Day 214 – EU – Bulgaria [Blagoevgrad to Dupnica]

23/09/20

34km

  From Blagoevrad (Bulgaria) to Dupnica (Bulgaria)

Europe

Quiet and rural run in the valley of the Rila Mountains – all the way to an interesting town

Today’s run was blissfully uneventful. Shorter than the previous runs. And as a contrast to yesterday, I was able to run on some nice country trails as well as the alternative road to the main motorway. Much quieter, I ran miles on end without meeting any traffic. That was relaxing. This was also the opportunity to realise I haven’t heard the cicadas since the beginning of September. I remember being first aware of them on my way to Karlobag in Croatia, in the first days of Summer. Their singing has been a nice companion to my runs.

I am amazed how brutal the season transition has been. It was still summery weather in Greece right till the border. As soon as I was in Kulata Bulgaria, I “lost” 10 Celsius in the morning. Now starting my runs with 10-12 Celsius instead of the 20+ I was used to. Seeing as my route will be largely in valleys and surrounded by high mountains from now on, I expect Autumn and Winter will follow in quick succession and that’s now the start of the cold season already.

Tonight I am staying in Dupnica – it should be “Dupnitsa” according to the cyrillic spelling, unsure why it spells differently. Anyway it is a pretty town with a pleasant pedestrian centre. I read that it stands out as the Bulgarian city controlled by a duo of gangsters (former policemen) from the organised crime mafia. I’m staying in tonight, safe and sound and intend to re-re-re watch the Godfather movie (which one..) now that it’s available on Netflix – how fitting 🙂

Check my daily run GPS data on or

Here is the map of today’s run: