From August to October 2025 I plan to cycle from my home in the UK to Istanbul.

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  • Rest Day – Sofia

    Double trouble

    A special guest star flew in from Dublin this morning – Andy’s here! He’ll accompany me now through to Istanbul.

    Reunited in front of Sofia cathedral

    He’d arrived at about 2am into the airport. We took a very slow morning having breakfast and cycling slowly around Sofia’s main sites before our check in time.

    In the afternoon it was the traditional and excellent walking tour. You can fit so much information in within two hours and visit city centre sights you’d never see it know about.

    In between I managed to squeeze in a Bulgarian burek. Although they are called banitza here, and have a slightly doughier texture. Forgive me Bulgaria, I think I prefer the traditional flaky crunchy chewy burek. Still good though.

    Banitza time

    Then it was an early dinner before hitting the sack.

    Tomorrow it’s the usual, about 100km. We’re heading in a South easterly direction towards Plovdiv the following day.

    We did have a little planning time this evening as well, and have decided on some exciting route changes which I’ll reveal in coming days. There’s a bit of time available to us to have a small explore.

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