Week 20 #vibes

Friday

 

So I have to start with the same day I left the blog last week. The second I'd posted last weeks update Pete shouted me up to the walnut orchard. The rain had eventually stopped and I ran up the steps to find our tent had collapsed. Water had pooled on top and the weight of it had actually bent the poles. We took the tent apart and were thankful that this had happened now and not whilst our friends were sleeping inside! As it was the end of an era we decided to have a beer and watch the sunset - sat in the area that would have been inside our tent - and remember all the good times!! :) We have kept all the poles and canvas and can hopefully make something with them at a later date.

 

 

 

Oh yeah - and Pete finished the BBQ!

Saturday

 

Today our friends Scarlett and Joss were arriving (well we hadn't actually met Joss before this week but he is definitely a friend now!) so we spent the morning packing up the tent properly, doing a bit of cleaning and getting some food ready for the evening.

 

Tent out drying

 

At about 1 we drove into Chirpan and waited to meet them in the centre - they had hired a car so were driving in. They managed to find us and we went to a cafe in town for a cold radler and a catch up. After buying a few more bits for the barbie we headed home and gave them the grand tour around our house and land. We had a really lovely evening chatting, drinking Amaretto sours and eating yummy BBQ food. We ended the night lying in the dark and looking up at the stars. :)

 

Double yoker from one of our chickens!

Scarlett making the sours.



Feast!

Sunday

 

We had a lie in this morning as Scralett and Joss hadn't slept much because of Flying here and we'd had a late-ish night last night. Me and Pete were up first though and started our day with a dip in the pool - don't know why we don't do this more! Once we were all up we had scrambled eggs and coffee for brunch and all relaxed around the table and in the hammocks.

 

In the afternoon we had been invited to go to a nearby lake for a swim and a drink with DW, S & G and a few other locals. We weren't sure exactly how far it was but we decided to walk, as apparently the road was pretty rough, We did drive our van down the track to our village to save some time, and we somehow managed to get a flat tyre just doing this! So we parked up, did a speedy tyre change and then headed off, in the afternoon heat, to the lake. The walk turned out to be easy and was very pretty through the lavander fields (shame that the flowers have all been harvested now) and we arrived at the lake in no time.

 

Changing tyre

 

We hadn't been to the lake before and were surprised how pretty it was out there. We had a really fun afternoon swimming and having a few beers. Lucy also had an amzing time trying to catch all the tiny frogs along the waters edge! We decided to leave just before it got dark so we could find our way home and make some dinner. Back at home we all helped Pete cook a delicious lentil stew over the fire and then me and Scarlett stayed up until the early hours having girly chats!

 

Lucys first swim! (she didn't like it much)

Walking home at sunset

Late night dinner

Monday

 

We decided to have another day at the house today as the weather wasn't looking great and we wanted to save the sunny days for the coast. In the morning I noticed that we had a few ripe figs on our fig bush so we made a very yummy yoghurt, jam, peach and fig brekkie.

 

Our own delicious figs

Breakfast

Bilko loved the breakfast too!

Finding the figs reminded us how over grown the fig bush was so we decided to clear the trees and vines that were smothering it. The photos don't really show it but cutting down these small trees really opened up the garden as well as uncovering a crazy amount of figs! We are going to be eating figs for weeks! Annoyingly it still doesn't look great as the trees were actually holding up the fig branches, so now the bush is really saggy. We put a few props up so the fruits weren't lying on the ground, but we will have to prune it properly later in the year.

 

Befores...



Afters... (it's a very big bush.)

So many figs to come :)

The weather started to get better over the afternoon and we carried on doing a few more jobs around the garden. Pete and Joss got involved with sorting out our two big trees - they both needed several dead branches cutting off that Pete needed some man help with! They spent all afternoon making different, dangerous looking constructions out of ladders! I think they both enjoyed themselves though and by the end of the day our trees looked fab. Me and Scarlett had a slightly more relaxed afternoon - although we did clear up and stack all the logs ready to be used for fire wood and Scarlett made us an amazing salad for lunch of figs, mulberry dressing and Baba Villays ridiculously delicious tomatoes. We also went for an evening stroll with Lucy and went to water the garden down the road.

 

More figs for lunch

 

Pulling down the vines!

These ladders together look okay in this photo but definitely didn't in real life!

