2006 was a great year. I managed to get away to Borovets twice, once in January and secondly in March with the stalwart that is Stu.
In January I stayed in the Bor, a hotel that's about a ten minute walk up into the centre of town, and other than it's slightly out of the way location there's nothing to fault it. I stayed there again in 2008 and you can read more about it in that year's report. One great thing about it though is the fountain (or rather fountains) outside which freeze over in winter and create something rather wonderful ... |
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| The frozen fountains at the Bor |
In January I didn't keep a diary as it was mainly a training trip. I was out there to get some serious miles under my board as I had an ASSI instructors course in a few weeks. I enlisted the help of Bobby Turbo (the camera-man from last year) to, well, basically to punish me and film it!
He did. I don't think I've been fitter than I got that week. "The gondola's only going to mid-station but it's no problem, we can hike the rest" or "that slope over there will be empty ... we can probably walk to it in about an hour!" What!? At the time I was a wreck, trudging up hill with only the thought that one day this will be a long time ago and I'll be writing about it on the internet, and wondering why this Bulgarian man hated me.
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| We just walked up this! |
There were four sequences shot, three of which are below. One was from the top of the Markudjik runs down to the bottom of the Musala Pathway and the rest on various Yastrebetz runs. The video at the top is an edit of them all (details at the end) and the rest are as described.
This video is the powder we hiked for miles to get. It was worth it, although someone beat us to it and we were second rather than 'first tracks'. Bear with it as my confidence builds up as the run goes on.
Next is a collection of early morning and late afternoon shots, mainly on the Yastrebets side of the resort.
And finally, more of the same. One part of me likes how fast I was going, another is shocked that I've not got a helmet on!
It was whilst filming the section on the Markudjik side of the resort that I took one hell of a tumble. The board whipped out from underneath me and I whacked the back of my head off the slope ... I really saw stars, and from then on I've never so looked at a board without my helmet. It's a bit like bolting the barn door after the horse has whacked you on the head with a baseball bat, but I was lucky. No lasting damage to speak of and and I'm a lot safer these days.
If you are really, really eagle eye'd you may have spotted something in the video at the top of this blog entry. My board keeps changing! It's mixed footage from the whole week, but halfway through the holiday I had a little accident that means I'll always have a presence in Borovets.
At some point I caught an edge. REALLY caught an edge. So much so that the metal around the edge had ripped itself from the board. Only a tiny bit to start with, but as the day wore it got worse and worse until, by 2pm on the Wednesday, the board had effectively torn itself apart.
Repair was out of the question as it had destroyed a part of the base, and to be honest, it was ready for the scrap heap before I'd even left Scotland, so time to retire the old war horse. I took it into Francos to show Tommy (the barman at the time, now bar manager, and good pal) who took one look and decided it needed a proper home. He nailed it to the roof!
As of 2013, I'm happy to say that it's still there, bearing my signature and the legend 'Rest in Pieces' from 2006! I got a new board that week in the resort that'll you'll hear more about in next year's report.
At the end of this week I did the Sofia tour and transfer which means instead of milling around the resort on the last day you get to see some of Bulgaria's capital city. It's worth it if you don't fancy shelling out for a day pass to get one last day of skiing or boarding in, although I went to a B-B-Q fast food place, got some dodgy chicken and went on an involuntary liquid loss diet for the next few days! Still the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral was nice by night.
That's really all there is to report from my first visit to Borovets in 2006. I managed to get my ASSI instructors certificate not long after. As a training week, it was brilliant, but there were limited nights on the town so by way of correcting this, lets jump forward a month or so and I'm on my way to get Stu ... (again, his comments are in italics.)
Part 2
Saturday – Waiter, there’s a fly on my everything! That’ll be £12.60 Sir.
It’s almost time to leave, but we have a problem. We were supposed to be driving down to Manchester Airport but 3 days ago something big and important broke in my car and National Express got a call. We had two choices, arrive at 4am and have a ten hour wait for the flight, or arrive the night before, stay in a hotel, and get to the airport fresh and raring to go. We opt for the night in a hotel.
Bus leaves around 3.15 in the afternoon and we find ourselves sitting between two lots of football supporters drinking rather heavily and shouting over our heads to each other. It’s noisy, hot, cramped and keeps stopping every hour or so at Hamilton, Carlisle, Bolton … this hotel tonight better have a bar!
Finally get to Manchester Airport, happy to be off one bus, and well annoyed that we missed the next, the free bus to the hotel. Hail a cab and get charged £12! We just travelled from Scotland for that amount! … this hotel really better have a bar!
Head down for dinner in the hotel of chips and burgers, which turned out just as you’d expect, but when I tipped up the vinegar bottle to pour on my chips, there was a splash of small black bits. I thought they were herbs or something but Stu stopped me as my fork hovering at my mouth. Turns out they were dozens of tiny dead flies that had poured out over my food! No apology, just another plate of chips summoned from the kitchen. Well, really! We need that bar, now!
We find it, but there’s a noisy party full of salesmen next door, all dinner suits and ‘my company car is bigger than yours’. Don’t worry, we say, in 24 hours we’ll be in a pub full of boarders and skiers, looking out at the snow, and the passer by’s, falling gently in the street. We had a few beers and decided to call it a night, then again, then again about 2 in the morning. The salesmen are now our best pals in the world. We must get to bed … right one spirit then, yes we’re on holiday. We have large vodkas … they were £6.30 each! And some say the prices in Borovets are criminal! Next time, we'll do the ten hour wait!
