Bamboo Odyssey » Georgia | Bamboo Odyssey

Tbilisi to Lagodekhi, Final Days in Georgia

Jules — Sun, 20 Oct 2013 11:26:12 +0000

12/10/ 13
I’m helping myself to Li’s last glass ( silicon x mug) of Georgian wine. I bought the essential nectar sold in an old plastic litre soft drink bottle while Li was busying herself with filling up on water. As i write this Li has fallen asleep and no doubt we can’t carry the wine tomorrow! Within a few kilometres we will cross borders from Georgia into Azerbaijan.
Leaving Tbilisi was far easier than expected. I was dreading hopping back on the bicycle and negotiating the chaos of Georgian driving. After ten days of rest, waiting for visas, visiting bath houses, making new friends, tasting the city’s delights…….and as a pedestrian….becoming terrified of crossing a road….we set off. The roads, the driving, it was doable, a wee amount of adrenaline, but doable….almost easy. We were soon out of the city limits. Fresh legs…..heavy legs….damn…..have we lost our cycling mojo?
The second day the scenery improved and our spirits rose with the gently rising landscape…..but Li was having trouble with her sit bones, hips, and again her elbow, eventually pain becoming excruciating. Numerous stops to adjust saddle. We found a perfect place to camp, reds, oranges of Autumn, villages, mist and vineyards below. Over 200 days since our departure and something continues to be sublime in every day. Ok….perfect view….a Valium to abate the spasms, great camp cooked food, sleep and another day.
Snow capped mountains, The Greater Caucausus……..inspiring……I am disbelieving….all day they beckon to us and only gentle climbs and descents, chilly descents. But it’s 29 degrees, sun screen and back into shorts and tees. A beautiful ride, villages full of fresh produce, wine….all road side stalls and far better to traverse by bicycle than motorised vehicle. This is really, really, life, a life to be lived, explored.
But between us…. Hips, elbow, knees hurt….I bonk (hit the wall to all you non-cyclist readers)…..first time in months. No reason as we should be fit, rested …. This is hard…..the roads, rather bumpy, poor condition, but comparably easy to previous terrain.
We are so very close to the border, also a national park….but our bodies won’t allow us to go further. In Georgia camping has never been a problem….we ask several times….but are directed onwards. It will soon be dark. Ok I have great wine…..lets book into a hotel….2 kilometres to the park now a kilometre is too much of an obstacle.
The hotel doesn’t have much water….but heating….we pump to the max. Nights have become cold, will become only colder and we will live up tonight, me with Li’s share of wine, Li, warm, snoring, under the sweet smelling bed covers, and tomorrow we enter Azerbaijan, more excitement and more of the unknown.

