Over the top!

Was happy to discover fig trees next to my tent, but unfortunately the figs were far from ripe.

Today was another day of relentless climbing, towards the Turkish border crossing near Malko Tarnovo. It was all pretty gradual, though, and the roads weren't too bad with the exception of one part where presumably there had been some kind of slip and we had to take a by-road which was only partially sealed, and as pot-holed as it was windy.

Finally I arrived at Malko Tarnovo, and sought out Internet access to charge my phone batteries, which have an annoying habit of not being chargeable via my AA battery charger if their charge gets too low.

I found the Business Centre, where they have a very cheap net cafe, and got some stuff done until they kicked me out at closing. Well, in fact one of the staff was also a keen cycle tourist and gave me some top tips on the way into Turkey and on to Istanbul. However, I didn't get away soon enough to have any sunlight beyond the Turkish border, so 20 km or so of undulating roads on the Turkish side was done in darkness.

The border crossing took a fair bit longer than what I was used to between the EU countries, which didn't help. Once I was through though, thankfully the road was brand new and very smooth, and there were next to no cars.

Wishing I could see something, I rode the 20 km or so recommended by my new friend to get beyond military border patrols. And when I was too hungry and exhausted to risk having to go up any incline again, I found a little spot between some small woods and got myself installed, ate everything I had with me except a small hunk of bread and some muesli, and promptly passed out.