Sunday - Terminal confusion, terror and relief.
Woke up a little hung-over (what happened to fresh and raring to go!) and we both decided to skip breakfast, as we couldn’t take more insects. After a bit of heaving, running and free bussing, we’re back at the airport again, and present ourselves at Terminal 3 … and there’s no check in desk. It’s actually at Terminal 2, where we needed to be five minutes ago. We run the hundred thousand miles between terminals with board bags, backpacks and boot bags bouncing off our legs, walls, doors and small children. We’re hysterical when we get to the right place, get checked in, get through security, get fast food and get sat down.
We realise as we board the plane that exactly one year ago today, almost to the minute, we were just BACK from Borovets, tired and looking forward to going back again. The flight is fine, nice and relaxed with our first taste in exactly a year of the sublime Bulgarian lager, Kaminitsa although it’s not the same out of a small can ... but won’t be long now until we land and get a proper pint. Famous last words.
Things started to get a little bouncy on the approach to Sofia. There was some rough turbulence on our descent, and by the time we got close to the airport the plane was bouncing all over the place. Some of the people on board were cheering and waving their arms. There was a thump and all hilarity stopped. Dead.
Stu - By this point I was chalk white and it didn’t help when Robert drew my attention to outside the window. For some unknown reason lots of fires were scattered all over the place at ground level. I think it must have been people burning crops and such things. "Must be the five o'clock flight," he said.
Our pilot attempted to land at Sofia not once but twice with the plane being tossed around like it was in the hands of a toddler. The wind won this particular fight as the pilot gave up and flew on to the next airport, Plovdiv.
Stu - I’m never going abroad ever again. Ever.
Plovdiv airport is an old military airstrip. It’s got a little better over the years, but at the time it was basically a shed and some tarmac. For some reason the guards there decided to put every item of baggage through a big slow scanner, one by one, as the queue grew and grew. As we waited we got chatting to an English couple on their first trip over, and proceed to indoctrinate them in the way of the snowboarder. Sensing an opportunity, the proprietor of the wee kiosk in the airport foyer hastily threw open his shutters, and moments later Stu comes back with a big grin a few small bottles of vodka. I go back for some bottles of coke and we turn what could have been a long boring wait into a wee party.
Eventually the buses and harried reps arrive from Sofia and after a few moments of confused mayhem, we're on our way to Borovets. By now we're having a really good laugh, thanks to the other people on the bus and a bit of vodka, but then a problem arises. I was bursting for a pee! There’s no loo on this bus, this is going to be a longer transfer than we had anticipated and there’s no stops scheduled into it as everyone, the drivers, the reps and the holiday makers all want to get to the resort as quickly as possible.
Stu - Argh, don't do it!
I have to! Despite Stu's embarrassment, I need to take matters into my own hands. I walk up the full bus and ask the driver to stop. Reluctantly he does, eventually, and as the doors open I hear a few voices say, "Thank Christ for that" as every guy on the bus runs off!
We finally check into the Rila, dry and accident free an hour later. It's about 1am so instead of the promised welcome meal we get presented with some rolls filled with, “weak ass disgusting cheese like stuff” as Stu loudly proclaimed in reception. Not bothering to change, we wander across the road to Francos. It's almost empty, but that doesn't stop Tommy greeting us with a loud, "fuck me, you're back!" and a few free beers. Bed at around 2.30.
Monday - First day bedlam, new friends and old friends.
This is our first time staying in the Rila, and although it’s certainly nicer than a lot of the hotels we’ve been to in Borovets, we were finding it a bit big and impersonal. We had a room at the back, overlooking the black run to the extreme left of the hotel and a big building with a huge ram on it. It had the word ‘Obeh’ below it, and that became a bit of a catchphrase this year, ‘Obey the big sheep’.
We try to avoid the crowds by getting up stupidly early and heading down to the lobby to collect our lift passes. You may remember I mentioned in last year's report someone called Vicki who worked in the Happy Duck. Well, this year she was with Balkan holidays as a rep and as we entered the room where uniformed Balkan employees were handing out the passes we had a quick look for her. (We'd met her the year before and had been chatting on and off online.) But, when we asked the other reps where she was, they went strangely quiet and wouldn’t give us a direct answer. Strange.
The two of us ran into Bobby Turbo at the entrance to the hotel and chatted to him for a while but he had lessons to do so we agree to meet up later at some point. I leave Stu to the usual melee as instructors find pupils and groups are organised. We were hoping it would've been quieter out there, doing the holiday Sunday to Sunday rather than Saturday to Saturday, but it seems to be terrible both mornings! I leave him to it and go for another coffee.
Stu - Standing by the international flags in front of the Rila, waiting to be picked up for the lessons. Bedlam! The gondola's closed due to lack of snow and high winds, so this side is absolutely rammed. We get assembled but we're off to a slow start as we have some complete beginners in the group, but to be honest it suited me as I started to get used to being on a board again at a nice easy pace. In fact only, myself and an Australian guy in the class had boarded before so we were left to out own devices for a bit. The snow conditions are terrible, the temperature had risen to 15 degrees by lunch time and the resort had had no fresh snow fall for almost two weeks. I was down to my t-shirt due to the heat, and as we headed off to Franco's for lunch the snow was really starting to melt into slush.
I do a few runs down the Rila reds then meet up with Stu for food and then a slow afternoon of small runs and tinkering with bindings. We head back after a while, worried about the snow conditions and praying they'll improve.
