Explore Europe’s hidden corners, from a hike along ancient shepherding routes in Bulgaria to an epic motorbike ride through 10 countries Mountain culture, Ukraine Most visitors to Ukraine stick to exploring Kiev and Odessa, but the country’s Carpathian mountains offer a unique and completely untouristy cultural experience. One area, south of the town of Ivano-Frankivsk, which lies between the mountains and Lviv, is home to the Hutsul people, an ethnic group representing several mountain tribes with their own dialect, a Cyrillic alphabet, and a lifestyle focused on sheep herding and agriculture. They have their own pagan traditions, crafts such as embroidery, woollen rugs and embossed leather, plus their own foods – brynza, a crumbly goat’s cheese, and banush, a polenta-type dish. Their tiered wooden churches and buildings make interesting stops in long narrow villages amid beautiful mountain scenery. Few people speak English and there is very little tourism infrastructure, so a visit is a real adventure, and it might be wise to hire a guide or at least a driver who speaks English to direct you to the most interesting areas. • Go Ukraine (+44 (0)1484 663 889) tailormakes trips to the region, including three nights in Kiev, a driver, five nights in various mountain villages, plus two in Lviv, and transfers back to Kiev, for around £1,200 for two people, excluding flights. Wizz Air , BA and Ukraine International Airlines fly from London to Kiev. Transhumance hike, Bulgaria For centuries sheep herders moved their flocks great distances from high pastures to low and back, depending on the season. Though modern farming pretty much put paid to this tradition, one conservation body, the Fund for Wild Fauna and Flora , is trying to revive it. It says the herds help to maintain the grassland and, after months in the mountains eating wild vegetation, produce great quality meat and cheese. You can join a seven-day transhumance of 200-400 sheep on 2-9 October (the reverse journey takes place in May) from their summer base in the Balkan highland pastures to their winter spot at the foot of the Kotel mountains, in the Stara Planina mountain area of eastern Bulgaria. You walk with a sheep herding family and FWFF volunteers, sleeping in tents and village homes, with horses and mules carrying the luggage, and accompanied by dogs in case of bear or wolf attack! It ends with a celebratory festival

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