Category: Walking

Restaurant Malina

~ Veselin ~ 10 Comments

If you want to experience dining while surrounded by amateur downhill cyclists, Malina Bar&Grill Borovets is your place. I liked the spirit and the neon glow of it.

I also think that cyclists and hikers should not share trails. All these bicycles look harmless when they’re thrown like that on the ground but we saw some of them go downhill with speeds approaching the speed of light (okay, maybe a bit less), and we are lucky to have survived the encounter.

Musala

~ Veselin ~ 9 Comments

We attempted to hike to Musala yesterday. We underestimated the time and effort for it and not only couldn’t reach the top but also got crushed and had bad sunburns.

The gondola to Yastrebets starts working at 8:30, which is when the journey should’ve started. Works until 18, which is when it should’ve ended. However, this is too much walking for a 6-year-old and his parents who are not in the best shape.

We set ourselves a time limit and turned around after 3h of walking, at around 2600 meters altitude, close to the Everest chalet. We needed another hour and some extra energy to reach the top. I think it’s doable with more stops and colder weather. We ended up doing 23000 steps on that day. Another 2 hours of walking would’ve made that 33000, way above anything we’ve done over the last 10 years.

It’s not that bad that we didn’t reach the summit because we only had one of the kids with us. Saved ourselves from the trouble of not having both of them. We may try again on a colder weekend, although with our current capabilities, the success is not guaranteed.

Feverfew

~ Veselin ~ 1 Comment

Took a photo of this beautiful daisy-like shrub today so I can identify it later.

Turns out, it’s a traditional remedy for headaches and migraine (source), although the statistically significant impact is questionable.

Vihren

~ Veselin ~ 13 Comments

The peak in the back is Vihren.

Last year, I set a personal goal to go back to it. I think good personal goals should be difficult, and back in 2024, this felt like a tough one.

Zoom in to see people going uphill. The whole path is consistently steep, consistently slippery, and feels long. The final limestone hill is about 1/5 of the whole hike, and probably the easiest part.

We did it.

I think it’s better for younger and lighter folks. It didn’t strike me as a difficult peak when I was in my 20s but felt like Everest this time. We crawled so slowly that the Apple Watch kept suggesting to end the hiking session, and wasn’t able to count the steps. First 1 hour was 1000 steps, according to it. We didn’t enjoy any part of it, it was hard all the way, and remained painful after we were back.

In any case, the main walking goal for 2025 is achieved. I’ll try finding some longer but less steep hikes that require patience and endurance rather than good knees for the next goal. An alternative would be to set a goal for the whole family because adding the kids to the equation makes everything far more challenging. One of the kids seems to be interested in hiking. A potential route could be Malyovitza, another peak I mentioned here as a place I’m unlikely to visit again. It’s less steep, the main path is longer, and goes by lakes that can make good blog posts 🙂