I despaired as I tried to get everything into my rucksack to leave the hotel this morning. So much of my stuff is for temperatures down to freezing, yet my days have been in the twenties. Today was no exception with the sun shining I wished I had a broad rimmed sunhat to protect my face from the sun, whereas I had a woollen one to keep my ears warm in the cold.
Following my rest day I managed the first four kilometres of hill climbing without much trouble. Waymarking was good today, red and white stripes appearing on a tree on almost every occasion I reached for my GPS to check I was going the right way. There was only one junction lost in undergrowth, and two fallen trees to negotiate. After walking through woodland for a couple of hours I reached open pasture. The rough grassland made a welcome change from the trees of the past few days and I appreciated the views. A flock of sheep, some brown, others white, were also enjoying the grass, guided from the rear by a elderly shepherdess. All had ear tags in a responsible EU regulation manner. A few sheep had bells around their necks so I knew they were on the way and cautiously stood to one side prepared for an aggressive sheepdog that never appeared. Later I met another flock coming down the track. The shepherd tried to tell me something, I sensed it was that the way I was going did not lead anywhere, which it did not for many miles.
After lunch at one of the covered picnic tables that dot the Kom-Emine trail, it was back into woodland, although the tall beech trees I walked through for most of the afternoon had much to recommend them. They looked especially attractive as shafts of light caught their leaves, highlighting their colour against a background in shadow. I also liked to crunch the beech mast under my feet. One thing I disliked was the way the track went up and down. It broadly followed the top of a ridge line but that meant it would climb then descend, climb then descend, in a repeated pattern. Rather tiring and tedious, especially as the trees were hiding a panorama that I could occasionally glimpse between the trunks to my right.
As the guidebook warned of ticks on today's stage, I had tucked my trousers into my socks so they could not climb up my legs. Flies were an irritant, buzzing around me, in addition to normal flies there were small, reddish brown flies, one got into my mouth, most unpleasant. But what puzzled me were tiny creatures that I thought initially were juvenile ticks, but that made no sense as they were arriving on top of me, then I thought small spiders. However on looking closely at one I had not squashed I saw they had tiny wings, maybe flying ants.
There were numerous forms of fungi to admire. Toadstool types rising from the ground, large and small bracket forms eating up fallen trees. All dirty creams or browns though, no red or orange types that I have yet seen.
On route I spotted a large granite boulder, cut and polished and inscribed with words, a date and an image of two antique pistols. According to Google Translate it marked where a hero died in 1876 in a battle with the "Turkish enslavers".
Kamchia River Spring sounded like important town in America, but was actually a trickle of water from a "fountain". However I needed the water, the day had been hot, my mouth dry, so I had drunk a fair amount and would soon be looking for a spot to camp, so I needed more for the night. I had spare in a Platypus bag but I might need that tomorrow. So I waited a while for the trickle to fill my water bottle. Then I ignored the Vratnik emergency shelter (the guidebook referred to bad hygienic conditions) and walked down the tarmac road nearby (the guidebook said the official trail was overgrown). I had intended to camp at Aglikina Polyana (an area recommended by the guidebook) but I worked out it would be dark by the time I reached it. Owing to breakfast at the hotel not starting until 8 am, I had a relatively late start. Consequently I found a flat spot under the beech trees, reasonably free of brambles, and pitched up for the night.
31.4 kilometres walked today and a total ascent of almost 1300 metres.
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