After what seems like an enormous number of days slogging along on the bikes in the staggering Romanian sun, not to mention traversing the not-so-impressive Romanian roads, we arrived on Tuesday at the Bulgarian border. Today is our penultimate day on the road, and this is the first opportunity we've had to tell you what we learned about the importance of biodiversity in Bulgaria, accompanied by some local wine, a hotel and home cooked food.

In the Roussanski Lom region of Bulgaria, some of the Danube watershed's rarest species of birds co-exist amongst flourishing communities and burgeoning economic activity. In contrast to our previous visits in Austria and Hungary, however, where economic activity and nature conservation are concepts kept largely separate, here the philosophy is very much that they should, indeed must, go hand in hand for each to achieve long term success.

For example, there is a new pilot payment scheme in the region where farmers are now being paid to time the harvesting of their meadows in relation to local birds' nesting cycles. So whereas the birds were previously worthless (in economic terms) to local people, government funding is now coming in so that eggs and young birds are not destroyed before they have had a chance to leave the area. And all because governments have recognised the fundamental value of the biodiversity in the region.

This connection to the land is a theme we have seen in many scenarios on our journey, not least in relation to tourism, which was the basis of our next stop. Tsvetana runs a guest house (www.kladenca.com) as part of a local co-operative that supports lower impact and more traditional food and craft practices. As you can see, she bakes a mean loaf, and if this is the output of lower environmental impact food production, we're all in favour!

Meanwhile, up the road, we were off to learn more about the importance of biodiversity to the world of wine making, over a glass of chilled Sauvignon Blanc (proof enclosed) at the Raynoff Winery (www.raynoff.com). We knew already that local micro climates and soil characteristics are critical to growing good grapes. But we were fascinated to hear that vineyard owners are also huge fans of ladybirds. Not only are they great natural pest control (thereby reducing the need for, and cost of, pesticides) but they are also fantastic indicators of a healthy soil and vine system. As we can testify, looking after the little critters in your vineyard certainly delivers fine results!

So we have around 200km still to go, and the Danube Delta for our final biodiversity landmark beckons. We're battling blistering heat, broken spokes and punctures, and as of right now Will is chasing wild dogs who have stolen his shoes. It feels like a long way and a lot of sweat is still to come, but by this time tomorrow we should have finished our journey. Stay tuned!