Today I entered Bulgaria, the ninth country on my walk along the E4 Long Distance European Trail (more details are on Traildino.com). My passport got a good airing.
I left Dmitrovgrad ending my walk through Serbia, by a quiet track beside the main road, passing a small refugee holding centre. I had progressed for a couple of kilometres when the border police stopped and asked to see my passport. After a ticking off for not having the "Confirmation of Registration of Residence of the Foreigner" document from the Happy Hotel where I stayed last night they let me continue. As the border was really designed for cars, buses and lorries I had a little trouble finding where to go. A helpful lady at completely the wrong barrier told me to follow the cars on the main road, then when a border guard saw me queuing behind a German motor-home he told me to go to the front of the queue. A quick processing of my passport and I was welcomed to no-mans land by a barking dog. Then the Bulgarian border guard checked my passport after waiting in a second queue of cars I was into a new country.
As the E4 has not been defined between the Bulgarian border at Gradina with Serbia and Sofia I was following the "Sultans trail" which has a route for this section (I used the file "4.9 dimitrovgrad-sofia", I notice the Sultans trail website now also has an alternative 7A route). The GPS track of this route immediately took me to some locked gates. I worked around this obstruction by taking the track beyond the Shell petrol station. On entering the border village of Kalotina at a crossroads I was asked by the border police for my passport. I thought it might look a bit suspicious if I took the road indicated by the Sultans Trail as it could appear that I was heading back to the border, so I went straight on planning to take the next turning right to join the right road. This lead me to another policeman. Although satisfied with my passport after again reviewing it he was doubtful of me taking the turn I planned, suggesting I went by the "Autobahn" instead. Eventually he relented after I showed him the route on my GPS, so I was permitted to climb up to a tarmac road which went up the side of the valley. The valley sides were steep and wooded, the trees green with their newly acquired leaves, there were a few houses. I followed the road for some distance, nervous as no vehicles at all were passing me. Would the road lead me inadvertently to a secret military base and result in my imprisonment? Fortunately not, the road climbed through trees to more open grassland from which distant mountains could be seen (maybe including Vitosha, the mountain behind Sofia which still had snow on it). The route took a shortcut across grassland and scrub to reach the village of Dragoil, a collection of houses and dogs, where I gained a wave from an elderly lady with a headscarf. It was then along tarmac towards the town of Dragoman. There was a slight detour onto a track around a hill just before the town for variety.
Dragoman does not strike me as a pretty town, it has definitely seen better days before the grass started growing through the pavements. Yet the Hotel Dragoman is fine, and the receptionist helped, explaining in English where the Bankomat was located and where I duly collected a stack of Lev with my debit card. The adjacent bank would not however change my Serbian dinars.
Next to the hotel is a restaurant which has filled my belly well although the resident dog was disappointed he got no scraps from me despite patiently sitting next to me trying to look into my eyes...
20.4 kilometres walked today. A gpx file of my route can be found on wikiloc.com or downloaded from ViewRanger as johnpon0033.
My earlier walk through Serbia can be found on johnpone4serbia.blogspot.com.
I left Dmitrovgrad ending my walk through Serbia, by a quiet track beside the main road, passing a small refugee holding centre. I had progressed for a couple of kilometres when the border police stopped and asked to see my passport. After a ticking off for not having the "Confirmation of Registration of Residence of the Foreigner" document from the Happy Hotel where I stayed last night they let me continue. As the border was really designed for cars, buses and lorries I had a little trouble finding where to go. A helpful lady at completely the wrong barrier told me to follow the cars on the main road, then when a border guard saw me queuing behind a German motor-home he told me to go to the front of the queue. A quick processing of my passport and I was welcomed to no-mans land by a barking dog. Then the Bulgarian border guard checked my passport after waiting in a second queue of cars I was into a new country.
As the E4 has not been defined between the Bulgarian border at Gradina with Serbia and Sofia I was following the "Sultans trail" which has a route for this section (I used the file "4.9 dimitrovgrad-sofia", I notice the Sultans trail website now also has an alternative 7A route). The GPS track of this route immediately took me to some locked gates. I worked around this obstruction by taking the track beyond the Shell petrol station. On entering the border village of Kalotina at a crossroads I was asked by the border police for my passport. I thought it might look a bit suspicious if I took the road indicated by the Sultans Trail as it could appear that I was heading back to the border, so I went straight on planning to take the next turning right to join the right road. This lead me to another policeman. Although satisfied with my passport after again reviewing it he was doubtful of me taking the turn I planned, suggesting I went by the "Autobahn" instead. Eventually he relented after I showed him the route on my GPS, so I was permitted to climb up to a tarmac road which went up the side of the valley. The valley sides were steep and wooded, the trees green with their newly acquired leaves, there were a few houses. I followed the road for some distance, nervous as no vehicles at all were passing me. Would the road lead me inadvertently to a secret military base and result in my imprisonment? Fortunately not, the road climbed through trees to more open grassland from which distant mountains could be seen (maybe including Vitosha, the mountain behind Sofia which still had snow on it). The route took a shortcut across grassland and scrub to reach the village of Dragoil, a collection of houses and dogs, where I gained a wave from an elderly lady with a headscarf. It was then along tarmac towards the town of Dragoman. There was a slight detour onto a track around a hill just before the town for variety.
Dragoman does not strike me as a pretty town, it has definitely seen better days before the grass started growing through the pavements. Yet the Hotel Dragoman is fine, and the receptionist helped, explaining in English where the Bankomat was located and where I duly collected a stack of Lev with my debit card. The adjacent bank would not however change my Serbian dinars.
Next to the hotel is a restaurant which has filled my belly well although the resident dog was disappointed he got no scraps from me despite patiently sitting next to me trying to look into my eyes...
20.4 kilometres walked today. A gpx file of my route can be found on wikiloc.com or downloaded from ViewRanger as johnpon0033.
My earlier walk through Serbia can be found on johnpone4serbia.blogspot.com.
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| Walk along empty road from border to Dragoil |
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| Bulgarian countryside near border with Serbia |
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