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Well it all started innocently enough.  I had just returned from a week in Bulgaria spending time with local friends in a small town called Chepelare in the Rodopi mountains.

I had really enjoyed some off road outings in a jeep going to the top of mountain Medichou and the Perelik.   When I got back I told a few biker friends – I just mentioned the trip and how fantastic it would be for an “off road” session.

You could see the startled realisation in their eyes – unrestricted roads – Boldly going where no idiot has gone before.

Five or six essential meetings in the pub later – and we were off – early start from Manchester and landing in Sofia late morning – collected by a friend who’s car only just managed to squeeze everything in– and an experience none of us would ever forget.

We arrived at about 4pm and it was raining hard – unusual for the area which is the sunniest in Europe with over 265 sunny days a year – I’ve been many times to the region and whilst I’ve seen snow I’ve never seen rain – was this an omen?  Too right it was.

It had been pouring down for the previous six days but we arrived in good spirits – in more ways than one, with Beer at under £1 a pint and food that was fantastic and incredibly cheap. Strange how fate has a way of picking you up – then knocking the legs from under you.

I had arranged the bikes through my Bulgarian friend Krassie.  He had travelled to see them and they had nice shiny new KTMs. 

He booked four bikes and we would have been happy with anything over 250 but were hoping for a selection which we could swap around.

What was important was that they were road legal as some of the tracks we needed to travel to by road.

The day we arrived Krassie called the guy who was hiring the bikes to say we would be over Sunday morning to pick them up.  – he had forgotten about us and had “winterised” the bikes and put them in storage.

Krassie was livid and screamed at him over the phone – though that’s fairly normal in Bulgaria even in an ordinary conversation.

The guy returned a call and promised to have four Bikes ready for us in the morning, they would work on them that evening and first thing in the morning all would be ready for when we arrived.

So we get there about 11 o’clock and the mechanic was still fiddling about.

He was finding it difficult to make the required adjustments with the tools – being right handed and having to hold them in his left hand on account of the bottle of Karminiza being in his right hand – and that obviously was not the first bottle that morning.

Not to be discouraged, we went to the office which just happens to double up as a bar in the evening, he sorted out the insurance documents and apologised for not having the KTMs available but he had 3 600s and a 250 which we could have at a cheaper rate. 

What were we going to say; No? We had just travelled 4000 miles to find the only bikes available in Bulgaria, so the decision was kind of easy to make.

You expect off road bikes to have a few scratches and perhaps not to be in “mint” condition – but these were unbelievable.

Only 3 had number plates – 2 had lights, I had the 250 with No mirrors, lights, keys, speedo, indicators, number plates or anything remotely electric – like a starter. And I had one of the better ones.

Phil got on a Honda 600 – he is used to a Pan so it was a miniature to him.  Then he realised it had no front brake. “Oh just pull it a few times” the guy said – obviously the bleed tool was also a right handed one.

What the hell – we were in Bulgaria and on Bikes, did we care – No!  Well not yet anyway...