An interesting breakfast......a cup of green tea with a sachet of honey as sweetener, was surprisingly pleasant. The bread ‘sandwich’ topped with ham and cheese is becoming familiar. The interesting part was watching the two tabby kittens chase, play fight, leap up small palms, use our luggage as a take-off platform and generally have fun.
To-day was travel day to our next destination, the central part between Eastern and Western Rhodope. All I remember is an endless succession of hairpin bends, climbing steadily along valleys bordered by forests and along rivers until the first stop at the very small skiing resort of Pamporovo. We were glad to stretch our legs at a flatter area with wide views,
one large hotel and a roadside full of Colchicums, echiums and Chicory - amongst the rubbish left by passing motorists.
Our first Mistle Thrush of the trip but not the hoped for Pallid Swifts which breed here. They must have gone. The air was appreciably cooler too.
The trip took four hours, the Hotel Orfei (Orpheus) was a welcome sight. Set in a narrow valley, backed and fronted by vertiginous cliffs where Chamois have been seen, an attractive alpine looking building. We had lunch outside seeing a Wall Lizard, a brown striped butterfly and a large Emperor type Dragonfly.
Pam's photo
The next three hours, from 2-5 p.m. were spent scanning the Trigad Gorge, a deep narrow chasm cut by the river Trogradska. At the apex of the gorge the river plunges into a cave - the Devil’s Throat - re-appearing further down the gorge. In an attempt to discover what had happened to parts of a wooden bridge which were washed down the throat and never re-appeared, the water was dyed. The coloured water did not come out at the bottom for 3 hours. Calculating the speed of the water etc, it was worked out that it had travelled 25 K !! Where?
Photography was a lost challenge - the contrast between the sunlit parts and the deeply grey rock in the shade was too great
To-day was travel day to our next destination, the central part between Eastern and Western Rhodope. All I remember is an endless succession of hairpin bends, climbing steadily along valleys bordered by forests and along rivers until the first stop at the very small skiing resort of Pamporovo. We were glad to stretch our legs at a flatter area with wide views,
one large hotel and a roadside full of Colchicums, echiums and Chicory - amongst the rubbish left by passing motorists.
 |
| Pam amongst the Colchicums |
Our first Mistle Thrush of the trip but not the hoped for Pallid Swifts which breed here. They must have gone. The air was appreciably cooler too.
The trip took four hours, the Hotel Orfei (Orpheus) was a welcome sight. Set in a narrow valley, backed and fronted by vertiginous cliffs where Chamois have been seen, an attractive alpine looking building. We had lunch outside seeing a Wall Lizard, a brown striped butterfly and a large Emperor type Dragonfly.
Pam's photo
The next three hours, from 2-5 p.m. were spent scanning the Trigad Gorge, a deep narrow chasm cut by the river Trogradska. At the apex of the gorge the river plunges into a cave - the Devil’s Throat - re-appearing further down the gorge. In an attempt to discover what had happened to parts of a wooden bridge which were washed down the throat and never re-appeared, the water was dyed. The coloured water did not come out at the bottom for 3 hours. Calculating the speed of the water etc, it was worked out that it had travelled 25 K !! Where?
Photography was a lost challenge - the contrast between the sunlit parts and the deeply grey rock in the shade was too great
What we were looking for were these beauties. Picture taken from a poster.
No luck to-day, they’ve probably already flown to a lower altitude for the winter.
We did see the leaves of an endemic flower (another poster pic),
a Marsh Tit, Alpine Swifts, a juvenile Black Redstart and many Chaffinches.
On to the village of Trigrad where we stopped to check for Pallid Swifts. A cry of ‘’Look, look here’’ from Minko sent us across the road and down the hill a bit to see two Spotted Nutcrackers visit a Hazel tree, find some nuts, fly back to deep shade in a tall fir tree to thwack the nut on a branch until they could - very efficiently - swallow the kernel whole.
Spectacular looking birds, I hope for better photos in better light. We also saw Pallid Swifts.On through Trigrad for a most enjoyable evening session along a single track road, following a small river, pastures on both sides most of the time. Dozens of Chaffinches in winter flocks, at least 50 Mistle Thrushes, Jays, Green and Greater Spotted Woodpeckers, a pair of Bullfinches and four Black-bellied Dippers. Absolutely lovely.
Not back at the hotel until 6.40 to find our adequate room, nowhere to sit and nowhere for my laptop set up. Worst of all, I couldn’t get internet access. I am assured that everyone else has it !!
I must try downstairs to-morrow - the connection keeps coming and going
I must try downstairs to-morrow - the connection keeps coming and going
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