After leaving Romania, we visited Bolata Bay and Cape Kaliagra before heading west, away from the Black Sea coast to Provadia Fortress (Крепост "Овеч"), the Madura Rider rock sculpture, finally arriving Lisi Vrah campsite early evening.

We were made to feel very welcome by Tracy and John: as Thursday was Tracy's shopping day, she offered to take us into Shumen, and up to the National Monument to the Founders of Bulgaria, from where we could walk to Shumen Fortress.

The National Monument is a slightly bizarre collection of concrete blocks with elaborate carvings, showing scenes from Bulgaria's history.

Shumen Fortress was inhabited for 6 epochs: Thracian, Greek, Roman, Ottomann, 1st & 2nd Bulgarian - from 1200bc to 1440ad, when the fortress was destroyed by the Ottomans, and the inhabitants moved to the plains below.