Author: james

The Road to Nowhere VI, Mountain Biking in Bansko

  What a weekend, highs, lows stress and happiness a whole world of emotion! The Road to Nowhere VI,  mountain biking rally in Bansko is now over! The gods were kind! Not too hot not too wet just enough mud to make it fun and a record number of entrants. I took part in Day II […]

Bansko Mountain Biking, Perfect Day

Bansko Mountain Biking:- Bansko is a great place fro mountain biking. Here at the hotel Avalon we have been making and promoting Mountain biking trails for nearly 10 years. The official mountain biking trails are limited to 176km of trails accessible from Bansko town but this is nowhere near the total extent of available riding. […]

The Scotsman. Mountain biking in Bansko

Mountain Biking in Bansko, Bulgaria. It’s strange how myths of mountains get under your skin. There is no rhyme or reason to it  but one morning you wake up and something has stuck in your head about a particular pass or peak. I’ve spent 10 years now wandering around the Pirin mountains trying to itch […]

The Road to Nowhere

  The Road to Nowhere, what is it all about? For most people it is a mountain bike rally that takes place at the end of July every year, for some it is a community of mountain bikers in Bansko but for me it has been/is a bit of a journey. I started out in […]

The Davies, Route 8

The Davies, Route 8 Dzhangal#87 Djangal#87 Option 1   The Davies, Route 8 has two options. Djangal ( I prefer this spelling!) is a mighty peak made of great rock and has over a dozen routes to the summit. We think two should be enough for here! The Davies, Route 8. Option 1.  Starting at […]

The Davies, Route 7

The Davies, Route 7 Muratov Vrah#19 Vlahinski Vrah#20 Gredaro#21   The Davies, Route 7  is one of the more photogenic routes in Pirin. There are many different variations you could try, all of them beautiful! Gredaro climed on the way to Sinanitsa hut then Sinanitsa and Muratov on the way back is a great two […]

The Davies, Route 5.

The Davies, Route 5. Pitel #44, Mozgovishki Chukar #45#46#47#49   Mozgovishki Chukar has proved to be one of the hardest routes to put together for The Davies.  It isn’t the most technically challenging route or the longest. Those titles probably go to Yalovarnika #55 and Golena #58. But route 4 poses it’s own unique chalenges. […]

72 hours at Tevno

    I’ve just come back from 72 hours at Tevno lake and other than the usual aches and pains from 3 longs days hiking I feel like a new man. Tevno is a magical place.  At 2512m it is higher than what I consider a mountain but surrounded by mountains giving a secret valley […]

The Davies, Route 4.

The Davies, Route 4. Sivria #78. I take huge pleasure hiking on my own in Pirin . There is a zen like peace, almost meditative state that wandering our hills brings to me.  The silence filled with the millions of tiny noises of nature, the stillness punctuated only by the babble of streams and the […]

The Davies, Route 6.

Photo Credits to Alex Trek The Davies, Route 6. Vazella #33, Vasilashki Chukar #34   This is a lovely little walk close to the road head at Vihren hut. The Davies, Route 6 will take you about 5 hours of which 3 hours are on clearly marked main trails. 2 hours of the route is […]