Our sleep last night was accompanied by the persistent drumming of rain upon poor old Basil’s glass reinforced plastic head. Now we know why this part of Bulgaria looks such much like England!
When morning came the rain was persisting and so we gave ourselves a well deserved lie in. Well, after five days of lazing about we’ve earned one!
Sarah and I discussed whether to stay cooped up on the campsite all day or brave a trip to Veliko Tarnarvo. We reasoned that if we never did anything in England because of rain, we wouldn’t get much done, so we decided to go for it.
Veliko Tarnarvo is now a thriving city with, amongst other things, Bulgaria’s leading university. But it’s historical importance was as the capital of the second Bulgarian Empire between the 12th and 14th centuries. Built in this period were the huge fortifications which surround a hill in the centre of the old city on a bend in the river. It was from here that the Tsars of Bulgaria ruled their empire until they, like many others, were eventually conquered by the Ottomans in 1393, following which Bulgarian culture was suppressed for 500 years.
Having breakfasted, we got Basil ship shape and Bristol fashion and drove into Veliko Tarnarvo. We parked up in a coach park near the historic centre of Veliko Tarnarvo. Sarah sensibly opted for an umbrella and I took my raincoat since the rain was only light.
Tsaravets Fortress
Arriving at the Tsaravets Fortress we had our only lucky break of the day, entrance to the fortress was free for one day only! As we walked into the fortress entrance the heavens opened. I was immediately saturated and took shelter under one of the enormous fortress doorways with Melek. Sarah was better protected under her umbrella and pushed on with Mabel.
The view from my sheltering point!
After about half an hour the rain eased a bit and I continued uphill arranging, by phone, to meet Sarah outside the church at the top of the hill. By the time we met up the rain was again torrential. I nipped into the church, which has been decorated by the some very good modern murals and paintings. When I emerged even Sarah’s umbrella was not affording much protection and so we both beat a hasty retreat to Basil, who was about a mile away. On arrival at Basil all four of us might as well have been for a swim, we were drenched.
Altarpiece in Tsarevets church
One of the advantages to a motorhome is that of course it is your home and so changing into dry clothes is no problem. The dogs, on the other hand, need drying off before jumping all over the furniture. At motorhome shows we have seen towelling bags in which you put your dog to dry off, but the prices have been steep. Sarah, as I have already mentioned in the blog, is a dab hand with needle and thread and so she has made bespoke towelling bags for our dogs. Mabel usually doesn’t like being put in her bag and jumps about like she’s in a school sack race, but today even she was grateful to be dried off!
Mabel in her towelling bag
On our return to the campsite we were asked by Nicky the co-owner to park Basil on the gravel roadway because the rain was so heavy the ground was getting boggy. There are now only three of us left on site, so parking on the roadway is not a problem.
We are hoping to avail ourselves tonight of our last chance at ultra cheap Bulgarian cuisine in the campsite restaurant. Tomorrow, after an initial stop at the vet, it’s Romania here we come!