Still in our gear we have the usual welcome meeting and welcome meeting wine. We sign up for the now traditional pub crawl which starts in an hour or so, so quick change, quick bite and we're out again. Go round the usual suspects, Franco’s, 101 Cocktails (now Chilli Peppers), Mamacitas, and the rest. I also take the chance to disappear off to the Titanic, which isn’t on out itinerary, but where I meet an internet buddy called Tanny who posts regularly on Ski DVD and Bulgaria Ski and with whom I have a few drinks.
Meet back up with everyone again at silly o’clock in the Happy Duck and get the story about what happened to Vicki, from Vicki herself. Lets just say that there were some incidents just the night before and as of the morning we arrive, she doesn't work for Balkan anymore. I'd brought her some British sweets she’d asked for online which cheered her up a bit, then she got really drunk which cheered her up a lot!
Tuesday - Broken wrists and temperature depression.
Another day and still no fresh snow but it felt a lot colder and some hefty clouds were creeping in. The gondola is open today so I'm up and out like a shot.
Stu - I was with my boarding group. After some runs at the usual patch in front of the Rila, Jo, one of the girls in my group, fell. Well, she more or less just sat down the wrong way and snapped her wrist, cutting her snowboarding career, and the lesson, short as our instructor took her off to the medical centre. I met up with her later on in Franco’s to offer sympathy but she seemed perfectly fine while being clearly spaced out on painkillers.
Meanwhile, up top, the clouds are so heavy that you can’t see the gondola station until the gondola enters it! Classic white out conditions that make coming down a slow process and I really wouldn’t have done it if I hadn’t seen so many people heading out before me. Knowing the run and thinking like a sheep I followed them. Damn silly as you couldn't see five feet in front of you, and in conditions like that you don't know how fast you're going. Fortunately, the clouds parted halfway down and had some nice runs until late in the day, although only from mid-station down.
A quiet night out tonight, well quiet for Borovets standards, that involves most of the pubs from last night and moments on knees, in the street, praying to the snow gods … or maybe we’re just falling over a bit.
PLEASE SNOW!
Wednesday - Extreme Leg Burn and the Last Run Phenomenon.
Stu - I was the only person that turned up to the group today. Nikki our instructor, knowing that I knew the basics took me onto the chair lift and onto a red run. Got on brilliantly, even on the steep bits, it’s amazing what a bit of one-on-one instruction will do. Did the first half of one of the reds in front of the Rila, but when I reached the green that cuts across them, my legs felt that someone had set them on fire! Nikki agreed we should take it easy and followed the green down.
I too was on the Rila side today, having a go at that black we could see from our hotel room balcony. It was a struggle to avoid the ice, so on my second run, when I spied Stu on the green, I decided to follow him for a bit. Bad Idea! ... it may be a green for skiers, but for boarders it’s too damn narrow to properly control your speed. We can’t snowplough! Dive off down one of the reds and head to the usual place.
Stu - Lunch in Franco’s and by the time it got for us to stand up my legs were feeling far too sore. Eventually I decided on a few runs of the green off to the right of the Rila, Nice and close to the hotel if I felt wobbly, but still out and about. Unfortunately, on my second run I fell... badly. I caught an edge and sort of flipped over bashing my knees on solid ice. I was done for the day. Limping back to the hotel, I jumped into a warm bath to try and sooth my bruises. My legs made me a million promises of pain to come. Please snow!
I had a few more runs, then back to Francos as I had a date to keep. I’ve been in Borovets a few times now, but tonight was only the second time I’d ever been night boarding. Met up with Bobby Turbo and we headed out for the evening. Some nice runs, well lit and very quiet, but holy moly, it’s cold up there!
Now, it turns out that the girl from Stu’s group who broke her wrist, Jo, is right next door to us in the Rila, on holiday with her pal Kath. After I get back and changed we meet them in the lobby and get chatting about places to eat ... and in a few moments end up all heading out to White Magic for pizza. It's run by a guy called Christo who used to be in the Bulgarian National Ski Team and who's quite a character. The place is tiny, but there's memorabillia from his skiing days all over the walls and he'll even take you out on the slopes for a few lessons, although you might end up falling for his camera!
We chat to Christo for a bit then head down to the Happy Duck. It's busy so we have to sit next to a fridge in the corner. Thing is though, it has a light inside designed by the guy who made the light on top of the Luxor Hotel in Vegas. The first time it opens it physically hurts our eyes and we all recoil swearing. We were being blinded every time the staff wanted something cold!
The band were right next to us too, so we were dazzled in one eye and deafened in one ear, a combination that could have worked but we decided to start heading back and manage to get as far up as the pub, 101 Cocktails.
After half an hour Stu goes to the bar and I join the huge queue for the toilet, before realising what every other man is doing and step outside at the back. We’re all quietly doing our thing when a voice pipes up, “you know for a wee pub, it’s got a bloody huge toilet! There are trees in it and everything!” As I stumble back, laughing, in I notice something, something that the trees have been sheltering me from. It’s snowing! No, IT’S SNOWING! Great huge flakes. I stand in it for a moment, go in and stand in front of Stu with a huge smile on my face. He takes a second to realise what I’m covered in then punches the air!
We toy with the idea of shimmying up the gondola cable S.A.S style with our boards on our backs and waiting to get the first run in the morning. No chance. After a few vodka red bulls in 101 cocktails the girls called it a night. We didn’t. This calls for a celebration!
