Dear Friends / Family / Colleagues,

I write this update in the same week that I celebrate my 5th anniversary living here in Bulgaria. I look forward to many more years ahead exploring the wonderful environment we have around us, and continuing my fulfilling professional journey of leading Ingram Micro Bulgaria.

At the start of the Bulgarian 56 Peaks Challenge in May 2022 when we first climbed Belmeken, my logistics lead Martin and I agreed that we would only do peaks when both of us are available. We have continued to honour this agreement. 

With this in mind, 2023 has proved to be a challenging year in which to arrange weekends for the next series of climbs. Weddings, family celebrations, holidays, Golf! and all the other personal commitments of life have limited our availability at the same time. And when we did head into the mountains earlier this spring for the first weekend trip of 2023… the weather conditions beat us!

However, I am pleased to advise that we now have 4 confirmed weekend dates in 2023 that you may want to consider joining us should you yourself be available on these weekends.

  • Saturday August 12th / Sunday August 13th  
  • Saturday August 26th / Sunday August 27th
  • Saturday October 14th / Sunday October 15th
  • Saturday November 18th / Sunday November 19th

You will note that these are all 2 day trips with overnight stay in the mountains. The reason for this is two-fold:

Most remaining peaks are more than 2 ½ hours drive from Sofia

2 full days in the mountains will allow multiple peaks to be reached over a weekend.

As yet we have not identified the peaks for these 4 weekends nor the routes to be taken.  As experienced multiple times now over the past 12 months, the Bulgarian Mountain weather may still eliminate one or more of the weekends if the weather gods are not kind to us. However, we remain eternally positive that by the end of 2023 we will be well on the way to completing the 56 Peaks. Perhaps you are getting fit in 2023, perhaps you support the charity we are climbing for (see links below), perhaps you are new to Bulgaria and have received this email from a friend, or perhaps you simply want to explore the wonderful scenery that Bulgaria has to offer. When embarking on this challenge myself and those who have joined me have focused less on the completion of the challenge itself…. And more on.

  • Raising awareness for the For our Children Foundation
  • Raising much needed funds
  • The great spirit and positive mental benefit enjoyed by spending quality time with friends old and new in the wonderful mountains of Bulgaria.

With this mindset the team and I have no issue if the challenge were to continue well beyond 2023.