//Day 27 /07-04-22 /Balchik-Varna

Today was an uneventful day. My plan was to cycle the short distance to Varna (40K) and stay 2 nights visiting the city, do some laundry swap Balck Horse’s chain. Saturday I will continue my route to Burgas, another Bulgarian seaside town, where I either will take the Eurovelo 13 route (which will go through Northen Turkey) or a Bulgarian cycle way.

The road from Balchik to Varna brought me through the wooded hills overlooking the Black Sea,including some steep climbs. The hills are full with holiday resorts (Varna itself being a popular summer destination). I started cycling rather late, around 9.15, but I would arrive in  Varna anyway  before the predicted rain at 13.00. I arrived plenty before,  at 11.15, including time for a nice burek as breakfast. Today I saw a lot of Ukranian cars assuming  refugees are staying in the off-season holiday resorts. 

I planned the route to my hotel to pass 2 bike shops, in the hope that one of them would help me to swap my bikechain. At the first bikeshop I stopped, I tried to explain what needed to be done. The language barrier and customer service level did not help. A woman, I assume the owner said plainly : no, we can not help you….A man, mechanic, was more supportive..but the language barrier was to big. Whilst I was explaining what to do I started to swap the chain myself….and eventually (including some heavy cursing) I succeeded to swap the chain ending up with my hands black of grease. Although the lady-owner was not happy the man-mechanic let me wash my hands in their toilet. 

I arrived at the hotel somewhat early and had to wait for my room to be cleaned and had to pay 5 euro’s extra to park Black Horse in the lobby (the receptionist did not trust that BH was save the private garage). I chained Black Horse at the reception railing and checked-in. Although I had not cycled a great distance today, the climbing, the bike chain swap stress and the kilometers cycled  the days before…I fell quickly asleep in a short but deep powernap.

When I woke up it was raining heavily, which was a good excuse to spend some Netflix time. In the late afternoon I did a short walk into the city to find a little tray, degreaser and some plastic gloves to clean my bikechain. I found al these items in a local shop, did a brief stroll through the seapark, a big park along the coast - one of Varna’s main attractions. But today’s greyness and cold (no more then 7 degrees) decided for me. I went back to the warmth of the hotel and chill some further. The cold was not a problem for the swimmers though I saw at the open-air pool….I’m a wussy.  Tomorrow a sunny day with a 22 degree is predicted. Perfect weather to visit Varna properly. My bikechain is fully degreased and clean by now. 

Lessons learned  :

• Music in Bulgarian restaurants…..loud. Deafness is the number one occupational disease of bar personnel in Bulgaria. 
• I’m looking forward  to have a rest day tomorrow. 
• Billy Idol is not a Bulgarian, born in England, migrated at the age of 4 to the states, returned to England to eventually become an America. 

Song of the day : Rotation - Herb Alpert