Excursions and arson

 Day 123 Sunday June 16^th

“I want to ride my bicycle

I want to ride my bike

I want to ride my bicycle

I want to ride it round Batak Lake….”

(Copyright QUEEN)

And that is exactly what we did.

The first few miles of riding were classical wetland fire track infested with cows, wild horses and all sorts of interesting birdlife.  Not an ideal route for one particular member of our company (facing her fears) but I do believe that the flamboyant blossoming tapestry of flowers and foliage woven over decades by nature herself gave Mum something to grin over.

A scrumdidlyumptious lunch awaited us at a café we stumbled upon having finally reached the asphalt.  Our lunch translated by two Sofian holidaymakers consisted of traditional Bulgarian cold cucumber and yoghurt soup with bread whilst Dad savagely devoured yet another carnivorous dish + fries for three.

And God Save the Queen.

The asphalt was a Jo suited approximately 15 mile gentle ride home.

Despite Dad’s doubts we were able with very little difficulty to persuade the camp site director, Christou,  to issue a 6pm paddleboat rental in order to accommodate my wishes to make an excursion to “Bird Island” (as Dad named it).  The expedition included jumps both off and down our ship’s towering integral slide and an exploratory mission to the island’s hut.  More was included but so insignificant that it is not worth mentioning in greater depth.

I fished while Mum and Dad prepared supper and was very nearly successful but alas the fish was too strong for my two pound line and robbed me of my €3 lure.

An explosive Bang woke us at 11pm causing campers for miles around to raise their heads, giant storks and cranes rustled their feathers in their sleep and I’m sure they even felt the mighty tremble in Paris.   We all exited our accommodations hastily to see a small flickering light in the next-door field.  This alerted us very little due to the late hour so we began to idle once more.  However, after a half hour period of attempting to resume my slumber, I could not succeed.  All of a sudden I was arrested by a loudening crackle at first very faint, but surely upgrading.  I exited my tent and knocked on the van door.  While I was waiting for my parents to reply I took a glance over my shoulder and beheld:

FIRE!!!!!!!

‘Dad, why did someone set that house on fire?’ Were the next words I said…

P.S. Last posts mystery photograph was a dying giraffe balloon animal (well done Ali).

Today’s mystery photograph is: