Biking the Bulgarian Balkans | Bikepacking Across Europe Ep.22

Biking the Bulgarian Balkans | Bikepacking Across Europe Ep.22

We are Liz and Alex and we are bike packing 2500 mes across Europe from London to Istanbul Turkey in this video we bike across Bulgaria the 14th country of our journey where we bike through the beautiful Balkan mountain range but also experience a variety of challenges my

Tire is wobbling all over the place I am struggling with some serious chaing making us question whether we can actually make it to our final country of Turkey good morning guys wel going to lie it’s almost the afternoon at this point we’re stumbling towards the Finish Line we’ve been getting out later and

Later each day I think we both are just tired is what it comes down to and we need like a week off of this I literally have an egg size bump on my left side and so that’s very painful to ride on our bikes also feel like they’re barely

Making it to the Finish Line we have 430 M left we have to just make it guys I’ve noticed our percentage of US listening to things each day has gone up I’ve gone through I don’t even know how many Audi books I should we should put on the

Screen like cuz I listen to audiobooks mostly I do some podcasts but mostly audiobooks and I’m just going through them like crazy we’re going to get ourselves packed up and hopefully try to leave before Noon okay guys we’re packed up now and we’re going to head out we were not able to make breakfast cuz our stove did die we’re really hoping we can find something in this very small town if not we’re going to be real cranky let’s head out the butt pain is

Real always bad first thing in the morning got like numb out or something straight uphill on a cobblestone Road right away without her first gear Liz is struggling on these steep hills it’s also first thing in the morning which is never a good time to be doing Hills we stopped at the store here got a few things it’ll tied us over till the next town and we’re actually trying Bulgarian yogurt for the first time and it’s really good it’s like imagine like Greek yogurt but it’s even more firm than that and it’s I think it tastes

Really good Bulgaria is supposed to be known for its yogurt so I was hoping to try this while we’re here and it is a success this hill is just way too steep even I’m walking it’s got to be like close to 20° this dogs been following me for quite some

Time this is really rough here this is the road this is a shortcut to a main road okay got my friend Still my tire is wobbling all over the place it’s now wobbling so far that it’s rubbing the frame I keep hearing it like rub just a tiny bit here and there and I’ve tried to adjust it but I think it’s going to take a little bit more work and

We’re not even halfway through the miles we’re supposed to do today and it’s 5:00 p.m. almost all right we’re good I think there was another issue where my uh one of there’s like a drop it’s a part of the bike where that the wheel is attached to there was actually loose so

I had to tighten it that was causing some of the issues I think I’m okay more than an hour later let’s see if we can make up some time I don’t know how much of this we’ve been able to capture on camera but ever since Eastern Croatia through Serbia and now in Bulgaria there’s just so many stray dogs everywhere you never know whether they’re going to run after you or not um some of them do and you have to

Just like stand your ground or they will just chase you on your bike psycho dogs [Applause] another late night in the dark it’s really hard because you can’t see the big dips in the road and so it’s really challenging I keep getting Jarred is this it yeah woohoo come here all right guys we’re in our guest house and we have the sweetest kitty it’s another Guest House night honestly there’s just not a lot of campgrounds out here anyways we Justified it cuz we’re like we’re supporting the local economy and areas that could probably

Use a boost so that’s our justification my bump is is so bad I’m having to sit so weirdly to try to not rub against my eggshell bump on my saddle area going to have to disinfect it tonight I think to make sure I don’t get another infection that’s it guys we see you

Tomorrow good morning everybody we are about to head out for the day we are out about 2 hours earlier than we have been out for the last several days but it’s still not as really as we hoped it’s about 9:15 right now and uh we’re going

To try to do 70 plus miles today to get to the big town that has a cool Fortress that we’re hoping to check out cuz we want to avoid another late night debacle on a [Applause] Highway the Tailwind is so strong right now that like I’m not even pedaling because the wind is pushing me it’s it’s insane how strong this wind [Applause] Is all right we are a little bit more than halfway done for the day it was definitely good getting in early start it’s heating up a bit but it’s really not too bad kind of a nice fall October day pretty windy though this wind has been absolutely insane but fortunately

