From Majorca with love!!!

[santosvela]

Hi All off roaders
My name is Santos, and thats my first thread here.
I'm from Mallorca (Balearic Islands), 40 year old, and off roader since 1988 (20 years). My first 4x4: suzuki santana, after that a Suzuki Vitara, a Jeep Grand Cherokee unlimited really special.... and now with a new Nissan Patrol long (the machine) (soft lifted and tyres mudded).
My next travel Project is BULGARIA.... my fathers and many friends visited Bulgaria and told me that I must go also to visit Bulgaria... but it is really difficult to find information in english, french or spanish... because that, I'm in your forum...
My plan is: car, wife, tent and encourage.
I do not care If the road is difficult, but my purpose is a travel, not a trial competition...
I want to ask you... ¿for a first travel, what is the zone you can recommend? ¿you can give me any roadbook? ¿any map (my second hoby is cartography, gps, and mapping software? ¿any wps, tracks, for gps? tourist information??? i dont know!!! beer distributors?? something!! ANY HELP IS APPRECIATED...
What can i give you??? i have tracks, roadbooks, wps of Spain, Mallorca, and Morocco (I was there last year..)..
Many thanks
Santos Vela

[Чавдар (V93)]

До: From Majorca with love!!!

My plan is: car, wife, tent and encourage.
I do not care If the road is difficult, but my purpose is a travel, not a trial competition...
I want to ask you... ¿for a first travel, what is the zone you can recommend? ¿you can give me any roadbook? ¿any map (my second hoby is cartography, gps, and mapping software? ¿any wps, tracks, for gps? tourist information??? i dont know!!! beer distributors?? something!! ANY HELP IS APPRECIATED...

Hi Santos,
As far as navigation is concerned you may want to have a look at this thread

About the area to visit my personal favorite would be the Rodopi mountain.
There are some routes there that are both beautiful and would not require a winch (in summer).

General travel information on Bulgaria is available at http://www.bulgariatravel.org/eng/index.php

[Венци- малкия]

До: From Majorca with love!!!

Hi Santos,

I also think that Rodopi mountain is best for you

You can see travel report of some of our friends here.

T H I S

and

T H I S

I hope you will love this journey in Bulgaria.

[santosvela]

Re: From Majorca with love!!!

Many thanks.
V93 I saw that thread (I read all threads before posting) but I put this new thread because I can not open the link to contact sabin, and in case there were new maps...
I will be in Bulgaria two weeks and I think the Rodopi mountain can be perfect... thanks...
I have reviewed the travel reports of your friends (only the photos...) and seems to be fun.
If you can give me a mail to contact sabin, I will write to ask him..
And another question: ¿whats "SUMMER" in the Rodopi Mountain? Do you think thats routable from 15 april, or from 15 may???
Regards.
Santos.

[Чавдар (V93)]

До: Re: From Majorca with love!!!

Many thanks.
V93 I saw that thread (I read all threads before posting) but I put this new thread because I can not open the link to contact sabin, and in case there were new maps...
I will be in Bulgaria two weeks and I think the Rodopi mountain can be perfect... thanks...
I have reviewed the travel reports of your friends (only the photos...) and seems to be fun.
If you can give me a mail to contact sabin, I will write to ask him..
And another question: ¿whats "SUMMER" in the Rodopi Mountain? Do you think thats routable from 15 april, or from 15 may???
Regards.
Santos.

The mail of Sabin is also there karta (at) offroad-bulgaria.com

Just replace the (at) with @ and remove the spaces after karta and before offrod. The address is put in that way in order to avoid it being picked up by E-mail harvesting spam bots.

From 15th of May may be better. Especially for camping in the open. Of course - subject to weather conditions.

Two weeks for the Rodopi area alone may be a little bit too long. Using easier routes (no hard core stuff when the weather is good) one could do it in no more than 4-5 days. 80-90 km /day (almost exclusively dirt roads) can be easily achievable.

These are pictures from a trip we made in that area last year May 24 - 26th (some more). As you can see, the most serious obstacles were fallen trees. They can be a major headache though if one is alone and doesn't have a chain saw (or at least a good axe). During the last day of our trip with only 3 kms to our target we had to backtrack and take a rather long detour because of such barricades.
In case of prolonged periods of heavy rain some small rivers can turn into a serious obstacle and roads can get rather difficult in some places.

It's good to note that some parts of this area are (luckily) not so developed and this is something to take into consideration. You cannot expect a gas station every now and in case you have some serious trouble with your 4x4 it may take some time to get help.

[santosvela]

Re: From Majorca with love!!!

Thanks. I'm now in contact with Sabin. I think that would be my best choice.
And thanks also for your advices... I will buy 20-30 beavers... or a serious and pro axe ...
My patrol is like a small bus but do not waste fuel... Last year in Morocco I dont had problems at all (logically, ever with two 25l jerrycan back...).
2 days (or 3) to arrive from Mallorca to Bulgaria (ship and road) and 2 or 3 to return.... I only have 6 days in Bulgaria... Maybe 4 for the Rodopi and 2 or 3 for any other area (i dont know at this moment).
Maybe, it will be a good idea to install a good cb antenna instead my little magnetic antenna (i have it only to communicate with other cars in caravan).. I supose there is not restrictions to use the cb radios in Bulgaria...
And it would be better to travel with any other friend (two or three cars) instead only with my wife (my wife dont like to fell trees).
Regards.

[santosvela]

Re: From Majorca with love!!!

Thanks. I'm now in contact with Sabin. I think that would be my best choice.
And thanks also for your advices... I will buy 20-30 beavers... or a serious and pro axe ...
My patrol is like a small bus but do not waste fuel... Last year in Morocco I dont had problems at all (logically, ever with two 25l jerrycan back...).
2 days (or 3) to arrive from Mallorca to Bulgaria (ship and road) and 2 or 3 to return.... I only have 6 days in Bulgaria... Maybe 4 for the Rodopi and 2 or 3 for any other area (i dont know at this moment).
Maybe, it will be a good idea to install a good cb antenna instead my little magnetic antenna (i have it only to communicate with other cars in caravan).. I supose there is not restrictions to use the cb radios in Bulgaria...
And it would be better to travel with any other friend (two or three cars) instead only with my wife (my wife dont like to fell trees).
Regards.

[Чавдар (V93)]

До: Re: From Majorca with love!!!

Maybe, it will be a good idea to install a good cb antenna instead my little magnetic antenna (i have it only to communicate with other cars in caravan).. I supose there is not restrictions to use the cb radios in Bulgaria...
And it would be better to travel with any other friend (two or three cars) instead only with my wife (my wife dont like to fell trees).
Regards.

I guess that besides the GPS map, Sabin could help you with some advice, as he has a lot of experience in offroading and preparation for similar trips.

As far as radio is concerned, you will have no problems using both CB and PMR 446 radios here. They are legal and license-free.
However I would not count on them in case of an emergency. CB is not very popular around here (even in this forum), so you could hardly expect anyone to monitor these frequencies, especially in more remote areas.

It would definitely be better if it is 2 or 3 cars. It is much more fun in the first place, and then is much safer to have at least one other 4x4 around.

[Kaskadiora]

До: From Majorca with love!!!

Holla Santos,
I have been over half year in Palma de Mallorca.
Small town, but I like the climat.
If you will come in Varna we can drik one beer. And make a little offroad trip.