Thursday - The Golden Chicken, Four Monkeys and Old Lady Porn.
Fluffy gorgeous beautiful soft wonderful powder. It hasn’t stopped snowing all night and the whole resort has changed dramatically. Trees are no longer green, they’re white. Beginners are laughing when they fall, not grimacing against hard ice. The snow gods are good people.
I have some great runs up top all morning, then come down for lunch with Stu, but we decide not to eat outside!
I'm a bit knackered from the riding that morning and Stu's really feeling pain in his knees. I prescribe Kaminitsa (it 'calms the knees, ah') but he has a few chocolate brandys instead. We spend the afternoon tinkering with bindings and then playing on a wee kicker at the top of the Rotata slope, filming each other, posing for photos and getting mildly drunk. Brilliant lazy afternoon, with lots of tumbles, but we had such a soft landing!
I've just realised that these are some of the first photos we took that holiday! It seems that we were too depressed to take pictures of a bare snowless resort!
Back to the hotel and after a brief snooze before we’re out on the town for the Balkan Quiz Night. It’s in a restaurant called the Golden Chicken, one we’ve never heard of, never mind visited before. After a hunt around and a few questions we find it near the gondola, having passed it a number of times over the week and not noticed it. As with the pub crawl, it was nowhere near as good as the Thomsons quiz last year, but it had its moments. The hosts were both Bulgarian so some of the questions got a bit lost in translation.
"Ok, now, there are four monkeys… standing… facing the walls of a room"
The mere concept gave us chills. It was like The Blair Monkey Project. Are they looking at us, are we not Obeying the big sheep? It’s without a doubt the first time we’ve ever gotten the FEAR from a pub quiz. But in the end we won and got a bottle of cheap champers, so it’s not all bad.
We share the free booze with a crowd of people we'd become familiar with over the week and stayed out chatting and drinking to quite late, and we would have stayed longer had a fight not nearly started. This was out first experience of trouble in Borovets, but that's mainly because we don't like the Buzz Bar, but as things started kicking off we decided we needed a kebab!
Greasy food in hand, we got home, and switched on the soft porn channel Stu had found on the telly. It was a constant advert for phone sex lines of every description, and was diverting in harmlessly titillating way until and old lady, and I mean a wrinkled grey pensioner in her 70's, appeared in nothing but a thong trying to get people to phone. It was like being slapped. We both shouted Nooooooooo! far too loud and must have woke up half the hotel. Stu nearly choked on his food. We didn’t watch that channel again (well not much).
Stu's been coughing and spluttering a bit today and later than night I wake myself up having a bit of a cough. Oh oh.
Friday - Scary skidoo, the flu arrives, heat stroke at the black tiger
We sleep late today as it's really obvious we're both coming down with something. It's an effort, but we get up, get out and go up the gondola together, Stu and myself both doing the blue circuit up there but at different speeds.
At lunchtime we jump on the back of the skidoo that takes you back up to the gondola (there's a travelator now) and Stu almost flys off the back. The driver shot off like a bullet from a gun, not really waiting until we were on it properly. The trip up was one long loud swear word.
Stu - I thought it was time to board the slopes I had skied down a year before, so instead of getting the gondola down I decided to board down, at least to the top of the Yastabrets four man chair. I got on okay with some help from TK, but at one point I fell and somehow cut my hand. I ended up walking along the straight, tired and pissed off. I jumped onto the chair and headed back to the bottom the easy way. I got a taxi back and headed straight to bed. I really wasn’t feeling very well at all. Making sure I was okay TK disappeared up the gondola again and was gone for the day. When I awoke Rob had returned but looked like he was really battling the flu now.
Despite our sniffles, we head out. A pizza in an almost deserted Francos and anguish from Stu has he's finding it difficult to finish his beer. His mind nearly snaps at the prospect! The resort seems a bit empty, so we wander around, ending up at the Karaoke in the Black Tiger. Here’s where everyone is! It was the last night of the holiday for so many people, so the place was packed out.
We try to get into the swing of things but unfortunately, the place was far too hot. Stu went red, bright, bright red, and slipped back to the hotel to collapse, joined by Rob a bit later.
Saturday – Blank space
There’s no diary for today, well nothing that doesn’t look like a page from Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. From memory it went like … try to get up, groan, have another hour in bed, try to get up, groan, have another hour in bed, and repeat until lifts close. We were both loaded with the man-flu by now, so saw the last day of boarding go past from behind our window. Not that we were that bothered, we’d had some amazing boarding all week, and we consoled ourselves with a walk around the resort, mooching in the shops and taking it very easy. Most people are going home today so the resort is emptying out rapidly. Weird to see it so quiet.
We had dinner in the hotel and after a wander round what is now a bit of a ghost town, we have one last round in the Rila lobby and head to bed.
Sunday - You can’t get home ... Scotland’s shut
We awake, coughing and spluttering at around 6am, to catch the bus to Sofia. The two of us are running on some kind of primitive survival system as we finishing packing, collect our passports and slump down on the coach.
The guide on the bus fancied herself as a history teacher and spoke all the way to the airport while all we wanted to do was sleep. We wouldn’t have minded but she couldn’t really speak English and broke off into Bulgarian just as the story was warming up. The jist of it, we think, was that the town of Samakov has good potatoes.
We had a slight delay at the airport, but wasn’t too bad, then a good incident free flight back to Manchester. We jumped on the National Express coach outside the airport and got taken to the depot in central Manchester where we were told that we would not be going any further.
