Dangerous roads Bulgaria

While in search of the dangerous roads of Bulgaria (There is actually a web site called dangerous roads) we found the roads through the Boynovo Gorge and the Trigrad gorge. Both are situated in the Rhodope mountain range. After driving around we concluded that these roads are not so much dangerous.

We would choose the word scenic instead. Especially the road trough the Boynovo gorge (the longest in Bulgaria) and the road up to the village of Yagodina are a very nice drive.

But not to worry; while driving in this area we found some proper dangerous (off) roads.

First, in search of wild bears we decided to cross a mountain ridge from the Trigrad Gorge to the Boynovo Gorge. On this track, the challenge was to cross old wooden bridges that started to crumble and to clear the fallen trees across the track. Especially the first bridge in the short movie needed some TLC before we decided it was safe to cross, fortunately there was a derelict shed nearby where we “borrowed”some boards.

The second track we found close to Yagodina. We noticed that the sightseeing point “Eagle Eye”, or Sveti Ilia Peak, appeared to be reachable on foot, by bike, and by “highly transport”.

Now, we decided that our 4wd camper was “highly” enough, so we tried. A local guy was kind enough to set us on the right track. We already knew what the right track was, but we were still in some kind of denial because of the steepness of the visible part of the track. We thought an easier start might be available but there was no alternative. The start was quite sandy and looked like an 4wd park. But to our surprise and joy we made it up the first part. So we continued. After a forest section that had both sand and and rocks, the last stretch to the top was the most challenging because it was the steepest part and the surface consisted only of rocks.

Our reference for the max in off road driving is the Gjipe beach track in Albania. Up to now we consider this to be the hardest (rocky) “road” we encountered. The most dangerous one so far was the road to Frasher with it washed away corner, also in Albania by the way.
The track to the Eagle Eye is almost as hard track as the one to Gjipe beach in our opinion. But, keep in mind that conditions can change, so these tracks might improve or deteriorate.

It is not often that we reach a summit with the camper. the last time was in Albania, on the mount Tomorr. This time too, we decided to stay on the top and sleep there. The view was spectacular despite the antenna field on top of the mountain.