A short and very nice cycling route for mountain biking above Vladislavovo district in Varna, which mainly includes trails - both for ascent and descent. This makes it a little harder uphill, but the steep sections are mostly at the beginning and the effort is worth it, because you go through 1-2 panoramic places overlooking the city and the sea. In general, the route is not difficult in terms of physical load, and technically it is quite easy, although there are 1-2 steeper and more difficult sections when descending. What you need to watch out for is rather the high speed in some areas - if you are not sure that you can react quickly and adequately, do not get too carried away!
The description includes many forks and intersections. The easiest way is to navigate with the GPS on the handlebars, so you do not have to stop and read directions every 100-200 meters.
The beginning of the route is at the turn of the buses near the upper end of Vladislavovo. There are enough parking spaces around the blocks in the area, and you can come on your own along Konstantin and Fruzhin Blvd. - there is also a bike lane.
The end of the route is further down, at the intersection of Konstantin and Fruzhin Blvd. with Sveta Elena Blvd. If you have come on your own, there is no point in climbing back to the bus turnaround. If you have a car and you have left it there, you will add a few hundred meters of climbing.
In some places on the plateau you may come across mud and tracks in the wetter months, but in general the route is suitable for cycling almost all year round.
Starting point: The bus turnaround at the upper end of Vladislavovo;
https://goo.gl/maps/Pfg5U9Z9zfxBNquF9
Length: 14.3 km
Ascent: 280 m
Descent: 330 m
Level of technical difficulty: medium
Physical activity: low
Duration: 1-3 hours (depending on the pace, breaks, etc.)
Water: 0.5-1 l; there is a fountain before the descent, but I don't know if it is drinkable
Food: not required
Terrain:
- asphalt - 0.6 km
- country roads - 5.6 km=
- paths - 8.1 km
Description:
The Boulevard“Constantine and Fruzhin” ends just above the turnoff for buses and trolleybuses. There, if you stand with your back to the city and face the mountain, a country road begins on the right (point 01), which immediately turns to the left (northwest) and starts to climb. After a while it splits (point 02), and we continue on the right one. At point 03 (0.5 km) the road turns left to a meadow, and we continue to climb a wide path straight on. There are also tourist markings in several colors. In point 04 (0.8 km) the trail forks - we move to the right along the one with blue, red and green tourist markings. Afterwards there is a short steep section and the path turns left. We follow the main path and avoid a few narrow paths to the right (the clearest one is in point 05).
At point 06 (1.2 km) there is an important fork, where the red marking continues to the right, and we follow the left path with green and blue markings. Depending on the season, the trail may be clearer or overgrown, but it is generally passable. Here the terrain gets leveled, ie. the main ascent is already behind us, but a few shorter ones are waiting for us. At point 07 (1.9 km) there is a fork again and we are to the left again. Then in point 08 (2.3 km) we cross an overgrown path and continue slightly to the left (westwards).
At point 09 (2.7 km) we go out on a wide meadow and join a country road to the right. We continue only on the main road, keeping to the left, skipping in point 10 a turn on the right hand side. In point 11 (3.4 km) we come again onto a country road to the right - there are many forks and small paths, which usually gather again, so choose your path according to the conditions - in some places there is more mud and tracks, in others the passing is easy. In general, we follow the main road, and groves and meadows alternate around us.
In point 16 we are on the left and in point 17 (5.2 km) we reach an asphalt road that comes from Aksakovo and goes to the village of Kumanovo. Here we continue on the main country road, which runs parallel to the asphalt road, to the left of it. Between point 18 and point 20 we go around a meadow - according to the maps somewhere on the left there should be seen remains of a fortress called Maglizh, but we could not find them (or at least they were not what we expected). Anyway, we follow the main country road, which follows an electric power line (in point 21 we choose the left road, and in point 22 and point 23 we go on straight).
At point 24 (7.4 km) it is time to prepare for the descent on a long path, although in many places there are short climbs. First there is a wide steep road to the left, which descends to the Hunting Fountain (item 25). There, slightly to the left and in the direction of the gorge, begins the path with green tourist markings - in the spring of 2021 its beginning was blocked by a fallen tree, but by moving carefully around it you soon will find yourself in the shade of the forest and on the path which in places is slightly overgrown, but still clear enough. In point 26 and point 27 we keep the left side on the main path. At point 28 (8.5 km) we cross a country road and continue straight on the path. After 500 m (point 29) we pass a country road on the right, then in point 30 we join another trail for a while and turn to the left, and in point 32 (9.8 km) the road goes down to the right and downwards again, and we remain on the path, which is wide and continues slightly to the left, cutting the slope. In this part the path is mostly flat or it is slightly sloping downwards. The slope starts to increase somewhere around point 33, where we go straight, and in point 34 (11.5 km) there is a crossroads, where we catch the right side of a wide path with yellow tourist markings. What follows is a steeper and quite fast descent, which will take you to the villa zone west of Vladislavovo.
In point 35 (12.5 km) we join a country road at the last houses and descend to the left on it, after a while in point 36 we continue to the right and then follow the main road down past a chapel, as in point 38 (13.2 km) we have to go down to the left and this time the road will take us to Yanko Mustakov Street (point 39), which goes around the Vladislavovo district from the west. We cross it and continue east to reach the end of the route (point 40) at the intersection of Konstantin and Fruzhin Blvd. with St. Elena Blvd. In case you have come by car and it is parked at the bus turnaround, you will have to climb to the left along the bike lane.