Two tied together

 

Our next door enighbour - Cow Man.

 

In the evening we got clean and then headed out to Chirpan for dinner at Flamingoes. It was another great and funny evening involving way too much food and ordering 'cheese flakes' from the main course menu and getting yoghurt with honey alongside our chips. Bulgarian food is weird!

 

 



Tuesday

 

An early start for us today as we were going on a road trip to the sea!! Me and Pete got up at 7ish and nipped down the road to do a bit of paid work before we went away for a night. After nearly an hour down there we came home and got ready to go. We all ate a quick brekkie before we set off in the hire car to the coast. A friend had popped over a couple of days ago and recommended a beach to go to if we wanted something a bit quieter and off the beaten track - which we did. The Bulgarian coast is very built up in certain areas, but this beach sounded really nice and the internet told us it was one of Bulgarias quietest and it even had a campsite on it. Perfect. The beach - Silistar - was just 5km from the Turkish border and in the hire car only took 3 hours (it would have been a whole lot longer in the van!) We found the beach easily and were surprised at how busy the carpark and campsite were - although it is mid August so we can't really moan! We couldn't find a reception or anything for the campsite, but we set up our tent anyway and headed straight down to the beach.

 

 

The beach was also a bit busier than we were expecting, but it was a pretty cove with rocks at one end and lovely clear water. We picked a spot near the end where we could tie Lucy up (the people didn't appreciate it when she got loose and walked right over them sunbathing!) and spent the afternoon in and out of the sea and lounging around reading our books.

 

Man playing traditional Bulgarian bagpipes on the beach!

At about 5ish me and Scarlett went to get some beachs from one of the small beach bars. We found out from the bar girl that there is no electricity on the beach after 6 so everything closes. This kind of ruined our plan of having dinner here but she told us there is a small town a few kilometres away that would be open all evening. So we took our beers back to the boys and enjoyed the last of the sun on the beach before heading back to the car, getting changed and heading into this town - Sinemorets - for dinner. The town was cute with a fun fair in the middle and quite a few Bulgarian tourists around. We found a nice restaurant too and I ate fish for the first time since leaving England - it was great!

 

After dinner we headed back to the beach with plans to have a fire and drink red wine. We collected a load of wood from the campsite and went down to sit on the sand - but sadly the beach security guard came and told us we weren't allowed to have a fire. This actually worked out well as the night was pitch black with no moon and no electricity so we could see a massive arch, horizon to horizon, of the Milky Way. It was incredible. One of the bars had left out their bean bags so we got comfy and sat up for ages talking about space, stars and dimention and drinking red wine with coke!

 

Serving the drinks in the dark

 

At some point later Lucy started barking into the darkness behind the beach, which freaked us all out and eventually we decided to go back to camp. It was already almost 2am by now but we wanted to watch the sunrise (the coast is east facing after all) so set our alarms for 5.30. We managed to get some sleep but were also woken up intermittently by Lucy barking at hedgehogs. I don't think our neighbours liked us much!

Wednesday

So we were up at half five just as it was getting light. As we hadn't yet paid to stay on this campsite we thought we might as well quickly take down our tent now and get away with a free night camping. So we packed up everything as quickly and quietly as we could and then drove out and headed down to the beach with our blankets. The timing was perfect and we all lay on a lounger and watched a lovely sunrise over the Black Sea. Once the sun was up we all had a little snooze until about 9, when the guys who charge for the sun loungers started work!

 

So we moved along the beach a little bit and set up our own shade for the day. Got some iced coffees when the bar opened and had another lovely day lazing around in the sun.

 

 

After a make shift lunch from left overs Scarlett decided she would treat us all to a trip on a boat. It was a small inflatable boat with an engine and the after the guy from the shack had taken apart and fixed the engine (I know - slightly worrying!) we all got our life jackets on and got aboard! We asked him whether it was possible to go down to Turkey (only 5 km away by road) and he said yes but the coast guard might want to know what we are up to! Not wanting to waste our hour with coast guards we decided to head north instead and the hour flew by with us all having a go at driving and trying to 'surf' waves. Pete jumped in for a swim as well, which we were all about to do to, until we saw the biggest jelly fish ever and dragged him back into the boat pretty sharpish! We then realised the jelly fish were everywhere - bright light blue and looking about a metre long - which put us off going for a swim. The coast was very pretty though and we saw some little coves which really were untouched (we'll have to find them next time.)