Heavy snowfall in Scotland had caused all airports and rail links to be closed, add to this that an earlier coach had slid off the road a few hours earlier. A guy came onboard and said there was a hostel where we could bed down for the night and attempt a run up north in the morning. This wasn’t met with much enthusiasm, to say the least, so we stayed put.
After a worrying, but warm hour or so the driver came back on with some good news, the roads had cleared a little so he was going to attempt to take us all home. The trip back was fine, took a while mind you but we were very glad just to be able to see the finish line in sight. And we saw little or no snow the whole journey! Another year gone.
So there it is, warts and all. We got hurt, we got ill, we nearly saw a big fight and we saw the breasts of a very old lady.
We also had some fantastic riding in some fantastic snow, some great nights out and a real good laugh. Can’t help the fact that we both caught a bugger of a cold, which kind of put the kibosh on the last day, but will we go back? Of course we will!
NOTES
The video at the top is an edit that was made for inclusion in the Ski DVD of Borovets by Phil Cross or 'Banknote', of PalmCross Productions and owner of the Ski DVD website. (He chose the music too.) For more info head to http://www.skidvd.co.uk/
If you are really, really eagle eye'd you may have spotted something in the video at the top of this blog entry. My board keeps changing! It's mixed footage from the whole week, but halfway through the holiday I had a little accident that means I'll always have a presence in Borovets.
At some point I caught an edge. REALLY caught an edge. So much so that the metal around the edge had ripped itself from the board. Only a tiny bit to start with, but as the day wore it got worse and worse until, by 2pm on the Wednesday, the board had effectively torn itself apart.
Repair was out of the question as it had destroyed a part of the base, and to be honest, it was ready for the scrap heap before I'd even left Scotland, so time to retire the old war horse. I took it into Francos to show Tommy (the barman at the time, now bar manager, and good pal) who took one look and decided it needed a proper home. He nailed it to the roof!
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| The roof in Franco's Bar |
At the end of this week I did the Sofia tour and transfer which means instead of milling around the resort on the last day you get to see some of Bulgaria's capital city. It's worth it if you don't fancy shelling out for a day pass to get one last day of skiing or boarding in, although I went to a B-B-Q fast food place, got some dodgy chicken and went on an involuntary liquid loss diet for the next few days! Still the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral was nice by night.
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| Sofia by Night |
That's really all there is to report from my first visit to Borovets in 2006. I managed to get my ASSI instructors certificate not long after. As a training week, it was brilliant, but there were limited nights on the town so by way of correcting this, lets jump forward a month or so and I'm on my way to get Stu ... (again, his comments are in italics.)
Part 2
Saturday – Waiter, there’s a fly on my everything! That’ll be £12.60 Sir.
It’s almost time to leave, but we have a problem. We were supposed to be driving down to Manchester Airport but 3 days ago something big and important broke in my car and National Express got a call. We had two choices, arrive at 4am and have a ten hour wait for the flight, or arrive the night before, stay in a hotel, and get to the airport fresh and raring to go. We opt for the night in a hotel.
Bus leaves around 3.15 in the afternoon and we find ourselves sitting between two lots of football supporters drinking rather heavily and shouting over our heads to each other. It’s noisy, hot, cramped and keeps stopping every hour or so at Hamilton, Carlisle, Bolton … this hotel tonight better have a bar!
Finally get to Manchester Airport, happy to be off one bus, and well annoyed that we missed the next, the free bus to the hotel. Hail a cab and get charged £12! We just travelled from Scotland for that amount! … this hotel really better have a bar!
Head down for dinner in the hotel of chips and burgers, which turned out just as you’d expect, but when I tipped up the vinegar bottle to pour on my chips, there was a splash of small black bits. I thought they were herbs or something but Stu stopped me as my fork hovering at my mouth. Turns out they were dozens of tiny dead flies that had poured out over my food! No apology, just another plate of chips summoned from the kitchen. Well, really! We need that bar, now!
We find it, but there’s a noisy party full of salesmen next door, all dinner suits and ‘my company car is bigger than yours’. Don’t worry, we say, in 24 hours we’ll be in a pub full of boarders and skiers, looking out at the snow, and the passer by’s, falling gently in the street. We had a few beers and decided to call it a night, then again, then again about 2 in the morning. The salesmen are now our best pals in the world. We must get to bed … right one spirit then, yes we’re on holiday. We have large vodkas … they were £6.30 each! And some say the prices in Borovets are criminal! Next time, we'll do the ten hour wait!
Sunday - Terminal confusion, terror and relief.
Woke up a little hung-over (what happened to fresh and raring to go!) and we both decided to skip breakfast, as we couldn’t take more insects. After a bit of heaving, running and free bussing, we’re back at the airport again, and present ourselves at Terminal 3 … and there’s no check in desk. It’s actually at Terminal 2, where we needed to be five minutes ago. We run the hundred thousand miles between terminals with board bags, backpacks and boot bags bouncing off our legs, walls, doors and small children. We’re hysterical when we get to the right place, get checked in, get through security, get fast food and get sat down.
We realise as we board the plane that exactly one year ago today, almost to the minute, we were just BACK from Borovets, tired and looking forward to going back again. The flight is fine, nice and relaxed with our first taste in exactly a year of the sublime Bulgarian lager, Kaminitsa although it’s not the same out of a small can ... but won’t be long now until we land and get a proper pint. Famous last words.