A couple of hitches

Jules — Wed, 02 Oct 2013 04:32:07 +0000

Christmas came early in the form of Nick, bearing replacement credit cards, new hole less, clean and well fitting clothes and bicycle bits and bobs for our onward journey. Nick joined us in a ride from Kars in Eastern Turkey to Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia.
Li and I had arrived in Kars with 3 days to while away before Nicks arrival from London. We were in a quandary. Ani on the Turkish, Armenian border was a must visit……did we sight see in these few days or wait for Nick, but risk not enough time to back track back and pedal back into Georgia for Nicks return flight home.
We were told Ani was absolutely not to be missed. Nick should also see Ani as we were so close….ok…..we wait for Nick……also persuaded by the throbbing ache in my legs and Li’s dodgy elbow. I sat, legs throbbed, Li moved, elbow stabbed, results of the worst roads, constant vibrations and toughest climbs we had just and so far experienced.
The plan was to start early, see Ani, the ruined Armenian city and make haste towards Georgia. On a high due to having Nicks company the road to Ani was not difficult. We stopped several times to tweak Li’s bike set up following the replacement….new tyres….and to ease pressure on her elbow. We travelled at an easy and relaxed pace. Nick and I shared a tear in the eye as the skeletal, in in parts, fully intact ancient capital came into view. Ghost like and set amongst little inhabited steppe, we wandered the outside museum with only 3 other couples of tourist popping in and out of view. We camped, enjoying the view of the crumbling wall, castle, churches and mosque, and again as the sun rose highlighting our vista before we rode away. Nick had 3 punctures in close succession……then a headwind from hell…..slow progress….my legs had not healed and the 3 days rest I had considered sufficient was a fallacy. We should have cycled well beyond Kars however we made it no further, contacting our couch surfing host who was kind enough to let us stay despite not being home herself. We were becoming anxious about arriving in Tblisi on time and discussed our options….if need be we would have to hitch.
Another day……another strong headwind. Road works and the slow pace being the deciding factor in ditching the option of an unridden route. We would continue the way we had come. Temperatures were dropping quickly and we woke to a temperature of -5 degrees and frozen water in our containers. Like our first week on the road…..what feels a life time ago….condensation on the tent had turned to ice.
Quickly the sun provided warmth and no wind signalled perfect riding conditions…..however Li and I were familiar to what beast, the mountain, that lay ahead and realisation dawned that we would not be able to make it to Tbilisi. It was our preference that we hitched now in Turkey on a road we had already traversed rather than a panic hitching the last leg in Georgia and miss cycling a section of our journey. How did Nick feel not climbing the beast…..thankfully he had nothing to prove…..Li and I were physically knackered and Nick was carrying some of our luggage in an attempt that we would keep up.
30 kilometres in the back of a pick up truck was a breeze…..very breezy in fact, and as the incline increased, we covered a days ride in less than an hour. Next we flagged down a bus. 45 kilometres……and rather than feel disappointed at having to take transport, gazing at what we had climbed…..I was impressed. No wonder our legs were becoming increasingly sore. The bus struggled, we looked down in awe…..where we had ridden about a week previously was now covered in snow. The gradients were taking my breath away……and these mountains may be small in comparison to what will eventually come, but I felt on top of the world.
In the saddle again we crossed the border shortly before the sun set. then Li’s second puncture for the trip. A quick repair. We camped in Georgia, confident we would make Tbilisi and with a brief visit from the border police before a restful sleep.
Our legs still ached…..increasingly. But we had bursts of energy, spurned on by great company, incredible views. 2 1/2 days more days riding, no killer gradients, ruined castles, churches, snow capped mountains, a final push and thanks to a tail wind we actually flew into Tbilisi. Our reward some of the most scrumptious food, wine and equivalent of Turkish baths. Legs will have time to heal and…… unfortunately, time to say good bye……but I have nicked Nicks, very good pair of winter riding boots!