For the most part it has been pushing us since it’s coming from Mostly the West just had a little lunch break I’m going to finish my book that just emotionally destroyed me thousand pled STS those who’ve read it probably know the [Applause] part I’m pretty sure if I had a sail right now just like put up a big kite or

A big Sail on the bike I’d just be flying down this road I was just like sitting up straight it’s coasting 15 M Hour why don’t you come outside and see what it’s like I think you find that the weather is nice you go get a drink it’s not as bad as you think you PUK in the sink so we made it here to velico Taran noo I not sure if that’s right my saddle sore

Area needs some help it’s bad it was really hurting today it’s like not even just the sit bones though it’s also like other parts like I we might need to adjust the seat a bit anyway I think that’s it for the night yep guys we will

See you in the morning all right good morning guys it is I don’t know what day we’re like a week out from finishing my nether region is in bad shape I’m not going to lie it’s just it’s a bad situation going on down there so I am struggling with

Some serious chafing chapis I’m using lots of the cream you’re supposed to use so anyways let’s hit the road guys we are very close to being done literally so close like 300 mil Left Right 315 3:15 we got this let’s do This this is the sovet Fortress it’s actually really cool looking and I wish we had the time to explore it and had a place to put our bikes I think it’s from like the 11th to 13th century so it it’s like pretty old was really really cool Looking It’s going to be really hard to capture this on camera but this cat can open the Door Morning guys so tired we’re not sure we’re going to actually leave today my saddle sore Pain’s been quite bad so I don’t know all right so what’s going on there might be an issue with my frame the back tire is just so close to the frame on

The left side it looks like the tire is kind of angle that way a little bit do we need to go to that town I don’t know it does look like that I can see that yeah it gets worse so like if you spin it this way or which

Way there right there you see how close that is you me it’s almost rubbing H yeah I think we’re going to need to get some serious work done these bikes when we’re done with this cuz they’re definitely just struggling and the problem is they don’t have American

Parts in these areas and our bikes are very American we’ve learned and so like they take like a week to order and that require staying in one place for a week so that’s kind of just to give you guys a background on part of the problem we

Are facing I think if we do another long bike tour it might be worth trying to either change our bike or get some of the parts adapted so that we can have it serviced anywhere in the world we definitely want to do another long bike tour this I definitely could see how

This is very addicting for sure so I think I figured out at least a temporary fix so I noticed that there’s some adjustment screws on the drops and when I adjusted them that kind of reentered the tire a little bit so now it’s not anywhere near as close it’s still a

Little bit wobbly but not nearly as bad as it was before so I think this is going to work I think I think we’ll make it at least I don’t think this will be another an issue for the rest of the 300 00 miles or whatever well that’s a

Confident bold statement well that doesn’t mean there’s not going to be other issues but I don’t think this will be the cause of that well now that it’s noon we’re heading out for the day okay guys so we’ve been craving a bakery for a while I haven’t found one

In Bulgaria Google translated talked to like five different people in town eventually got to this little window Bakery in this small little town in Bulgaria and um got some yummy stuff that feels Heavenly and it smells good and it was like literally just this little window shop like like you would

Not know it’s here unless you talk to people okay so this is item number one it’s supposed to have cheese as we understand it inside o look at that just look at that bread oh wow it does have cheese though I see cheese here M it’s fluffy bread stuffed with

Cheese so you can’t really go wrong there we’ve seen a few of these espresso machines scattered throughout our time but once we got to Bulgaria these have been everywhere 253 cents per cup it’s also good too look at that let’s just show that foam

Yeah oh man that one might be one of the best ones we’ve had that’s so good yeah You’ got to like all the options here this is chocolate you can get I’m a little nervous with all my chaing I’m having I did butter my biscuit as we

Say when did we coin that term I think I was on this trip at some point yeah good morning everyone it is actually the next day we ended up just getting such a late start yesterday that we actually just stayed a night and part of the reason for that was also because

Lizz’s saddle area was just way too sore yesterday and she just really needed to let the swell decrease but we are going today already climbing it’s going to be a big day I think either way we have a ton of elevation gain to get through the balans

But I think Liz is doing a lot better now that she gave her area some more time to rest right yes so hopefully we’ll be a little bit better prepared to get through these Mountains So my saddle store area is doing much better today I think taking a day and a half off and doing really low low miles the day before helped a lot that would be my advice guys if you’re experiencing extreme saddle pain just take some time