Things started to get a little bouncy on the approach to Sofia. There was some rough turbulence on our descent, and by the time we got close to the airport the plane was bouncing all over the place. Some of the people on board were cheering and waving their arms. There was a thump and all hilarity stopped. Dead.
Stu - By this point I was chalk white and it didn’t help when Robert drew my attention to outside the window. For some unknown reason lots of fires were scattered all over the place at ground level. I think it must have been people burning crops and such things. "Must be the five o'clock flight," he said.
Our pilot attempted to land at Sofia not once but twice with the plane being tossed around like it was in the hands of a toddler. The wind won this particular fight as the pilot gave up and flew on to the next airport, Plovdiv.
Stu - I’m never going abroad ever again. Ever.
Plovdiv airport is an old military airstrip. It’s got a little better over the years, but at the time it was basically a shed and some tarmac. For some reason the guards there decided to put every item of baggage through a big slow scanner, one by one, as the queue grew and grew. As we waited we got chatting to an English couple on their first trip over, and proceed to indoctrinate them in the way of the snowboarder. Sensing an opportunity, the proprietor of the wee kiosk in the airport foyer hastily threw open his shutters, and moments later Stu comes back with a big grin a few small bottles of vodka. I go back for some bottles of coke and we turn what could have been a long boring wait into a wee party.
Eventually the buses and harried reps arrive from Sofia and after a few moments of confused mayhem, we're on our way to Borovets. By now we're having a really good laugh, thanks to the other people on the bus and a bit of vodka, but then a problem arises. I was bursting for a pee! There’s no loo on this bus, this is going to be a longer transfer than we had anticipated and there’s no stops scheduled into it as everyone, the drivers, the reps and the holiday makers all want to get to the resort as quickly as possible.
Stu - Argh, don't do it!
I have to! Despite Stu's embarrassment, I need to take matters into my own hands. I walk up the full bus and ask the driver to stop. Reluctantly he does, eventually, and as the doors open I hear a few voices say, "Thank Christ for that" as every guy on the bus runs off!
We finally check into the Rila, dry and accident free an hour later. It's about 1am so instead of the promised welcome meal we get presented with some rolls filled with, “weak ass disgusting cheese like stuff” as Stu loudly proclaimed in reception. Not bothering to change, we wander across the road to Francos. It's almost empty, but that doesn't stop Tommy greeting us with a loud, "fuck me, you're back!" and a few free beers. Bed at around 2.30.
Monday - First day bedlam, new friends and old friends.
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| Hotel Rila Bedroom |
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| You will Obey the Big Sheep |
We try to avoid the crowds by getting up stupidly early and heading down to the lobby to collect our lift passes. You may remember I mentioned in last year's report someone called Vicki who worked in the Happy Duck. Well, this year she was with Balkan holidays as a rep and as we entered the room where uniformed Balkan employees were handing out the passes we had a quick look for her. (We'd met her the year before and had been chatting on and off online.) But, when we asked the other reps where she was, they went strangely quiet and wouldn’t give us a direct answer. Strange.
The two of us ran into Bobby Turbo at the entrance to the hotel and chatted to him for a while but he had lessons to do so we agree to meet up later at some point. I leave Stu to the usual melee as instructors find pupils and groups are organised. We were hoping it would've been quieter out there, doing the holiday Sunday to Sunday rather than Saturday to Saturday, but it seems to be terrible both mornings! I leave him to it and go for another coffee.
Stu - Standing by the international flags in front of the Rila, waiting to be picked up for the lessons. Bedlam! The gondola's closed due to lack of snow and high winds, so this side is absolutely rammed. We get assembled but we're off to a slow start as we have some complete beginners in the group, but to be honest it suited me as I started to get used to being on a board again at a nice easy pace. In fact only, myself and an Australian guy in the class had boarded before so we were left to out own devices for a bit. The snow conditions are terrible, the temperature had risen to 15 degrees by lunch time and the resort had had no fresh snow fall for almost two weeks. I was down to my t-shirt due to the heat, and as we headed off to Franco's for lunch the snow was really starting to melt into slush.
I do a few runs down the Rila reds then meet up with Stu for food and then a slow afternoon of small runs and tinkering with bindings. We head back after a while, worried about the snow conditions and praying they'll improve.
Still in our gear we have the usual welcome meeting and welcome meeting wine. We sign up for the now traditional pub crawl which starts in an hour or so, so quick change, quick bite and we're out again. Go round the usual suspects, Franco’s, 101 Cocktails (now Chilli Peppers), Mamacitas, and the rest. I also take the chance to disappear off to the Titanic, which isn’t on out itinerary, but where I meet an internet buddy called Tanny who posts regularly on Ski DVD and Bulgaria Ski and with whom I have a few drinks.
Meet back up with everyone again at silly o’clock in the Happy Duck and get the story about what happened to Vicki, from Vicki herself. Lets just say that there were some incidents just the night before and as of the morning we arrive, she doesn't work for Balkan anymore. I'd brought her some British sweets she’d asked for online which cheered her up a bit, then she got really drunk which cheered her up a lot!
Tuesday - Broken wrists and temperature depression.
Another day and still no fresh snow but it felt a lot colder and some hefty clouds were creeping in. The gondola is open today so I'm up and out like a shot.
Stu - I was with my boarding group. After some runs at the usual patch in front of the Rila, Jo, one of the girls in my group, fell. Well, she more or less just sat down the wrong way and snapped her wrist, cutting her snowboarding career, and the lesson, short as our instructor took her off to the medical centre. I met up with her later on in Franco’s to offer sympathy but she seemed perfectly fine while being clearly spaced out on painkillers.
