Polovrak on a Cloudy Day

Luckily, it happens rarely, but sometimes the forecasters get the weather completely wrong. I usually start monitoring the forecasts for the week come Monday and by Wednesday we have already fixed the best day for the hike we have planned. The forecasts for Friday in the Lozen mountain were for cold, but fairly sunny day and since Friday is the hiking day most convenient and preferred by us, it was decided for Friday on Polovrak.

The day started very cold and cloudy in Sofia, but we hoped it would be different on Lozen. There was actually some sun when we passed near Pancharevo, but as we approached Lozen, the cloud cover got only thicker.

So, we put our internal gears on max speed and climbed towards the top along the well-known trail at max possible speed without any stops. 

The closer we got, the thicker the cloud cover became and the lesser the visibility.

Me-made items, worn on this hike:

Husband: boxers, Burda cargo pants, Burda longsleeve, orange hat

I: lingerie, hat, gloves, snood, leg warmers, refashioned hoodie

The view from the top - fog and clouds everywhere

We decided to have our picnic on the small hill within the Polovrak memorial site - despite the cold and the mist, the place was sheltered, the wind was mild and we actually had a very enjoyable picnic with delicious hot herbal tea and our ubiquitous tortillas.

Hike info:

Date: 12 December 2025

Destination: peak Polovrak (1182 m)

Mountain: Lozen

Total length: 9.5 km

Elevation gain: 420 m

Total duration (plus picnic and rests): 2 h 45 min

Average difficulty: 3 / 10

On the way back we stopped for a minute at the Lozen monastery. The view from the monastery wall - somewhere over the Sofia valley in the distance the sun did shine bright, but not for us :)

And back to the car along an alternative trail, making the hike almost completely circular.

The thick mist moved along and Sofia and the valley were somewhat visible again.

We kept the high pace on the way down and finished the hike in less than three hours - nice and refreshing, despite the mist and the absent sun.

Navyblue Lotte Blouse

Finally a full-grown sewing project :) 

I've been sewing a little, mostly lingerie, repairs and refashions, but this is my first true sewing make since the pink dress I finished in September.

The pattern is another Sinclair Lotte blouse. This is my fourth make out of this pattern and my third in the form of a blouse, although I bough it, because I liked the idea of a hoodie with thumb-hole cuffs. However, my only attempt at a hoodie out of sweater fleece was not very satisfying - I find it too tight as a hoodie and I usually wear it as a warmer blouse during hikes. 

In February I made a version of the pattern in solid color, with a hood and thumb-cuffs and it's been one of my most worn blouses this year - I prefer it for hikes and I love to wear it at home too. The idea to make another one of these came to me spontaneously last week, when I reached again for my favourite blouse and found out, that it was still in the laundry basket - obviously I urgently needed another one :)

Pattern: Sinclair Lotte Hoodie

Size: Petite (152-160 cm) XS (US 2)

Fabric: cotton knit

Time to make: 2 days

The making of the blouse went like a breeze, as I already had a modified version of the front for a solid color and I also had my notes of desirable corrections, based on the previous makes of the pattern. This time I lowered the neckline at the front by 1.5 cm, thus opening the shawl part of the hood and reducing the overlap a little - I find it a bit more comfortable like that. I also returned the original length of the sleeves, as I found, that I feel more unconstrained in my hand movements, when wearing a sweater over the hooded blouse with the thumb-hole cuffs on, if the sleeve is longer. 

The construction of the thumb-hole cuffs is very clever and I consider the pattern worth purchasing even if only for the cuffs :)

My hands and head are my most cold-sensitive zones, so I find blouses with built-in gloves and hat a god-sent :)

Lately I love-love-love wearing sweaters with shirts or hoodies underneath. Here is a combination of the new blouse with my navy Starry Night sweater - a match made in heaven :)

Circuit Hike from Zlatnite through Kumata and Edelweiss Huts

The forecasts for the weekend on Vitosha were rain, snow, clouds, strong winds, however Thursday promised a few hours of sunshine in the upper parts of the mountains. So, husband and I decided to shuffle a bit our schedules and free Thursday for a short hike on the edge of the snow line.

Although Sofia stayed uninterruptedly under the thick cloud cover the whole day, the sun broke the clouds on Zlatnite and we enjoyed a mild fresh weather on our climb from Zlatnite to hut Kumata.

The area between the Zlatnite mostove (1400 m) and Kumata hut (1734 m) is currently the intermediate zone between autumn and winter.

