also gave us several more cable ties and gave the bike a checking over.

We discussed our trip and they asked why we wouldn't put it on Youtube to make some money. I gave the short answer, that it doesn't interest me; the long answer would have been, it seems like a lot of effort to edit videos well -- also, it's the people we've met that have made the trip special -- commodifying and commercialising such interactions not only seems tacky, but also slightly exploitative.

I asked if the shop sold dynamos -- it didn't, but he recommended another bike shop to enquire about a dynamo hub. The Son28 had stopped generating electricity in Kyrgyzstan, and as the nights grew shorter, we were keen to get it sorted.

The second bike shop was essentially someone's front room but stacked to the rafters with bike parts. The guy had a Shimano dynamo hub in stock. We asked him to build it onto the existing rim.

We came back an hour and a half or so later and he had just finished up. He had de-laced the old wheel, cut the spokes down to size (the Shimano hub is much larger), and rebuilt the wheel in that short amount of time -- very impressive.

New bike set up -- the first shop recommended us this mirror, and the second shop donated the bell. The large mirror is very useful, and the bell gives a friendly clanging sound.

Rest of Sofia

It had been a while since I'd seen so much tomato ketchup lined up

Cute little tram we used for getting around. Accepts contactless card transactions

Main attraction: Saint Alexander Nevsky Cathedral

This deli counter was right next to where we were staying

And it would offer discounted food in the early evening which we made the most of. Very delicious meals.

This is the main spring in Sofia. As you can see, people also fill up large containers for home consumption too.

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