Off I feel like where I’m going so much faster too than I would usually on these Hills because I’m not in horrible pain going up pill I think I’m just going to keep using that shammy butter like crazy anyways today’s a hill day I think we’re gaining 3,000 ft hopefully there’s no other Challenges total elevation gain for the day so far about 3,100 ft and it’s only been like less than 13 Mi it hasn’t been too crazy steep but it’s just been like kind of Relentless just uphill this whole time we only have about a mile and

A half left and then I think we’ll be through the hard part of the day all right guys today is a beautiful day here in the Balkan Mountains of Bulgaria definitely have major fall Vibes everywhere got like that bite of crispiness in the fall that I love feels

Good to actually get a heart rate up I feel like I haven’t had my heart rate up biking in a long time because so much has been just flat and my body is so used to biking at this point and we are done with the big

Hill back to the big hill woohoo made it to the top of the pass I think this is a good lunchtime spot till we go down honestly this is such a beautiful pass I think I’ve been craving this kind of really out there in nature with very few

Cars Vibe and it’s been really really nice my favorite day in a while the crisp fall air too is just such a Vibe with all these leaves it’s beautiful of course by the time we post this it’s going to be Winter we are on our way down and it is absolutely freezing so so coold ni see you hello All right guys we just got to Tav Vista and we got some donuts they had just like vendors hearts out there this is a small it has like 10 donuts and it was like two something so it’s very affordable yeah I asked her for whatever topping she think to be good that’s kind

Of been my go-to in a lot of these countries and she put some sort of Jammy topping on it and usually I’m not a huge fan of like jam with donuts but I’m open to trying new things See it’s warm which is nice the jam on top is like a kind of like a syrup like you would get like a ber syrup at like a diner in the US it’s good now that we’re over the balans you can tell things look a lot different

It’s starting to look a lot more like what I expect turkey will look like a lot more like Dy deserty kind of grasslands but then you still have the Balkans over there [Applause] Much yeah he kind of interesting we got to place here in sliven Bulgaria uh it was a really beautiful ride through the Balan mountains and we’re at this place here and it’s amazing it cost $37 for a night here and it is equipped with two bedrooms nice looking bedrooms

And a PlayStation with games I wish there was more time nice bathroom washer kitchen and nice little second bedroom here I can’t believe what we’re paying for this place I keep going back to that Campground in Italy there was like $56 for a night and here you have this it’s

Like way cheaper anyway really nice place we’re going to get cooking have a nice little dinner and go to Bed good morning everybody we just left our lovely guest house and we are going to be heading um actually a really short day today we only have about 45 miles it’s one of those situations where we either go very little or too much and so

We’re going to do the 45 miles it should be mostly flat as well so it should be pretty quick day all right let’s head [Applause] out what do you know guys we have a bike lane here in this town guys we are so close to Turkey

Right now if we really wanted to we could probably get there today but there’s just no no towns on really either side of the border at least where we’re crossing we won’t be doing that but we will almost definitely be in Turkey Tomorrow where are you Doggies we got onto a super rough road somehow wow that is a lot of garbage all right so what’s going on today when we were riding on that rough road back there something happened to Liz’s Tire it got punctured so I think the ceiling’s working but

I’ve got to put some pressure in it oh I need the gaug so I have two Bliss tires on mine all two BL this is the first puncture we’ve had though I think this trip on your bike yeah on my bike On the next episode we made it to Turkey Come here so this is our new BFF

We bikepack through the Bulgarian Balkans and across the country of Bulgaria as we continue our biking tour across Europe. Liz experiences horrendous saddle pain and our bikes begin falling apart making us question if we will be able to complete this journey.

#bikepacking #biketour #biketouring #europetravel

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Liz & Alex

About us: We are Liz and Alex, a married couple that makes outdoor adventure and travel videos. We strongly believe that dreams are meant to be pursued, and we hope to motivate others to get outside their comfort zones and do the same. We are full-time nomads and divide up our time between traveling abroad and the other part of the time in our self converted van all the while fitting in loads of outdoor-based adventure along the way! Our goal is to show you amazing places and inspire you to get outside your comfort zone and pursue your dreams…whatever they may be.