There was almost no snow on Zlatnite, but traces of it gradually started to appear as we climbed up.

Hike info:

Date: 4 December 2025 

Destination: Edelweiss hut, round route

Mountain: Vitosha

Total length: 8.5 km

Elevation gain: 360 m

Total duration (plus rest): 3 hours

Average difficulty: 3 / 10

Kumata Hut. We only passed by it, marveling the beautiful cats, that live there (I suppose).

The trail from Kumata hut to Edelweiss hut is one of my favourites on Vitosha.

It was noon, the sun was shining strong and we decided to stop by the trail and have our picnic on a big level rock with a view to the forested peaks and hills of the mountain. Best call ever! The sun shone bright and strong and we were not cold, despite the altitude and the snow around.

Soon after we finished our lunch, a big cloud moved in from the east and gradually covered the sun.

Me-made items, worn on this hike:

 

Husband: men's boxers, knitted socks, Knipmode cargo pants, refashioned black hoodie

I:  lingerie, Chaika sweater, CC copycat hat, Zerda knitted gloves, purple snood

The otherwise very popular trail from Zlatnite to Edelweiss hut was quite empty on a work December day.

The mist that swept through the forest infused the trail with a romantic atmosphere.

And back to Zlatnite and the car. It was a perfect work day hike!

Persimmon Cake

I had two medium size persimmons in the fridge that were getting over-ripe, so I decided to make them into a cake. This summer we went full throttle into the cream cake territory and I made almost two dozen cream cakes with berries we picked on our hikes, or bought at the market.

The recipe I chose is more a sort of an algorithm I follow for cream cakes, covered with cake glaze. The cake is made of three layers - a hard layer, which might be made of biscuits and butter or baked cake, a cream layer, often custard, cheese cream, sour cream or a combination thereof and a fruit layer, made of berries or slices of fruit, covered with cake glaze.

Ingredients: 

Biscuit layer:

• 200 g cracker biscuits
• 100 g melted butter 

Cream layer:

• 50 g powdered sugar
• 200 g sour cream
• 1 blended persimmon 

Fruit layer:

• 1 thinly sliced persimmon
• 1 pack red tortenguss 
• 30 g sugar
• 220 g water 

Preparation:

The cake involves no baking, and almost no cooking but for the cake glaze. In order to prepare the biscuit layer, first grind the biscuits. I used the remaining content of a pack of wholegrain crackers and brought the quantity up to 200 g with some of my home-baked lemon biscuits. Then mix the biscuits with the soft butter, spread the buttery crumbs on the bottom of a cake dish and press. Leave in the fridge for at least half an hour to cool and harden a little.

Meanwhile blend one persimmon, add the fruit to 200 g of thick 20% sour cream and fold in 50 g of powdered sugar. Spread the creamy layer over the biscuit layer.

Finally cut the second persimmon into thin slices and arrange them on top. Even better if you have more than one, then you could tile the slices on top of the cream. Cook the tortenguss (cake glaze) according to instructions and spread the hot glaze over the fruit slices. 

Place in the fridge and leave overnight. Serve with coffee and enjoy!

Pancharevo Late Autumn 2025

 Winter is coming :)

The weather this week is cold and wet, with almost incessant drizzling. The forecast for Sunday was a bit more optimistic, with clouds, but no rain in the morning, so husband and I packed the tortillas and a flask of hot tea and went to Pancharevo lake.

The hike on Pancharevo is more like a walk in the park rather than a real mountain hike, but still better than staying indoors. We switched our gears on max speed and walked the less than 7 km of the round trail in almost no time, managing to squeeze the hike between the raindrops. It did start drizzling again once we were back in the car.

 

Me-made items, worn on this hike:

 

Husband: men's boxers, Burda cargo pants

I:  lingerie, Chaika sweater, CC copycat hat, Zerda knitted gloves, purple snood

Hike info:

Date: 30 November 2025 

Destination: lake Pancharevo

Mountain: Lozen

Total length: 7 km

Elevation gain: 130 m

Total duration (plus picnic and rests): about 2 hours

Average difficulty: 1 / 10

 

The trail was a bit muddy and slippery, but all in all easy to tread.

The vibe in the lower mountains is still autumnal.

We started from the Kokalyane end of the lake and reached the wall of the dam at German along the upper mountain trail and returned to the parking lot near Kokalyane along the lower alley by the lake.

The lake is home to plenty of birds and I love to watch them with our binoculars. It was fun to have our tortillas on the steps of the grandstand and enjoy the calm lake life.