The majority of buses heading north from Kavarna take the main E87 road further inland and aim for SHABLA , a small farming town made up of the neat, whitewashed one-storey houses so typical of the Dobrudzha. In summer local minibuses offer a shuttle service from here to the seafront, 5km northeast of town, where the Dobrudzha   campsite offers bungalows for rent at about US$3 per person. There are a couple of beach bars and a restaurant serving grilled fish, but this relatively little-visited part of the coast seems a world away from the packed beaches of Varna, Golden Sands and Albena. Immediately north of the campsite are two lakes shrouded in bullrushes, the Shablensko ezero and the Ezerechko ezero , frequented by many varieties of birds, principally ibises, herons and grebes. Beyond here an enticing landscape of deserted beaches and crumbling ochre cliffs carries on for kilometres. It's excellent walking territory, although there's an official government residence just north of the Dobrudzha campsite and plain-clothes security police often descend from nowhere to check ID.

Served by a single daily bus from Shabla, the seaside village of KRAPETS , 10km north of Shabla, is a sleepy place known for its dunes and bird life. Locked in rural solitude, it's an ideal place to get away from it all, and there's a beachside campsite , the Krapets , with bungalows (US$9-18), signposted off the main E87 just outside the village, as well as a modern three-star hotel , the Yanitsa (tel & fax 05743/2394 or 3193; US$36-60), which also has an excellent restaurant. However, the main reason to venture this far is to cross the border 6km north of DURANKULAK , another rural community famous for being the epicentre of the 1900 peasant rebellion against the desyatâk , a crippling tax imposed on agricultural produce by the Radoslavov regime. Six kilometres east of town is a fish-rich lake, and a campsite , the Kosmos , offering bungalows (US$9-18).

Crossing the frontier involves catching one of the three daily buses from Shabla to Durankulak before completing the remaining 6km of the journey on foot or by taxi. The 24-hour border post is relatively quiet, but you should still allow a couple of hours if crossing the frontier by car, less if you're on foot. Romanian entry visas are sold here for about US$35, and taxi drivers on the other side will take you to the resort town of Mangalia , 10km away, where you can link up with the Romanian public transport system.