Breakfast was an omelette ordered last night, cooked with the local cheese, ham and some green herb, it came with tomatoes, olives and cucumber. While eating, I enjoyed looking out from Villa Emona at the panoramic view, the distant horizon of the Black Sea lost in a pink-grey haze as the sea merged with the sky. I almost felt sorry to leave the place, however I had mountains to climb. First I somehow had to fit everything into my rucksack, which proved a struggle with all the food I had bought.
It was uphill for a while leaving Emona, as I entered a wooded area of low trees. For much of the day I walked through a similar landscape along the spine of the mountains. Mostly the trees were deciduous of various types, still green, none very tall, although there were some stands of pine. In places there were areas of long grass, turned to straw by the summer's heat, either forming a corridor along the ridge, or in larger areas. Herds of horses grazed the grass, and cows were being rounded up. A man in a lorry waiting for a load of cows wished me good luck on my walk along the Kom-Emine. Most of the time it was quiet, with just the buzzing of flies around me, the sound of my footfall and the occasional rusting of leaves in the wind. In the sky I saw birds which might have been Griffon Vultures, and nearer to me I disturbed a Lesser Spotted Eagle which flew off its perch as I approached. My identification of this brown eagle was based on an information board for the Nature Reserve I had walked through. I also saw a flight of pelicans high in the sky, apparently they migrate over the area. (Later I wondered if they were storks with a distinctive black stripe along their wing, they were too far away to see their beaks).
The track I was following was of earth, compacted by the passage of vehicles. In places the earth had been worn away revealing stony ground and bedrock. In other places with deeper and wetter earth, vehicles had created thick mud and deep ruts, which filled with opaque, brown water. I tried to edge around the mud and water, threatened by tree branches trying to push me in. Vehicles had created alternate routes through the trees to bypass particularly difficult sections. I would imagine in spring, before the summer sun had dried the ground, the tracks could become extremely muddy. There was one stretch of busy road to walk along, but mostly I was alone among the trees. Being late in the year there were few flowers to admire, an exception were the purple colchicums.
The only village I passed through was Plazovets. Most of the scattered buildings had been abandoned, but some were being renovated, the guidebook referred to Russian and British people buying them up, no doubt at a low price. Curiously the single track road leading to the small, partially abandoned village had new street lights bought with EU funding.
Beyond Plazovets I climbed up to the fence surrounding the red and white Gyoztepe TV Tower. A high point, I should have been seeing a view down to the Black Sea and Sunny Beach on my way up, however, the haze meant that the nearer wooded hills were all I saw today.
I am camped in woods a little way after the TV Tower. Water is a bit of a concern. I had three water sources marked on my GPS today. The first was completely dry. At the second, a pipe that should have been spouting running water was merely damp. As the third was some way off the track, I did not bother to try and find it as it was likely dry as well.
28 kilometres walked today, with an ascent of over 800 metres.
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