Варна(Varna)-Бяла(Biala)-Обзор(Obzor)-Несебър(Nessebar)-Поморие(Pomorie)-Бургас(Burgas).

Trip dist: 137 kms. Trip time: 9 hrs, 12 min. Tot dist: 7,212 kms.

Uuuygh, what a tiring ride. It was all completely uphill all the way up to 10 kms before Nessebar, very slow going, 6-10 kms/hr at best, but luckily, very much downhill after that, with wind in favor, so that the 40 or so kms from Nessebar to Burgas went by in less than 90 minutes (just in time to catch nightfall inside the city).

At midday I took a little pause in Obzor, where the highway was passing so close to the ocean, I couldn't help but stop, take my shoes off, and walk along the beach for a while as the wind combed my hair sideways. The agitated and cold, frothy tourmaline waters of the Black Sea reminded me a bit of Half Moon Bay, and brought unexpectedly with the waves, some rather......melancholy memories.

I fled my broodings soon afterwards (it does not do to dwell on such things for more than 5 minutes at a time, no matter how much you long for the beauty/honeyed part of bittersweet), and continued my lonely ride to Burgas (Jesper pedals faster, and for the past two days, I only met him at the top of the hills, where we chatted for a while, and then I lagged behind again. Today, as I said, was mostly uphill).

I had first lost Jesper, you see, shortly after coming out of Varna, on the very first ascent up a bridge only 2 kms outside the city. Up until today, he always waited at the top of the ascent for me to catch up, or sometimes even a few kilometers ahead, but this time, I did not catch up to him after 20, 30, 40, 50 kilometers, through my lonely melancholy stroll at the beach of Obzor, and eventually even all the way to Burgas....

..but mostly, though, I think....because I didn't really want to.