We’re ready for a night at a vineyard. Imagine that, we’re gonna sleep there and drink their homemade wine. I’m so excited. What If I’ll be disappointed, what if this is just a….Nothing? It’s about time to start cycling from this small town we are situated in now, in the middle of nowhere. Or in other words, situated in a beautiful small hotel in the middle of containers, trash, buildings almost falling a part and fields filled with garbage
It’s time for breakfast. We have ordered our food to about 08:30. You can see a plate of food, or should I say a plate of two pieces of cheese, a tomato and some sausages. We’re asking for the bread after looking at each other with a big question sign in our face. We’re sitting here in this beautiful, new built restaurant all alone. There’s a lot of tables, but only one which is ready for breakfast. How can they earn money like this or should I say in this area? They serves us a omelette and some bread.
We’re ready to cycle. It’s time for some more climbing. My mother really selected the area with mountains. But she gets to see areas with poor people, gypsies, friendly people, great views among others. In addition she will get the opportunity to see Greece and Turkey. She’s crossing several boarders.
The road is taking us directly into a climb. It’s easy to see that this isn’t the best day for my mother. She’s falling a bit behind in the climbs, but she impresses me so much. She’s not complaining, she’s cycling there with a smile on her face. She’s climbing the mountain with strong legs, but of course she can feel the hard days from before.
It’s not much to see today. It’s forrest all around us, so we’re not getting the great view as we are hoping for. We are passing some small villages. You can see the children playing and they are waiving at us with a smile on their mouth. You can see that there are several farms who are trying to make a living out of their crops. It doesn’t look to well, but you can see them working hard by 
hand. There’s no tracktors, no machinery, this is hard manual work. You can imagine how it must be for the old ladies who’s lost their husband. They are standing there and are doing as much as they can…ALONE!
We’re getting closer and closer to the top. My mother is still smiling. I can’t describe how impressed I am. I try as good as I can to motivate. I know that she will never complain to me, she’s too stubborn….I’ve found out where I have this from.
I’ve stopped at the top. I’m standing there, ready to give her a sprite and some chocolate. She looks crazy, she looks like she just wants to disappear. She cycles further. I’ve never seen her cycle this fast downhill before. I have to pedal hard to catch up. She’s got 100 flies around her head. I understand now….Finally she found a place where they let go. We’re 
drinking some sprite and are ready to continue further towards Ivaylovgrad and to Light Castle Vineyard.
We’re cycling down a steep hill. I’m just thinking about our trip up this hill tomorrow… WHAT A START! I need to find a solution.
Finally cycling into Ivaylovgrad. The city looks old, a bit poor but in ok condition. I get a good feeling. How will the vineyard be? We’re cycling up the streets, people are looking at us, but we’re used to this. Even my mother don’t react when people are looking at us anymore, it’s just a part of our life.
Here we are, Light Castle Vineyard. We’re cycling into the restaurant. There are some people sitting outside. The waiter doesn’t say a word to us. We’re continuing over to the next building, which is the hotel 
part of the complex. It’s dark inside. I walk back to the restaurant and goes inside. The waiter doesn’t speak a word english, but understands that we have a room reservation. He joins us and gives us the key.
The room looks nice. Not exactly what I expected, but nice. I was hoping for a vineyard close to the fields. I wanted a view from the room, I wanted to be able to see over 1000 meters of grapes.
We’re spending the evening at the restaurant. It’s cozy outside, but there are sitting some noisy locals. They are screaming out loud. We decide to walk inside. It’s a cozy restaurant with good opportunities. Everything is destroyed by the waiter. She playes load techno/pop music and it’s difficult to have a nice conversation without being disturbed….DISAPPOINTED.
However… We had a nice evening. The wine they had was really good. We decided quickly to walk back to the quiet room and just to relax.
We’re ready for a new day tomorrow, ready to cross boarders. We’re cycling into Greece and will spend most of our day there, and then spend the night in Edirne in Turkey….EXCITED!!!!
Mammas litla fluehjørne….
Har sovet godt på Hotellet på prærien, ja det var nesten slik det føltes. Nesten litt malplasert, som sagt reint og fint nytt i desember i fjord. Folka som jobba der gjorde alt godt dei kunne for oss,men eg sitte igjen som eit spørsmål, masse folk på jobb men ingen gjester utanom meg og Stian.
Me hadde ein god kveld, fekk skype med Anna og Celine, snakka med våre kjærister heime 🙂 Pizza og dessert vart det også. Me bestemte oss for å tilbringe kvelden på vårt rom med litt idol og ein god film. Veldig koselig å sitte ilag med Stian på rommet og kose oss med chips og film 🙂 ( mor sønn tid )
Me var til frukost kl 0830 og frukosten var heilt grei. Fiber er ikkje så lett å få tak i her på disse kanter av verden. Me kom oss vel av garde ca kl 1100, etter at Stian hadde fått posta bloggen vår 🙂 Me fylte opp med sjokolade og brus,
vatten og sette av garde. eg viste at me skulle stige ein del i dag, 1000 høyde meter på 2,5 mil. det starta ganske så med ein gong, eg kan ikkje sei noko anna enn at det var tungt. Alt gjekk fint med beina og kroppen, fungerte ganske så fint men alikavel så virka alt litt tyngre i dag. Tenkte ei stund at det var nokon gale med giren min, men eg har nokre mil i beina så det ligg nok der. Det går fint å sykle med henger men det er veldig masse tyngre med 20 kg bak enn å sykle med bare ein tom sykkel. Flåger, FLÅGER OG ATTER FLÅGER, eg trur eg på eit tidspunkt at eg holdt på å klikka, svetten randt av meg og eg trur ikkje eg lyg om eg seie at eg hadde 100 FLÅGER rundt meg. Oppi da heile tenkte eg stakkas kuene som alltid har det slik 😛
Fatigslige fjelllandsbyer har me sitt ein del av i dag, ellers masse skog og ikkje minst boss. Dei har ikkje Sim her eller noko anna bosssystem som fungerer, det er bare å hive det i fra seg der du vil. ( for eit reint og fint land me bur i ) Eg får vanvittig mange tanker i hove mitt om kor heldige me er som bur i eit så flott land, me har så lita å klage over !!!!! Gjetere som sitter oppi heia og vinker til oss, glade og smilande unger som er ute og vinkar til oss, trur nesten ikkje at dei veit ka ein ipod er. Forskjellen mellom ka me er vant med og korleis det er her er så enorm.
Laushunder er det nok av her og i dag har me eit par ganger følt oss litt usikre. Når me komme syklande langt oppå fjellet og ser det står eit par hunder lengre borti veien. Me stoppa og Sian fortalde meg at eg skulle ha beina lause slik at eg hadde anledning til sparke litt ettter dei om nødvendig. Stian plukka opp ein stein og hadde klar i neven om nødvendig. Men det gjekk heldigvis veldig fint 🙂
Etter ca 5,9 mil fant me vingarden me skal sove på i natt, ja det va godt å komme fram. God deilig dusj på eit reint og fint rom er ikkje til å forakte. Nydelig god mat i fine omgivelser.
Tusen takk Stian for nok ein trygg og god sykkeldag ! Du har full kontroll 🙂
No mens eg sitter her og skriver mine tanker for i dag, drikker eg vin fra vingarden her som har vunnet sølv. Me har tenkt å sjå ein film i kveld og da skal me prøve vinen dei har vunnet gull med .
Gleder meg til ein ny sykkeldag i morgon 🙂 Glad i dåke alle mine venner og familie der heime <3
Picture album from todays ride:
GPS Data from todays ride:
Norwegian