Meanwhile, up top, the clouds are so heavy that you can’t see the gondola station until the gondola enters it! Classic white out conditions that make coming down a slow process and I really wouldn’t have done it if I hadn’t seen so many people heading out before me. Knowing the run and thinking like a sheep I followed them. Damn silly as you couldn't see five feet in front of you, and in conditions like that you don't know how fast you're going. Fortunately, the clouds parted halfway down and had some nice runs until late in the day, although only from mid-station down.
A quiet night out tonight, well quiet for Borovets standards, that involves most of the pubs from last night and moments on knees, in the street, praying to the snow gods … or maybe we’re just falling over a bit.
PLEASE SNOW!
Wednesday - Extreme Leg Burn and the Last Run Phenomenon.
Stu - I was the only person that turned up to the group today. Nikki our instructor, knowing that I knew the basics took me onto the chair lift and onto a red run. Got on brilliantly, even on the steep bits, it’s amazing what a bit of one-on-one instruction will do. Did the first half of one of the reds in front of the Rila, but when I reached the green that cuts across them, my legs felt that someone had set them on fire! Nikki agreed we should take it easy and followed the green down.
I too was on the Rila side today, having a go at that black we could see from our hotel room balcony. It was a struggle to avoid the ice, so on my second run, when I spied Stu on the green, I decided to follow him for a bit. Bad Idea! ... it may be a green for skiers, but for boarders it’s too damn narrow to properly control your speed. We can’t snowplough! Dive off down one of the reds and head to the usual place.
Stu - Lunch in Franco’s and by the time it got for us to stand up my legs were feeling far too sore. Eventually I decided on a few runs of the green off to the right of the Rila, Nice and close to the hotel if I felt wobbly, but still out and about. Unfortunately, on my second run I fell... badly. I caught an edge and sort of flipped over bashing my knees on solid ice. I was done for the day. Limping back to the hotel, I jumped into a warm bath to try and sooth my bruises. My legs made me a million promises of pain to come. Please snow!
I had a few more runs, then back to Francos as I had a date to keep. I’ve been in Borovets a few times now, but tonight was only the second time I’d ever been night boarding. Met up with Bobby Turbo and we headed out for the evening. Some nice runs, well lit and very quiet, but holy moly, it’s cold up there!
Now, it turns out that the girl from Stu’s group who broke her wrist, Jo, is right next door to us in the Rila, on holiday with her pal Kath. After I get back and changed we meet them in the lobby and get chatting about places to eat ... and in a few moments end up all heading out to White Magic for pizza. It's run by a guy called Christo who used to be in the Bulgarian National Ski Team and who's quite a character. The place is tiny, but there's memorabillia from his skiing days all over the walls and he'll even take you out on the slopes for a few lessons, although you might end up falling for his camera!
We chat to Christo for a bit then head down to the Happy Duck. It's busy so we have to sit next to a fridge in the corner. Thing is though, it has a light inside designed by the guy who made the light on top of the Luxor Hotel in Vegas. The first time it opens it physically hurts our eyes and we all recoil swearing. We were being blinded every time the staff wanted something cold!
The band were right next to us too, so we were dazzled in one eye and deafened in one ear, a combination that could have worked but we decided to start heading back and manage to get as far up as the pub, 101 Cocktails.
After half an hour Stu goes to the bar and I join the huge queue for the toilet, before realising what every other man is doing and step outside at the back. We’re all quietly doing our thing when a voice pipes up, “you know for a wee pub, it’s got a bloody huge toilet! There are trees in it and everything!” As I stumble back, laughing, in I notice something, something that the trees have been sheltering me from. It’s snowing! No, IT’S SNOWING! Great huge flakes. I stand in it for a moment, go in and stand in front of Stu with a huge smile on my face. He takes a second to realise what I’m covered in then punches the air!
We toy with the idea of shimmying up the gondola cable S.A.S style with our boards on our backs and waiting to get the first run in the morning. No chance. After a few vodka red bulls in 101 cocktails the girls called it a night. We didn’t. This calls for a celebration!
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| SNOW! |
Thursday - The Golden Chicken, Four Monkeys and Old Lady Porn.
Fluffy gorgeous beautiful soft wonderful powder. It hasn’t stopped snowing all night and the whole resort has changed dramatically. Trees are no longer green, they’re white. Beginners are laughing when they fall, not grimacing against hard ice. The snow gods are good people.
I have some great runs up top all morning, then come down for lunch with Stu, but we decide not to eat outside!
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| It really was that deep! |
I'm a bit knackered from the riding that morning and Stu's really feeling pain in his knees. I prescribe Kaminitsa (it 'calms the knees, ah') but he has a few chocolate brandys instead. We spend the afternoon tinkering with bindings and then playing on a wee kicker at the top of the Rotata slope, filming each other, posing for photos and getting mildly drunk. Brilliant lazy afternoon, with lots of tumbles, but we had such a soft landing!
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| Brandy Chocolate and a screwdriver |
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| ROCK |
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| This won't end well |
I've just realised that these are some of the first photos we took that holiday! It seems that we were too depressed to take pictures of a bare snowless resort!
