禁漫天堂

Sean, I am so glad you posted! I'd been wondering what was happening.

And yes, it gets very hot in summer and very cold in winter no matter where in Bulgaria you are. The "mild" southern winters are only mild compared to central Bulgaria where it can get far colder. -6 is probably about as cold as it gets where you are.

Great that you have helpful neighbours, that can make such a difference. I hope it all works out for you.

@S25 - Sean

It was a bracing -12 here when I dragged Her Nibs out from under the duvet at 5:30 this morning to get ready for work. The electric shutter on her garage grumbled a lot, since it was iced up, but eventually opened. Once she was en route I had a pleasant stroll into the centre of our "village" to see what goodies Mr Temu had brought for me - better get everything I "need" before Ursula tightens up the customs and VAT collection! 馃榿

@janemulberry - Thank you for your kindness Jane. Will try to do a YouTube doodar when I get back after Saturday. Might take a couple weeks of editing but should be 3 or 4 videos worth to share with people.

@JimJ - Guessing your up north or central somewhere? Dunno how you cope at that temp so early, half your temperature and i refused myself to get out of the sleeping bag to light a fire, at least until the sun was out around 8am 馃ぃ

Gotta admit though, as cold as it was, the train though Dryanovo passing mountain forest draped in thick snow... one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen.

(Sorry for bold text, phone won't let me change it)

@S25 - Sean

In the southern suburbs of Sofia. It was actually surprisingly "warm" - as a general rule, up here on the mountain it's usually around 7 degrees cooler than in town, winter or summer, so only -12 was quite welcome! 馃榿

@S25 - Sean

Jackals? :-)

But, yeah, I get the drift on the night-time doggie ambience, we get a fair amount of that here. :-) I believe that Bulgaria does have a few jackals, but I suspect there are about 100X more stray dogs (far less romantic) out there howling at the moon. :-)

I think in our village it got down to -12 or -13 a couple of years ago (and it wasn't far off last night). I enjoyed it a lot, and I kept up my daily walks without any issue. Even when (very) cold, Bulgaria is typically dry and sunny, and that crisp, wintry sunshine is delightful. Far nicer than the damp, grey stuff I left behind.

On the plus side, you're probably already famous locally... the Crazy English who's camping in his garden. :-)

Also... military sleeping bag? On the floor of a house? Luxury, mate... I used to sleep in a paper bag on't side of the road. :-)

@S25 - Sean

I like your positivity. We are just about to decide whether we take the plunge or not. Life is too short.

I'm glad you survived, Sean! Shame there's not enough snow to make a snow cave, you'd stay warmer then. Hubby did his army cold weather survival in Norway and quite enjoyed his night in a snow cave. Said it was surreal lying in his sleeping bag fully clothed, listening to UK radio on his transistor radio there.

According to my neighbour it dropped to -6 overnight in our village, though I'm currently in England where it stayed a comfortable 0.

Gwyn, I suspect Sean is right about jackals. I'm sure we have them in our area, as according to the wildlife map, they are reasonably common in parts of Bg. Many nights at our place I hear a strange wailing howl from further up the hill where no houses are, thrilling and eerie, that's very different to the usual chorus from the village dogs. It sounds exactly like recorded European jackal howls, so I see no reason to doubt that there are jackals howling up there. With open windows rather than aircon on summer's nights, one hears far more!

Yes it was definitely jackals. It sounded like a crowd of women screaming, so the morning after my first night I asked the next door neighbor if there was coyotes. The local dogs everywhere were going bananas.

Ramon told me it's jackals on the moorland at the back, I'm one lane away from endless open country. Then saw 2 of them run past my gate. Dinky little things, I thought they'd be much bigger.

Only came across 1 stray dog so far but hundreds聽 of cats. How do you switch of from wanting to rescue them all?

It must be mating season. Foxes scream like that during mating time.

For the cats --- find out if there's a Trap Neuter Release scheme run from a town anywhere nearby, who might come out to do some sessions. It won't reduce the current population but will hopefully stop it growing and allow the cats to have happier lives with less fighting for the boys and fewer pregnancies for the girls. Unfortunately ferals left to live natural lives tend to have short ones.

@janemulberry That's a good idea didn't think of that. 馃��

Love all animals but never been much of a "cat person" but was quite shocked on the train. Literally a huge farmers field that stretched for miles as far as the eye could see, the train stopped and I caught a glimpse of a huge bird of prey much bigger than a kestrel. Brown and white thing hovering on the wind, then 100 meters away were cats hunting mice or something near a patch of scrub bush.

How on earth they survive the cold is a mystery.

Bg really opens your eyes to what we have lost in Britian with wildlife and people's ability to have real meaningful community relationships.

Actually, I see more birds of prey here in the UK than at our Bg place!

Along the railway line has been left to rewild, and many farmers are letting their field margins grow wild, too. The red kite has been successfully reintroduced. We live at the edge of town close to the railway line and a pair often hunt near our house. Magnificent to watch!

The huge field that slopes down towards the Ring Road in front of us usually has several birds of prey hunting every day.

Alas, with the current boom in building on every available scrap of land, it's only a matter of time before it vanishes under a series of apartment complexes, I suspect... 馃槬

@JimJ Truly hope that doesn't happen, we need more farmers doing what Jane's says, re wilding the countryside. They introduced a number of breeding pairs of eagles in Cumbria, there's a couple in Cockermouth near Buttermere.

Never knew we had so many fellow nature lovers in this forum, you guys are awesome 馃憣

How are things going for you there, Sean?

@janemulberry back at hotel in Jambol, with a good shower and takeaway. Been an amazing experience neighbors treated me like long lost family, very strange but good. Hotel staff have become more friends than just staff.

Thanks for checking in and asking Jane. Tbh I wish I didn't have to go back to UK lol.

You doing okay?

Plan a trip back as soon as you can! Your neighbours will be happy to see you again.

I'm in the UK, and the teensiest bit envious of your adventures! But I'm not as hardy as you, and our house isn't anywhere near winter ready yet.聽 I do have a petchka and a roof that doesn't leak, and the luxuries of electricity and running water, but there's quite a bit more needed to make it even basically livable. Not good for winter trips.

But hopefully by next winter I'll have things better cold-proofed and have a good supply of firewood and be able to make some visits in the colder weather.

We have a bunch of special needs rescue cats here in the UK who can't be left, so until we make the move permanently we're limited to visits of only a week at a time, separately, while one of us stays to look after the mob. Which is unfortunately too short a time to get the house warm, as it takes that long to heat up the thermal mass of a cold old house.

@janemulberry

You will find a way I am sure. Sneak the kitty's in your suitcase, you could play with a furbie on the plane so they don't notice... Actually don't do that just incase boarder hunters put you on telly 馃ぃ

Can relate though, I left my old man with the pooch for this 2 weeks and his smart meter went off when he forgot to top up. Was hilarious trying to explain to ovo how I'm abroad but need a meter reset for him.

Sometimes feels life gets in the way but it will happen for you, just keep the dream alive Jane 鉂わ笍馃檹

When we stop dreaming, we stop living and are merely existing.

@S25 - Sean

Ahh Yambol, I am Jealous. I think it has one of the best walking streets with bars and some great restaurants. If you haven't already been, go check out restaurant ponoti (comes up as kitchen and bar ponoti on Google maps).

@VillageLife Unfortunately I was so busy mooching around the country, then back and forth through Yambol the most I got to see there was Kaufland and Praktiker 馃ぃ

For a city the people were very friendly, made some good friends along the way.

I might head back for Baba Marta so thanks for the tip. Will have to check that place out and try the food!