The Black Sea!

Day 42 Sumen to Varna

Yes that is right the famous resort on the Black sea. The holiday spot of Eastern Europe. It is really hard to believe that we are here.

However before I get to that let me bring up up to date on the day. After yesterdays brutal day in the sun I was feeling a little tired, and my legs just didn't have much go to them. Duncan lead a group ride out of town for about 5 k before cutting us lose. I was glad of that as I didn't need any more riding around Sumen. The route was 5 km down the freeway to some back roads. When we got to the turn off Jaco and Jim said hey lets continue down the freeway. There was a 12 foot shoulder and the pavement was the smoothest I had ever ridden on. So it took me less than a second to agree to that proposal. We sailed at 30+kms/hr down the freeway for 22 kms before we hit the secondary highway where we turned off. This put us way out in front of all the other riders and were into lunch before it was out on the tables.

A quick lunch a we sped off. There was just 50 km to go however at the 70 km mark I was exhausted. So Jim and Jaco rode on ahead and I did as best I could. The sun was blazing down and the temperature was at least 35 C. Not a cloud in the sky and not a speck of shade any where. I was sure glad I had refilled all my water bottles at lunch time. Finally I came to a tree and stopped under it for about 10 minutes to gather myself up. Later I learned that Fred who is one of the strongest riders stopped under that same tree and had a half hour nap. So I don't feel so bad. About 15 kms out of Varna the road had this pebbling on it which is sort of a chip coat but the pebbles are about 0.5 inches in diameter so it just shakes you to pieces. There were these apple trees along the side of the road and I saw some locals picking them and I needed something to eat. They were so sour it was torture getting one down. It did the trick of giving me enough energy to get into town.

After getting a little food into me and a nice cool shower I felt very much improved and went for a stroll around the town. I found a call center and phoned home. I was so good to here Agnes' voice. Scouted a place for supper, and found a souvenir for Kurt. The beach is really pretty here. The hotel is great. I joking said we should just stay here and take the ferry down to Istanbul, and was then surprised at how many people thought that was a great idea.

For supper we went out to this Turkish place. It was all out doors and the cook was standing over a huge wood fired grill. We had cucumber salad, olive dish, mushrooms in butter, grilled chicken livers, lamb liver, lamb ribs, beef kabob and this Turkish bread which was kind of like a huge pita. It came straight out of the oven and was all puffed up in the center. It was a fabulous feast. The price including 2 half liter beers was 17 lev ($13.00). A stray dog came and sat under my chair. Being the big softy that I am for puppy dog eyes, a few pieces fell from my plate. Actually he was pretty old as he had quite a bit of silver around his mussel.

Thanks for visiting my blog and thanks for your comments.

Terry