So, sat there twiddling my thumbs, I decided to go for a little meander up in the hills near my house. There are a few lanes that run through with which I had never been down, so figured I'd follow one until I either plummeted off a cliff to my death, or I got shot by some google eyed hunter type person, who mistook me for some sort of Japanese 4x4 boar, or something.
Top of the hill
A little lumpy bit to play on. It was only after trying to get up a grassy slope and failing miserably, that I remembered the manul hubs, and switched them to 4x4. I punched myself in the face.
Into the wooded trail bits. Went on for a few miles
Opened to a farmers field. Although grassed over, with a clear trail, it was still very rutted. Bouncier than it looked
To a road, where the trail continued on the other side
At the end was this small muddy puddle. No problem I hear you cry... Well, it was about as deep as the front wheel arch. Powered through without an issue, but could easily catch you out! Wasn't overly troublesome trail, but it whiled away a few hours. Around 40KM's in total.
Luckily, both Simon and I live about 20 minutes away from each other, and we're both right at the start of the Balkan range foothills, which stretch across the middle of Bulgaria, like a spine. So, as both cars were running, and before he buggered off to sea agin, we went camping for the night. packed up the stumpies, and off we went, with no particular route. We just sort of felt our way along.
So, on the first bit of trail we find, the Pinin gets stuck. No fault of the Pinin. Simon just didn't give it enough beans going through the mud. I had to pull him out. But fear not, he pulls me out of a river later!
After the mud puddle, we head off into the woods...
Up the quite slippery mud hill track, even in my MT's. We both got up hopwever, without issue. It opened up into the edging of a farmers field. Anyway, Simon was a distance in front, as I followed. Turning a corner, all I saw were break lights, the car sideways, and a small tree disappear for a moment, before popping back up. Simon had his very first racing ding!
Small botch job later, and with a nut and bolt through the bumper, all was well with the world.
So we carried on looking for other trails, and bits to play on. We found a trail that disappeared off into the woods, and hills, overlooking a small lake. We followed it for some miles. This was eventually where we would camp for the night.
Pish and tab break!
End of that particular trail.
So, we set about putting up our magnificently manly 'Camp Les Hiddins'
Simon is the cook. I tend to make everything a bit charcoalish.
Well, I can tell that during the night, quite possibly the biggest rain pour I've experienced in a long time decided to drop itself atop out hill. The tents we did have, (cheap crappy 'pop up in a mo' tents from Jysk), leaked more than a colander underwater. We threw them, and promptly bought real tents a few days later.
We headed off the next day looking for more trails, and interesting places to drive up...
Little pond near Plevin
Rain on the way to Apriltsi
Big monument outside Apriltsi
Where we found a nice muddy logging trail
The Torsen rear diff on the Pinin did really well here. There was some issues with grip, due to the At's, but the wheels were turning very nicely at the same rate. Very swish.
Simon's stormtrooper! (And my Vader from a winter pic)
So we continued past Apriltsi, into the mountains, along one of the unpaven roads.
We came across a few hunting cabins, dotted about the place. Some good, some bad. The bad ones reminded me of 'Deliverance', or 'Wrong Turn'.
It seems anyone can use them, as long as they leave some firewood, and a bottle of water when they leave.
Found a shallow river to play in. Well I say shallow, because this is the bit I got stuck, and Si had to pull me out. I went a little too far into what seems like a trench in the deeper section, and couldn't get out. Car flooded up to the gear stick, and my flip flops got wet! Booo Hiisss open diffs!
Stopped near one of the hunting lodges for a peek around.
Nice view
So, was a really nice trip. Got to see some nice mountain views, had fun with the little bro, and we got to spend some man grunting time together. Very cool. Hope to be doing a lot more!
