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Early morning (04:40) bus to Sofia. Bulgaria now uses euro. A1 at Mall of Sofia didn't have prepaid SIMs allowiy calling, so bought 15GB data only SIM for 30 days for €7. Then decided I wanted calling feature. Yettle prepaid SIMs also data only. A1 store in Central Hall (Sofia Center, Knyagina Maria Luisa Blvd 25) did have SIMs for prepaid calling for €10 valid for 30 days, with 35GB data (and apparently 25GB for each refill of €6 valid for 25 days, though as usual exact terms and conditions are very difficult to understand). So now both primary and backup phone loaded with SIMs.
Even though I paid for yesterday and today at EasyHotel (€35 both nights through booking.com), desk clerk considered today's check-in as early check-in, on the other hand didn't charge extra for this early check-in. Early morning bus from Niš is definitely the way to go, so nect time just book one night at EasyHotel and pay for early check-in.
Bought food for today and next 3 days: fresh tomatoes for today only, 2 cans fish, 2*200g chese, 4*85g dark chocolate, 700g peanuts, 4*700g whole wheat bread. Pullups in St Nicholas Park.
Left hotel before 06:00, did pullups and ate remaining can of fish in park together with 2L, subway to Vitosha stop (fare is €.80), bus 66 to ski center (fare is €1, I paid with €2 coin). Picked up 4L at spring on ascent of Vitosha just to be safe. Spring on descent (south side) running strong, so didn't need to carry that 4L uphill. After eating lunch and drinking 2L, left spring with 4L. Arrived at usual campsite about 16:30. Bad headache, possibly due to hiking in heat, though two weeks in Niš should have acclimated me. Spotted adult tick crawling on bugbivy netting. Caught it between my fingers, slid out of bugbivy, then spent 10 minutes wandering around looking for rocks to crush it with, since mostly leaves and sticks atop dirt.
Rave nearby, so thumping "music" audible in distance all last night. Slept well enough, with headache from yesterday gone by morning. Drank 2L with breakfast. Spring at bend in road running maybe .5L/minute. Picked up 2L at spring, drank 1L with lunch,left spring with 3L. Camped at usual spot. 1.5L available for tomorrow morning. Blister on medial side of ring toe of right foot. Rained during night, which helped reduce temperature. Occasional thunder and lightning.
Power pack slid outside tarp during night, so wetted by rain, but no lasting damage. Drank 1.5L with breakfast. Drank 1.5L and loaded bottles with 4L at piped spring before Klisura. 2 kebabs and small salad at cafe in Klisura. Camped at usual spot.
Early start to arrive at Govedartsi in time for for 11:45 bus to Samokov (€1.50, additional buses leave at 13:15 14:20). €55 for 2 nights at Alex Rooms in Samokov. Some sort of screwup with booking.com: system first duplicated the reservation, then it duplicated the attempt to cancel the duplicate reservation. So just left the reservation fully canceled and booked directly.
Blister on right foot is healing. Left knee is acting up, similar to but not as bad as right knee back in March, which started first week of hiking in Spain. Might need to take rest break to allow knee to heal.
€60 for 2 more nights at hotel. Knee improving but I don't want to risk a repeat of the Spain experience on the left knee. Blister on right foot mostly healed. Probably need to plan on 4 days in Samokov evert year, to allow body to reorganize itself back into hiking condition after shock of 4 day hike from Sofia following 3 months of summer inactivity.
Left knee not improving or improving very slowly. Skipped leg exercises and stretches. Hopefully, will be okay for hiking tomorrow. Blister on right foot is fully healed.
Left knee feeling much better in morning. Skipped leg exercises and stretches again. 6 days to Razlog or 4 days not counting first and last. Plan to buy lunch at Ribni Ezero hut, possibly buy lunch at Semkovo hut and breakfast at Makedonia hut, so carry 4 days bread, 3 days cheese. Canned fish, yogurt, fruit for eating in town. Additional food for town and backpack: 5 * 700g bread, 3 * 200g cheese, 5 * 200g peanuts, 6 * 85g dark chocolate. Camped at usual spot at 1800m. Cool in evening: first feeling of coolness since return to Europe from Argentina.
No pain in left knee today. Problem might have been due to hiking with bad gait or maybe due to sitting cross-legged 30 minutes in morning before rather than after exercises, and thus before hips loosened up, causing stress to be transferred to knees. I started sitting before rather than after exercises during last week in Serbia, because it was more convenient that way. I plan to continue sitting before exercises during town stays henceforth (and did so every morning here in Samokov) and hopefully body will eventually adjust, same as it adjusted when I first began sitting cross-legged each morning (after exercises) some 30 years ago.
nights in Bulgaria ( nights camping, nights in hotels/huts). total hotel expenses, or average of about /night.