Day 220 – EU – Bulgaria/Serbia [Yarlovtsi to Vlasina Rid]

29/09/20

46.5km

  From Yarlovtsi (Bulgaria) to Vlasina Rid (Serbia)

Europe

Crossing into Serbia on a day marred by rain, hail, wind and cold – today had it all 

I tried very hard today not to think much about the fact that 10 days ago I was in Greece and it was hot and summery. I left at 7am under a cold and persistent rain, which accompanied me for the first hour. Then it stopped and I was able to enjoy some blue sky. Just in time to pass the border into Serbia, the 12th country of the world run.

To my dismay, I just had to present my ID Card. Nothing else was asked of me. I have spent the past two days running around in Sofia to get tested for Covid19 then collect the results in a signed and stamped format. For not much! So into Serbia I ran. I did not meet much on the road. Not even an ATM which means I don’t hold any local money yet. This is a problem for tomorrow.

As I reached my accommodation today, I was soaking wet, frozen, having just gone through a hail storm, rain and wind. The temperature remained below 10 Celsius all day. I arrived to find that there was an electricity outage (due to the weather), no hot water and nowhere around to buy food. I was very lucky that my host, Militsa, took pity on me and gave me some Serbian salami and bread. That will still be a bit light for lunch and dinner but I have no other option. The places I run through since Sofia are very isolated.

I stay tonight by the Vlasina Lake, the highest biggest lake in Serbia – I’m now on the Vlasina Plateau at about 1300m altitude. The lake is beautiful, built on a dam capturing the water of two rivers, the Vlasina and the Vrla. I could not see much of the famous floating islands and surrounding Cemernik and Vardenik mountains, as it was all covered in clouds when I arrived. I hope to get some good sights upon leaving tomorrow.

Check my daily run GPS data on or

Here is the map of today’s run: