This is the start of one of the more challenging sections of the E4 Long Distance European trail, as the route follows ranges of high (2000 metre plus) mountains to the south, with some sections having scary looking drops off the edges of steep sided, rocky ridges. Not being the greatest one for heights I prepared for this by taking an introductory, 5 day course in "scrambling" at Plas-y-Brenin in Snowdonia, UK's National Mountain Sports Centre. Dave Evans, the instructor, took me and three others up some pretty exposed ridges ("exposed" is a euphemism for big drops, so big that if you fall off you will do yourself some serious harm). Hopefully he managed to teach me enough to get me through the next few weeks.
The route is a popular one with an English language guidebook "Tourist Route E4 in Bulgaria" published by the Oilaripi Trekking Association in 2018. There are a line of mountain huts that you can stay at, and to avoid language difficulties I arranged for Margarita Angelova at Bulguides to make reservations at them for me. Bulguides can also supply the above guidebook and maps.
I flew from London Heathrow's Terminal 5 with British Airways arriving from the nearby Thistle hotel by "Pod", a new experience for me. These are self driving little capsules on a track which reminded me of some Science Fiction film, maybe the Russian version of Polaris. Arriving at Sofia's new Terminal 2 I followed the lines on the floor of the arrivals hall to reach the Metro, which took me calmly to Serdika station at the centre of Sofia. Stations were helpfully announced in Bulgarian and English and displayed in the carriage, avoiding the need to worry about whether you had reached the right stop. Fortunately for me, English seems the second language in Bulgaria.
The E4 is not defined through the suburbs of Sofia, so I reached Dragalevtsi following the Sultans Trail, based on a GPS trail I had downloaded. Initially this led down Vitosha Boulevard, a pedestrianised thoroughfare lined with bars and restaurants with tables on the street, with the mountain of Vitosha rising in the distance. Fortunately there was some shade at the sides of the street as it was a little hot in the direct sunlight. A sign indicated it was 29 degrees Celsius.
Although from the air Sofia looks like a large area of white apartment blocks the trail took me through a succession of parks and green areas with trees, a brook, sculptures, round boulders, and people with prams or dogs. The final section was along roads, one wide and busy. An increasingly steep gradient took me into the suburb of Dragalevtsi where I saw my first red and white waymarks which the E4 follows, and a Sultans trail sticker.
After walking 9 kilometres from the centre of Sofia I am now at the Hotel Romantic one of several hotels in the area. My room looks down onto Sofia, where the lights are now coming on. Tomorrow the climb begins...
I have loaded a gpx file of the route I followed on wikiloc.com and ViewRanger (short code johnpon0034).
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| A pod between my hotel and Terminal 5 |
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| A park in Sofia on my route |
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| View from my bedroom window of Sofia at night, you can just see the start of the Stara Planina mountains in the distance. |
Dear John,
ReplyDeleteI just got back from Hungary where I spent 19 agreeable days on the E4 between Köszeg and Budapest. Now I am back home in Austria and enjoy once again reading your blog. Good luck in Bulgaria!
Klaus
Glad you enjoyed the Hungarian section. I liked the castles and old volcanoes although there were a few monotonous sections. The Bulgarian section I have just completed is very different, much more an Alpine trail.
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