Returning to Turkey

Jules — Sat, 21 Sep 2013 08:13:31 +0000

The easy part is being delayed leaving Batumi. Monday morning Li struggles to walk to the consulate with me to collect our Azerbajan visas, having suffered server stomach aches for two days. We opt to remain in our super hostel D’vine another night……also avoiding a days riding in a sub tropical downpour. Tuesday is my birthday and Li suggests an impromptu treat at the 5 star Raddison hotel. After a 1 km ride to our new home for one night we bask in luxury and watch the sun set from the 19th floor overlooking the Black Sea and moody cloud encased mountains to the East. This goes down nicely with Georgian Sparking Wine gifted to us from our neighbours at the next table. We share the cake gifted from the hotel and listen to horrors of the Georgian roads we are about to embark.
Wednesday after a slow start making the most of a bathtub, again overlooking the sea, we set off at noon. 40 km not bad for half a days riding and the roads reasonable with the exception of the hazards of cows that are more interested in diverting traffic than eating grass. They stand in the centre of the road staring into oblivion an almost constant of the landscape, city, towns, villages and in between.
Thursday is slightly more challenging, more cows, higher gradients, but the roads are only slightly pock marked and stopping at 42km is due to the convenience of finding a perfect camp spot rather than fatigue.
Friday is challenging. The crash barriers cease to exist. Li is terrified of heights, feeling sick at the closeness of the precipice with the ravine on our side of the road. We stop at 7km to rest. A man approaches us, picking grapes, that proves also a challenge. Incredibly sour but we do not want to offend and consume our gift…..next comes ‘cognac’. Li says no……I always say yes…..it’s 9.30am……a very long toast which I assume is to Maria his wife in the grave site close by….down the hatch…..quick succession…..another glass…..Li says ‘small’…gestures ‘small’…3 large glasses down the hatch. We thank the man ready to leave…..he motions us to wait, comes back with fruit and the bottle magically full……3 glasses, down the hatch. We all go collecting walnuts, at this point Li is very much enjoying cracking them with her bicycle lock…..sometimes too enthusiastically…..3 more glasses, down the hatch. I think we consumed a litre between us before wobbling on our merry way…..Li is not so frightened of the road any more. At 6km we need to rest and let the alchohol abate. Sitting overlooking a village, some children bring us grapes…..and we are invited to lunch. In the early afternoon, feeling rather full, and with a slight hangover we make it less than a kilometre and spot a wonderful welcoming flea bag hotel…….actually we don’t know what bit us…..maybe fleas? I have a cold shower…..Li does not.
Saturday…..ah…..that’s what they meant by the treacherous roads……cows….of course…..renegade cow gangs….pot holes …..gravel ……sand ….loose ….rocks …..mud. When we were lucky not to be consuming dust and grit from passing vehicles, the vehicles too were struggling and we consumed black exhaust fumes. Don’t believe all you hear about Georgian drivers…..on this road they too must be terrified and drive with extreme caution and courtesy. The drivers were the least of our worries…..all up, up, up we did a full day and completed an entire 20 km with only one fall on my behalf. As I picked myself up I noticed a person appearing nonchalantly oblivious to my predicament……perhaps I should be worried…..the incarnation of death for he carried a scythe? The road was certainly perilous.
Sunday…….it got steeper…..we became tired of getting on and off the bikes…..tyres skidding, jumping, bumping, rotating, but spinning to nowhere. Li’s mud guards caked with mud….each time getting on the bikes it became harder to lift leg over the saddle….eventually legs hitting luggage….saddle….we pushed upwards13km. Altitude 2025 meters on a road designated a highway and major Georgian artery. Down another 13km at a snails pace, brakes squealing, arms aching, tension and concentration….even resting, coasting legs taught in anticipation. Close to 7800km since we departed and I am still crap at controlling a bicycle, track stands and “look mum no hands” beyond me….this road is for mountain bikers. After 26km the road miraculously became bitumen and we felt we were flying a final 11km before calling it a day.
Monday….after camping in a football pitch entertained by well mannered, hilarious children we continued on what I call a real road. Up, down, up , down, up…..but bum in the saddle and we finally put in some distance crossing back into Turkey at the Vale, Posov border without a hitch. 48km felt measly before leaving Batumi but with these few days experience have greatly lowered our expectations. Getting tired we find a perfect camp site just shy of a village…..before spotting tomb stones. Not sure of how offensive this may be we ask a local and are given permission to spend the night…..no problems from the past or present inhabitants of the area and we have a good nights sleep.
Tuesday….Down….bloody well means up! We have to tackle our highest mountain pass yet. The nights are cooler, about 5 degrees which aids a good nights sleep but sleep is not helping the legs one bit. -At least since riding in Georgia I can now keep up with Li on the inclines….or she is more knackered than me? We climb only 27km…..realising if we make the pass it will be dark, and flat, safe camping is appearing limited. We request water from the Jandarma base, and camp at first opportunity 6km before the top.
Wednesday we reach an altitude of 2550 meters, magnificent colours of the waking sun and views of mountains, lilliputian villages and clouds scattered bellow. We enjoy coasting for 6km before rolling mountains, following a picturesque river, resting watching fishermen, gifts of freshly cooked fish and a completion of 54km. We make camp in a pine forest consumed by rain, lightening and thunder claps. It is the first time we are caught out, wet on the bikes in months. I am stinky, sleeping bag sandy, gritty and pine needles stuck to my bum.
Thursday brings another mountain pass off 2200 meters. We ride mostly upon steppe…..beautiful to me….mundane and unchanging to Li. Progress is slow and we are exhausted. I push up where once my legs should be able to pedal. Then we resort to our earphones…..music….endorphins….becoming euphoric. I was beginning to lose pace with Li but now I overtake, mysterious energy and legs in time with the beat….61km we are so close to Kars…..more lightening, taunting head wind….I become spent. Li’s elbow has a shooting pain, possibly due to accumulative vibrations…..we need to stop. Desperate as we enter a village, open fields, no shelter, we see a bee keeper and request camping in his yard…..thankfully pitch our tent….pull down our tent as we are invited inside. The honey is glorious!
Friday……15 km to Kars……and rest till Tuesday when we ride back into Georgia accompanied by Nick who we are exited to have joining us.