Back to the hotel and after a brief snooze before we’re out on the town for the Balkan Quiz Night. It’s in a restaurant called the Golden Chicken, one we’ve never heard of, never mind visited before. After a hunt around and a few questions we find it near the gondola, having passed it a number of times over the week and not noticed it. As with the pub crawl, it was nowhere near as good as the Thomsons quiz last year, but it had its moments. The hosts were both Bulgarian so some of the questions got a bit lost in translation.
"Ok, now, there are four monkeys… standing… facing the walls of a room"
The mere concept gave us chills. It was like The Blair Monkey Project. Are they looking at us, are we not Obeying the big sheep? It’s without a doubt the first time we’ve ever gotten the FEAR from a pub quiz. But in the end we won and got a bottle of cheap champers, so it’s not all bad.
We share the free booze with a crowd of people we'd become familiar with over the week and stayed out chatting and drinking to quite late, and we would have stayed longer had a fight not nearly started. This was out first experience of trouble in Borovets, but that's mainly because we don't like the Buzz Bar, but as things started kicking off we decided we needed a kebab!
Greasy food in hand, we got home, and switched on the soft porn channel Stu had found on the telly. It was a constant advert for phone sex lines of every description, and was diverting in harmlessly titillating way until and old lady, and I mean a wrinkled grey pensioner in her 70's, appeared in nothing but a thong trying to get people to phone. It was like being slapped. We both shouted Nooooooooo! far too loud and must have woke up half the hotel. Stu nearly choked on his food. We didn’t watch that channel again (well not much).
Stu's been coughing and spluttering a bit today and later than night I wake myself up having a bit of a cough. Oh oh.
Friday - Scary skidoo, the flu arrives, heat stroke at the black tiger
We sleep late today as it's really obvious we're both coming down with something. It's an effort, but we get up, get out and go up the gondola together, Stu and myself both doing the blue circuit up there but at different speeds.
At lunchtime we jump on the back of the skidoo that takes you back up to the gondola (there's a travelator now) and Stu almost flys off the back. The driver shot off like a bullet from a gun, not really waiting until we were on it properly. The trip up was one long loud swear word.
Stu - I thought it was time to board the slopes I had skied down a year before, so instead of getting the gondola down I decided to board down, at least to the top of the Yastabrets four man chair. I got on okay with some help from TK, but at one point I fell and somehow cut my hand. I ended up walking along the straight, tired and pissed off. I jumped onto the chair and headed back to the bottom the easy way. I got a taxi back and headed straight to bed. I really wasn’t feeling very well at all. Making sure I was okay TK disappeared up the gondola again and was gone for the day. When I awoke Rob had returned but looked like he was really battling the flu now.
Despite our sniffles, we head out. A pizza in an almost deserted Francos and anguish from Stu has he's finding it difficult to finish his beer. His mind nearly snaps at the prospect! The resort seems a bit empty, so we wander around, ending up at the Karaoke in the Black Tiger. Here’s where everyone is! It was the last night of the holiday for so many people, so the place was packed out.
We try to get into the swing of things but unfortunately, the place was far too hot. Stu went red, bright, bright red, and slipped back to the hotel to collapse, joined by Rob a bit later.
Saturday – Blank space
There’s no diary for today, well nothing that doesn’t look like a page from Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. From memory it went like … try to get up, groan, have another hour in bed, try to get up, groan, have another hour in bed, and repeat until lifts close. We were both loaded with the man-flu by now, so saw the last day of boarding go past from behind our window. Not that we were that bothered, we’d had some amazing boarding all week, and we consoled ourselves with a walk around the resort, mooching in the shops and taking it very easy. Most people are going home today so the resort is emptying out rapidly. Weird to see it so quiet.
We had dinner in the hotel and after a wander round what is now a bit of a ghost town, we have one last round in the Rila lobby and head to bed.
Sunday - You can’t get home ... Scotland’s shut
We awake, coughing and spluttering at around 6am, to catch the bus to Sofia. The two of us are running on some kind of primitive survival system as we finishing packing, collect our passports and slump down on the coach.
The guide on the bus fancied herself as a history teacher and spoke all the way to the airport while all we wanted to do was sleep. We wouldn’t have minded but she couldn’t really speak English and broke off into Bulgarian just as the story was warming up. The jist of it, we think, was that the town of Samakov has good potatoes.
We had a slight delay at the airport, but wasn’t too bad, then a good incident free flight back to Manchester. We jumped on the National Express coach outside the airport and got taken to the depot in central Manchester where we were told that we would not be going any further.
Heavy snowfall in Scotland had caused all airports and rail links to be closed, add to this that an earlier coach had slid off the road a few hours earlier. A guy came onboard and said there was a hostel where we could bed down for the night and attempt a run up north in the morning. This wasn’t met with much enthusiasm, to say the least, so we stayed put.
After a worrying, but warm hour or so the driver came back on with some good news, the roads had cleared a little so he was going to attempt to take us all home. The trip back was fine, took a while mind you but we were very glad just to be able to see the finish line in sight. And we saw little or no snow the whole journey! Another year gone.
So there it is, warts and all. We got hurt, we got ill, we nearly saw a big fight and we saw the breasts of a very old lady.
We also had some fantastic riding in some fantastic snow, some great nights out and a real good laugh. Can’t help the fact that we both caught a bugger of a cold, which kind of put the kibosh on the last day, but will we go back? Of course we will!
NOTES
The video at the top is an edit that was made for inclusion in the Ski DVD of Borovets by Phil Cross or 'Banknote', of PalmCross Productions and owner of the Ski DVD website. (He chose the music too.) For more info head to http://www.skidvd.co.uk/
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