Cherni Vruh 2022

Although we live at the foot of Vitosha and Cherni Vruh is a peak we climb at least once a year, we still enjoy hiking there. This Saturday we chose the so called "King's Road" from Aleko to Cherni Vruh - a long winding path, that gradually climbs up the 500 m of elevation from Aleko Hut to Vitosha's summit. 

The day was very hot down in the city, up above the 2000 m line it became gradually cloudy and even a bit chilly on the peak itself - a pleasant difference from the city heat.

As Cherni Vruh is one of the most popular trails on Vitosha, it was quite crowded, as usual on a sunny weekend.

Hike info:

Destination: Cherni Vruh

Mountain: Vitosha

Total length: 13 km

Elevation gain: 500 m

Total duration (plus picnic and rests): 4 hours

Average difficulty: 4 / 10 

A short video clip

On Cherni Vruh (2290 м)

Me-made items, worn on this hike:

Husband: boxers

I: lingerie, Burda blouse, Burda Hoodie

We had our picnic here, with a view to the Western parts of the mountain

 

On the way back we passed by an abandoned lift station

:Globeflowers. We call them Vitosha's tulips and they are the most known rare and protected Vitosha flowers

Yellow Blue Socks

My second pair of ombre socks, which I knitted again as a present for a friend. I enjoyed the process with my previous hand-made ombre yarn so much, that soon I wound a new double-threaded ball of yarn, made it into a sock blank and dyed it with bright blue and orange-yellow color variations and combinations. It did not turn exactly as I had hoped and the ombre effect was a bit spoiled due to some bad planning of the color gradiation;anyway, I still find the resulting socks pleasing.

I knitted the socks almost entirely during our short journey through the country. As usual, it took me less time to make the socks, than to photograph them, but I am happy to be finally able to show them on the magnificent and quite matching background of Cherni Vruh on Vitosha.

The sock blank, just painted and before the fixing of the colors in the microwave.

 The washed and dried sock blank, ready to be unraveled and knitted into a pair of socks.

Pattern: Yellow Blue Ombre Socks (personal pattern), 58 sts

Yarn: Alize Superwash, 54 g, hand-dyed hand-knitted sock blank

Needle: 2.5 mm

Time to make: 4 days

Kalofer

Photos from our travels along the sub-Balkan road. We passed through many historical villages and towns and we stopped here and there. 

In Kalofer, the birthplace of the greatest Bulgarian poet and revolutionary Hristo Botev, we spent only a short time, went along the central alleys of the town, had something to eat and continued along the long road back home.

Borovetz 2022

Yesterday was probably one of the hottest days in Sofia this year so far - 37C, so we decided to spend it in Rila, starting very early in the morning. So early, that we obviously hadn't quite awakened and forgot our sandwiches, freshly made and packed, on the kitchen table :(

We chose to hike along the path to Chakur voivoda hut, one of our favourite paths, starting from Borovetz.

:Even though we were above the 1800 m altitude line, it was still hot and very, very sunny

:I wore my new hiking leggings, which I had just finished on Friday. I used the free kid's leggins pattern by Love Notions, size 14, shortened below the knee and with an added cuff with two buttons.

:We chose Borovetz in the hope that the shady path under the pine trees would be more comfortable to hike compared to the open paths in the higher parts of the mountain.

:Half way to Chakur voivoda hut we had an idea to spice up our usual route and to take an alternative path.

:We detoured to Sitnyakovo lift chair, drank a cold home made lemonade in a local coffee shop with this gorgeous view over the pine forest and the peaks across and began discussing the alternative trail. However, after a closer inspection of the map it became clear to us, that it would be better to continue to Chakur voivoda hut along the popular trail, climb up to the cross-point section  and take the alternative trail downhill, as it was too steep - this is what we did and it was a truly wise decision!

:After a short lunch break at Chakur voivoda, we continued uphill and soon the glorious tops of Shatur, Deno and other Rila peaks were visible.

Hike info:

Destination: Chakur Voivoda hut round trip

Mountain: Rila

Total length: 20 km

Elevation gain: 810 m

Total duration (plus picnic and rests): 6 hours

Average difficulty: 6 / 10

:At the cross-point section (2170 m), with the backdrop of peak Shatur

:Some part of the downhill trail passed through thick dwarf mountain pines and included elements of limbo-rock and duck walk exercises. Unfortunately, here I lost my hiking pole, which I had stuck in my backpack - it must have fallen out without me noticing during all the crawling and fencing off branches :(

:After the dwarf pines we came to the most beautiful part of the hike - the lonely and narrow trail through the true pine forest.

Me-made items, worn on this hike:

Husband: boxers

I: lingerie, striped tunic, Love Notions leggings, Houndstooth hoodie in the backpack

:Yellow flowers and butterflies at Sitnyakovo

:Borovetz mountain resort