Batumi

Jules — Sun, 08 Sep 2013 10:36:46 +0000

Batumi is pleasant confusion. It’s like nowhere I have been but reminiscent of many places, including places from my imagination, places I hope to go and places I know about with little desire to go.
We are staying in a hostel. We rarely stay at hostels anywhere in the world. The hostel guests do not fit my presumed stereotypes. They are not 18 year olds on a gap year. Travellers from all over the world, different modes of travel, different budgets, different ages. No one is particularly young, all are well experienced, well travelled. Like us many have come to apply for visas to Azerbaijan…..or…..unlike us….for Iran. Unlike else where there is apparently no need to apply and pay for a letter of invitation to be granted a visa. So we wait….eat, drink, explore, converse, with our fingers crossed for that all important stamp to be issued when we return to the consulate tomorrow. 3 working days plus the weekend waiting in Batumi….although it appears possible the consulate will be out to breakfast….lunch….when we turn expectantly up, bike packed and ready to
depart on our next adventure.
Batumi is a Georgian Black Sea resort that reminds me of a shinier version of Blackpool, UK….Blackpool a place I do not recommend staying overnight but that must be visited on a day trip at least once…..or maybe Batumi is like a mini Vegas…..well in my imaginings as I have not been, nor desire to go there.
Batumi has a wealth of casinos to go with their 5 star international hotels. Also a wealth of glass, steel, plastic, rather cutting edge architectural buildings….and monstrosities…..many empty so we are unsure if their construction is incomplete. One such building, riding high above the city, glass, steel and white panels with a gold ferris wheel, at bit like 8 capsules from the London eye, protrudes from one corner…..unused….stationary….curious. Like a film set.
McDonald’s shares its space with a petrol station, not very pedestrian, minimalist garden of water and pebbles, inside very modern and slick, hard, expensive surfaces tastefully built upon several levels…..And elsewhere ….there is a chacha fountain. Free running Georgian alcoholic spirit, the fountain that flows for 10 minutes at 7pm every night…..outdoor bars, pool tables, ping pong……art…..sculptures everywhere. Some real tack, disastrously kitsch and some top notch, aesthetically beautiful or mind challenging objects. A dancing water fountain, huge, spurting water many meters into the air in time to music…well….sort of….music blaring in a square close to the sea front.
Behind the glitz is a run down, quaint and not so run down area that brings one back to the reality I like…..a new reality of what is Georgian, what is unfamiliar, not fantasy built to entertain and escape. Modern Georgian and traditional cuisine, bars, homes, people, Batumi has it all.

People stay with you forever

Jules — Tue, 03 Sep 2013 12:51:15 +0000

People stay with you forever, no matter where in the world you are. Whatever the time, the place. I am thinking of Nana Paula now. She made the perfect soft boiled eggs and soldiers. Just the right amount of too much butter. I should be sharing this dish with her now.
Naturally, in Georgia the first dish we should try is khachapuri. Our favourite food blogger raves about them in Food Stories. So we order 1 each, 2 varieties to share.
Soft cheese bread…..doughy cheesy, eggy bread. Doesn’t sound so amazing but we must try……oh my…..it is so amazing. The second one comes with a soft egg on top. You rip apart the sides and dip it into the egg and glorious dollops of butter…..almost like soldiers.
Two is too much, even for hungry, thinning touring cyclists.
I wash mine down with my first ever glass of Georgian white wine. They have been making the stuff for about 9000 years. Oh my……dry…..tropical scent…..without the coconut!……lingering notes of nut and apricot…..wow! I am going to enjoy Georgia.

Hello Georgia

Jules — Tue, 03 Sep 2013 12:07:14 +0000

Feeling immensely happy, feel like i am glowing….despite being covered in mud. Sitting in a cafe in Batumi, Georgia. Life is treating us so extremely well. We have located the Azerbaijan consulate and will shortly book into a hostel, get passport photos and apply for Visas for this, our following country…..after a brief detour back into Turkey.
Riding across the border from Turkey the change of culture, architecture, is immediate. So is the driving style! The driving is more chaotic than any I have encountered and to make sure we don’t get bored, the road surface has also deteriorated drastically. There are traffic lights…..round abouts…..but apparently no rules. Maybe, red, means go?……..Fortunately the drivers are kind and every now and then one lets us merge into the non existent lanes. Others toot and wave and hopefully continue to keep one eye on the road. It is strange for me to view women with short skirts, without head scarfs.
So we are back at the Black Sea, this time pebbles instead of sand, more ramshackle charm than the built up sterile resorts we witnessed in Bulgaria. Last night, rather than ride into Georgia, in the dark, we camped meters from the sea, still in Turkey, in a muddy but secluded area hidden from the road. We were also meters from the road, but confident not to be disturbed, as no one in their right mind…….would tramp through the bog…..to our refuge……
I am drinking coffee…..but have dully noted on the menu a huge drop in the price of beer, compared to Turkey…..ok…..shortly I will be drinking beer……and later I intend to sample the wine Georgia is renowned for. We have been relatively dry in Turkey, because of the heat, and often because of its absence in rural areas. It is only 10.30 in the morning but of course we are celebrating country number 12 so it must be close to beer o’clock.
I look forward to parking the bikes…..after our dry ish spell one beer has an effect. Gamarjoba Georgia……oh….can anyone tell me if I am back in Europe, or still in Asia?