Читать книгу Walking in Bulgaria's National Parks. Pirin, Rila and Central Balkans National Parks онлайн

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Traditional costume from the Pirin region

Typical trail markings: winter poles and summer blazes (Walk 1)

Thankfully, the majority of hiking trails are very well marked. Summer routes are indicated with coloured blazes (usually red, green, yellow or blue) painted onto rocks or trees, while the safest winter routes are delineated by lines of tall metal poles.

One other thing to be aware of when studying Bulgarian maps is that over the years many of the peaks, passes and other important topographic points, have had their names changed, often more than once. In this guidebook I have tended to use the most traditional names as my preferred choice, and included any other widely used title in parenthesis.

Mountain Rescue

In the event of something going wrong, Bulgaria does have an efficient and effective mountain rescue service (planinska spasitelna sluzhba), which although underfunded does a great job assisting and rescuing injured walkers and climbers. Bear in mind that if you do need their help, you will be expected to pay for it in cash, and then claim the cost back later from your own travel insurance. Once in the country itself, it is possible to purchase specialist Bulgarian mountain rescue insurance from the main mountain rescue bases (www.pss.bg/base.html). It is very reasonably priced, and not only helps to simplify administrative procedures in the event of an accident, but also helps provide much-needed extra funds direct to the mountain rescue services. The emergency telephone number for mountain rescue is 02-9632000.