Getting out of Romania was straightforward and for some reason I am exempt from departure tax which everyone else has to pay, but there was a fairly long wait getting in to Bulgaria. Truck drivers just shrug and laugh.....seems like every country thinks their neighbours are worse than they are. They check my bike papers very carefully - the first to do so - but again I seem to be exempt from Bulgarian road tax. Approaching anyone in this area wearing a helmet seems to work wonders !

I head straight for Plovdiv, as I need to make up some time. The weather is mostly good, the roads are as variable as Romania's and I have another scenic ride through the mountains. I also hit the worst pothole of the trip - big enough to bury a cow in, and I was suckered in to it as I was close behind a car turning on to the highway. It went between the cars wheels, and as it appeared I had nowhere to go. My mirror fell off again....

Police are absolutely everywhere - I see more speed traps in one day than I have seen on the whole trip so far. They also have the worst roadsign system I have ever seen. Numerous major junctions in Plovdiv have no signs on them at all. The fact that the few they do have are in cyrillic script is just the icing on the cake.... My map was bought in the UK and isn't in cyrillic - the translation is often far from obvious.

Had a good and very cheap meal in Plovdiv after a lot of work on a cyrillic menu - no one spoke English. Next morning saw a monastery and decided to get out of the country. Roadsigns are very important to me and I'm wasting too much time...