Day seven - Ihtiman, Bulgaria to ULTIMATE DESTINATION

Location: The Old School, Bulgaria.
Total Miles: 2142

After our epic efforts of the day before we decided to have a lie in and I didn't even set an alarm. I woke, naturally, at about 7am and dragged myself out of bed pretty much straight away and started typing up the super long blog for yesterday. Don't worry, this one won't be half as long I don't think.

This is where Thomas and Julian slept

I was still typing when my parents came out from their room and they had slept well, and were hungry and ready for breakfast. We decided (as I still hadn't finished typing the blog) to go into the little cafe in the service station and order some coffee and breakfast and I could finish the blog while they ate. I finally finished and uploaded using the free WiFi and then settled down to my own food. As my parents had finished before me they went out to Julian and started cooking a second breakfast.

Stunning view to the distant mountains

The parents' room had been at the back of the hotel and they woke to a stunning view which I only observed after they had extracted me from Julian. The mountains in the distance were covered in snow and shimmering in the morning sun. I took this picture after my breakfast, while the parents were cooking, and stood for a minute just looking as the cleaners tidied the tables around me on the deck. What a great place to wake up and after the long and tiring day before it was so nice to have such a restful beginning.

Eating breakfast with an awesome view

For the first time this trip my mum cooked breakfast (as I had been blogging) and so it was lovely to have that handed to me. My mum and I both went and sat on deck chairs looking out across at the lovely view to the mountains while my dad stayed in Julian making a playlist up for my mum to have on as she was starting the drive today (as per).

They went for a pre-drive toilet break and I did my reversing thing, getting Julian in the lead and then pulling Thomas out and round; I am getting really rather good at this reversing lark now and did the whole manouver without any false moves. One thing that was nearly false was a crowd of German school kids who were kicking a ball about and it rolled under Thomas as he was moving; I just kept going to be honest - if they are stupid enough to keep kicking their ball near my moving vehicle then their problem if their ball gets squashed. Sadly it didn't.

And so we hit the road, heading up the motorway away from Sofia and towards our ultimate destination. The road was quite bumpy for quite a while which was tiring but eventually we reached a smoother section of road and were able to go a bit faster, and with less pain. I stuck "Gogol Bordello" on the CD player very loud which did not make my dad very happy but I was singing along and enjoying myself very much. This was it; the last day... later on I would be on my land and finally this whole crazy dream would be beginning.

Rather sooner than I expected we reached the turn off for the mountainous route to my destination. I haven't mentioned this before so I'll quickly explain it now. We had two routes to choose from; the first (mountainous) is the one which I know and use all the time to get there. The second was a flatter but longer alternative to avoid the mountain pass. I had to decide which route to take. I made a snap decision and turned off on the route I knew, taking us up and over the beautiful mountain pass and risking their being snow up there.

The Roman road stretching ahead

Through the last town, and after getting fuel and some of the lovely Carroti drinks that I like so much, and changing drivers, we headed towards the pass. The first part of this road takes you along an old Roman road (I have remarked on this in an earlier blog) and we managed to snap a couple of pics of this as we went along. It was a strange day for photographs as I know every inch of this route, and the scenery, intimately having traveled it often; I had to remind myself to get new pictures for this blog.

Snow by the side of the road

Then we started the long, steady and VERY slow climb up towards the pass, Julian burbling along at about 20mph and refusing to go any faster. This was actually quite nice as it meant I was able to appreciate the views a bit better; normally I am caning it over these roads as fast as I possibly can and having fun throwing the car around. This was a totally different feel. As we rose higher there was more and more snow by the side of the road but fortunately the road kept totally clear at all times.

Living the camper van dream

I was really enjoying this climb and had my window wound down with my arm resting on the sill; this is how one should drive a camper van; with a huge smile and not caring one jot about the people having to wait behind your slow moving, lumbering form. My mum was kind enough to capture this for posterity. Thanks mum.

Snow and Julian; he did SO well!

After I while I decided that I wanted to have a rest, stretch my legs and take some proper pictures of the views however the place I chose to stop had none. It did have some nice snow (my dad took a picture of my mum stood in it) and I enjoyed my fresh air and leg stretch. Julian looked really parked up at the side of the road with the snow all around him. We only stopped for a couple of minutes and then we were off and running again.

The rest of the journey went like clockwork; we even rolled past the standard police check point without being pulled over, something I fully expected to have done to us as we are on UK plates still and look a bit dodgy obviously.  The moment came that I was looking forward to, rolling down the hill towards the main town but it was a bit anti-climactic as I was more focused on the speed of Julian, and making sure my dad was keeping up in Thomas. It was a cool feeling though, all in all.

