September 8, 2003
Monday Sep 8: Plovdiv to Koprivshtitsa: Brent meets a climb
Today was the day to branch out a bit. Instead of sticking to the fierce traffic of the main highway, I would take the smaller roads today. The ride started leaving Plovdiv through the tunnel under the Old City and through the standard industrialized areas. But soon after missing my turnoff onto the small road, I found it and was on my way. The road went from perfect pavement to sharp-edged potholes that would crush a rim and to rough patchy bits that were more annoying than dangerous. Mostly, though, the pavement was good.
What a change - instead of a car every millisecond, there was a car maybe every few minutes and sometimes not for 10-20 minutes. It was great - not to mention the numerous spots where the trees formed an archway over the road.
In the fields on either side were apple orchards today, irrigated by the old gutter and flue (spelling?) method. Most traffic was of the cart and buggy variety, so there were "dangers" in little piles along the road!
The first 60 km went great, and then I turned right and faced a climb. I climbed, and climbed and climbed and climbed and climbed......... This was a true test, and boy, was it a good thing that I had spent two days to recover in Plovdiv. Anyway, I finally crested the peak, with amazing views I am sure right back to Plovdiv. The descent was high-speed and glorious. And then I arrived in Koprivshtitsa.
This little village nestled in the mountains was a former hide-away of the Bulgarian nobles and intellectuals a few hundred years ago, and most of the buildings have been preserved as they were back then - including my B&B where I stayed.
I ran into an American photographer (www.RichSchwarz.com) who kindly burnt my pics onto CD for me, and we ended up looking around the town together and having dinner. He is headed to Turkey and just came from Serbia, where he suggested that I be careful with what I photographed, as he had been detained for 40 minutes for taking a picture of a chair when there happened to be a bridge in the background. I suppose after the recent war, they have certain concerns. Otherwise, though, he said all would be fine, but that I might just want to hop onto a train to Montenegro and be sure to see the coast.
Today's ride: 78 km (48 miles)
Total: 508 km (315 miles)
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