 

Lunch (not just beer I promise)

 

 

 

 

By the time we were back from the boat and had had a swim it was nearly five so we decided to pack up and head in the direction of home. We drove about an hour north and stopped in the town of Sozopol - a small touristic town that me and Pete had visited on our travels in the van. The town is very cute with traditional style Bulgarian houses and Roman ruins and was also absolutely heaving with tourists.

 

 

 

We walked around the main roads for a while and then weaved our way through some smaller residential alleyways to find a slightly quieter port side of town. We stopped for a beer in a restaurant but didn't want to splash out on another dinner out so instead headed to a busy looking pizza stand back in the centre. Although it was busy it is a very pretty town and it was nice to stop here and see something different. The drive back was pretty horrible for Joss though as there are no lights at all on the motorway and not even any lights of towns or streets at the side of the motorway - can't really explain it but it was just pure darkness and you couldn't have full beams on because of on coming traffic. Anyway it was a quite scary!! Got back after 11 and all went to bed as we were knackered- what a long and fun day! :D

 

 

 

 

Thursday

 

We had another day hanging around at home today and doing a few things around the house. In the morning me, Pete and Joss nipped into Chirpan to pick up a bit of shopping. Back at home we spent an hour or so cleaning and moving the massive pile of bricks from the front of the house out of way and by the wall. We then put up bunting and set up the long table as our outside kitchen space! This was cue for some gin and tonics to be made and we enjoyed the fading sun in the hammocks.

 

Space to move in the outside 'kitchen'!

 

 

Filling the shower!

By the afternoon the clouds had rolled over but we thought we'd have a go at making a bench like one Scarlett had seen at a friends house. Joss does carpentry so knew what he was doing and we got together an old bed head from the barn, logs of wood from the tree Pete and Joss had cut down, spare planks of wood and some nice thin rope we'd bought in Chirpan this morning. We all set to work sawing, sanding, drilling, planing etc and when the storm really started to come down we moved our work into the barn.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Luckily once we'd finished the main structure the rain had eased off slightly and we moved back outside to start the weaving. We got the warping (side to side) done relatively quickly - although it was quite hard pulling through 50 metres of wet rope over and over again. We then got on to the wefting but this was quite difficult and it started to rain more and we realised it was 7.30 already so we called it a day and moved into the house to stay dry!

 

 

 

In the evening Pete cooked a lovely pasta as it was too wet to do a barbie and we sat up in the yellow room chatting and playing cards.

 

 

Friday

 

Market day! Got up earlyish and headed into Chirpan. We dropped the van off at the garage whilst we got a new spare tyre and then headed up to get some veg and do some shopping. We are not sure if it was because we were a bit late or the rain had got bad in surrounding villages, but there were half the amount of stalls at the market today. We still had a great morning - we managed to get everything we needed as well as browse the charity shops, have a coffee and stop for lunch at the bakery.

 

 

Back at home we chilled out again in the garden and then eventually got around to finishing our bench. Now the rope was dry it was so much easier to pull through and once we'd got a little routine going we had it done in no time at all! When we'd finished we all carved our names in the back. :)

Like kids writing!

FINISHED! - Good hey!?

In the evening we cooked another epic BBQ and had more drinks for our last evening. Really annoyingly the rain started again later and we had to move inside. We'd planned to do a bonfire and did managed to sit out and have one for a while, before the rain settled in again. Oh well it didn't ruin the evening, we still a lovely time hanging out inside and didn't have a too late night as Scarlett and Joss were leaving first thing in the morning. What a bloody fantastic week we've had with our wonderful guests!! :D :D

 

Missing you both already!

Saturday - Sunday

 

We were up at 7ish to have a final coffee before waving off our friends. So sad to see them go! :( On Saturday the rain carried on and didn't stop all day. We tidied up the house a bit but couldn't get outside to wash up or put a wash on so just stayed in all day and watched films. Today the sun has finally powered through (hopefully to stay now) so we have managed to get everything clean and tidy again. Baba Villay gave us a load more veggies this morning and we picked a huge bowl of figs from our bush, so had another yummy fig and tomato salad for lunch.

Check out this guy!!

 

Got a few more days to get on with work before we have more guest arriving on Thursday!! It's non-stop!