We continued on and eventually came to the new road and then very quickly to the turn for my village. I was very pleased to see that my village name was not on the road sign; ahhh, anonymity! And now for the part I was actually most concerned about; getting Thomas and trailer, and Julian, up the gravel track and round the really steep crazy bend into the village, and then through the tiny track to the school I went first and asked dad to wait in Thomas until I had attempted it so he wasn't behind me if I started to slide back. I put Julian into the "L" (low) gear and he just did it. No trouble at all. He pulled all the way, really steadily, and just like that I was there.

We radioed to dad and told him to have a go and he also did it really easily. While he was on his way my smiling mush came past and saw me and he rushed round and gave me a hug through the window. What a wonderful way to be welcomed to your new village.

Thomas and my dad outside the school

Next we had to negotiate the narrow lane and tight bends and we both did this with ease. I parked Julian up and jumped into Thomas next to dad and again, really easily, we pulled the trailer along the dirt track and up onto my land and parked it in front of the building so we could begin the unloading process.

The inevitable help arrived....

As you would expect (or maybe not, but now you know to) it took about five minutes before my lady neighbour appeared and was insistent that she be allowed to help the unloading process. Smiling Mush arrived too and it did not take long for us to have the trailer nearly unloaded. By this time we were getting quite hungry and so I managed to communicate to them both that we were going to eat and rest and they weren't needed any more. Her face dropped and then she was all smiles again. I hope I am able to retain her loyalty and friendship while ensuring that she understands that I need my privacy, space, and don't need her there all the time.

We ate some more wraps, and drank a brew made on my gas stove in room 13, and with my friend's kettle she had left and kindly even left water in. It was great to just relax there, in the peace, sat around on deck chairs and garden chairs and realise that I was at home, now.

Me in the back of Thomas

I couldn't sit still for long and so I went back down and carried on unpacking and before long the special son from next door arrived and I was actually quite grateful as he is a strong man and was able to help with the heavy stuff like the table top and the Marshall. He doesn't speak much, but as he was going he said Ciao which I am sure is about the third word I've heard him speak. I felt quite lucky to hear it.

My parents, sweeping

It had come time to start thinking about emptying Julian so I went down to where I had left him while my parents got brushes out and started sweeping the glass from the play ground. Now if you remember I started doing this the last time I was here and after a few hours I had made not much difference. I did warn them but they seemed to be enjoying the effort so I just went to get on with emptying Julian.

The bumper got some earth

I got down to him and realised that I'd parked him on such a sideways slant that I wouldn't feel happy with moving much around inside without things falling on me so I got in and started shifting him. As I was driving I thought "why am I worried about this" and just kept going, bringing him right round over all the bumps, through the gate (after a helpful neighbour had chased the cows away which were sleeping on my drive - I need to fix the fence!) and up the bank round to the parking place. What an excellent vehicle is Julian; he has taken everything I have thrown at him and has not complained once; Thomas had the engine management light problem twice, but Julian; nothing. I did happen to collect some of my land inside the rear bumper on the way up but that was probably because of the weight of whisky over that rear right corner.

Whisky into box

With Julian right by the front door I started unloading him straight away, passing stuff from the rear storage to my parents who carried it inside. It didn't take long and I was back to the whisky. This was my job and I set to, putting the valuable cargo into carrying boxes carefully, inspecting each one. I had zero breakages and only a few slightly squashed boxes from all that time and all those miles; bearing in mind that they had been in there for weeks prior to my move and had been through the garage and the mechanics a few times even.

Lovely carved wood in the front room

That done, I was finished packing and, after a bit of tidying, and ensuring the friendly lady was out the house, we set off towards my parents' hotel. At first we got a bit lost and went up the wrong road and then, when we put the co ordinates that were on the website into the satnav, it got totally confused too. Finally we resorted to the old fashioned methods and spotted a sign and started following them. In short order we had go to this fantastic place on the hill and had managed to check them in. The room was incredible. All dark woods and multi coloured lights. Above and below are a couple of pictures to give you the impression.

Wonderfully detailed lights around the edges

Fantastic, huh.

What a lovely sunset

While I was writing the beginning to this blog, and waiting for the parents to have their showers so I could have mine (which was epic, by the way; so hot and lovely to scrub clean a couple of days dirt and today's sweat) I noticed the sun going down so went out onto the balcony to take some pictures. It was gorgeous and my mum joined me too.

We then went downstairs for dinner and had some of my favourites (kyufte, kartofi seranai, drop) and a couple of dishes I've never tried before and really enjoyed.

So I'm going to post this, and then jump in the car and drive home; climb on my balcony somehow (the sheeting we stuck over my bedroom window held, mostly, so I can't climb out from inside still) with my deck chair and a whisky, and drink it looking at the stars and thinking about what is about to happen.

See you on the other side