Into the motherland!

Tuesday 6th May - 229 miles

We spent the night in Batumi, in a brand new guesthouse. It remind us a lot of south america with the funny plumbing! Smell of sewage coming of the brand new bathroom and toilet flush noisy enough to be heard from outside. The owner is friendly enough and the bikes sleep in the front yard.

The morning is cloudy. WE get up and leave as there is no breakfast included. The traffic is maniac and dangerous but we manage, by luck, to find the highway to Tbilisi. We are not going there but planning to get to the historic town of Mtskheta ( about 20 miles north of Tbilisi) with its very old cathedral, monastries and castles!

After a long ride, avoiding crazy drivers overtaking anywhere anytime, avoiding cattle, goats, sheeps, horses etc  left free to roam on the road and potholes big enough to swallow the bike, we get to our destination for the night. After a bit of searching we   find a nice guest house in the centre.

We have a nice walk around town in the warm weather, and nice diner at night. The food and wine in Georgia is indeed nice! But by night the weather turns stormy!

Wednesday 7th of May - 86 miles.

We leave Mtskheta mid morning as we are not in any rush. We want to get near the border with russia and get through the following morning. We always try to cross borders in the mornings if we can. 

The weather is cold and it is raining! Again. This spring if definitely aweful! 

We aim for the national park of Kazbegi, high in the mountains. Lots of people go there for highking and climbing. And it is the only road into Russia.

As we get closer, the weather turn awfully cold, thehigher we   go the colder it gets, and then the rain starts!

We stop at a side restaurant for a rest and to warm up. We then get back on the bikes with all our layers. You can bet the day we get our summer base layer out is the most freezing day! And so it is!

We climb into the clouds, the visibility is very poor, the road is steep and with very tight turns, the bikes turn asthmatic and very slow but get us to the top  at over 2,400m. It is incredibly cold. Then we start descending a bit. The views are stunning though, and in clear weather, it would be biker paradise!

We get to the village by mid afternoon and after the usual run around get a guest house, it is warm, they have the heating on and   hot water! 

Thursday 8th of May - 107 miles

We leave after a nice breakfast provided at the guest house.

We then ride the few miles to the border. Getting out of Georgia takes about 15 minutes. We then ride few miles to the Russian side.

There is already a queue! A guard bark few orders to the car in front of us and to us and we get into a line. There are 2 lines for foreigners, and 2 for russians. 

The weather is still cold and very windy, but at least it is not raining.

After a while a guard gives us forms to fill for the passport control. W then leave the bikes and go ahead to the little hut to get that done.

The line hardly move. Then someone asks us about anothe form. We finally get it that for custom we need to fill a form. W find them in an office, but they are only in russian! Back in the office we are pointed to a sample form in english. After filling them, weq go the the Custom office hut, at the front of the line. It seems there is no order, you just go. After having to refill forms again, cause our were wrong, apparently, we go back once again. We finally get through, after about 3 hours! I don't understand why it was so slow.

The other lane was as slow as ours! Essentially armenians and few azeri cars and coaches. 

After that, it is past 12 and we stop near a big building, few 100 metres from the border. We have been told by one of the soldiers that we could buy insurance there for our bikes. It is easy to find the office. Once all is done, it is nearly 1pm.

We finally get back on the bikes. The weather is atrocious and again very cold, windy and lots of rain, despite descending from the mountains.

I must add the staff and soldiers at the border have all been friendly and curteous. 

We get a bit lost in Vladikavkaz, the 1st big town on our way, but after asking a guy in the street with my aproximate russian, and few u-turns, we get on the correct road north. As we get colder and colder, we decide to stop at Nalchik, instead of continuing to our planned destination of Mineralnye Vody, which has natural springs, i guess, and is very touristic. 

We turn a bit in Nalchik streets and spot some cops in a corner of a main junction. We stop and i go investigate. The cop i speak with is very friendly and i manage to understand his instructions. There is a hotel quite close. We get there and call it a day! It has been a long day! And very cold! Again what happended to spring? 

Friday 9th of May - 160 miles

We have done about 3,300 miles and been looking for a place to do an oil change for some time. Alistair do just that in the morning while i try to find an ATM that will accept to give me money! Always a problem but find Sberbank and that one works. 

We then set off and back i to the highway M29 riding north. The weather is still very grey and cloudy, but as the afternoon set in, the sky clear off and we even see the sun. 

We are not in any rush as our visa for Kazakhstan starts monday 12 may. We decide to stop at Budennovsk, as after that we need to take the back roads ( to avoid dagestan!) and we won't find easily accomodation for a long time. 

We arrive and find immediately what appears to be the only hotel in town! 

We then go for a wander. It is victory day in russia and people are drinking and partying. Cops everywhere on the road, which is good as they drive like mads and it is very stressful! 

At the town centre there are many people. It remind me very much of american Midtowns. It is afairly  pleasant place. 

Georgia: the road to nowhere....

Sat. 3rd May - 223 miles.

We left Niksar, a pleasant little town, nestled around a canyon, with steep streets and stunning views over the mountains. Turkey has been awesome so far and people very hospitable. 

We picked up the mountain road, and up we went again. Once again it got colder and colder as we climbed the mountains, only to warm up a bit as we got down the valleys. We passed many villages.

Then a tunnel, the wind is so chilly, i think we are still at altitude, but no, on the other side, the black sea. It is barely 16 degrees.... I expected semi tropical weather! 

From there on the road is unbelievably dull, a 4 lanes road along the seaside. 

Very strange as this sort of motorway is  barely 50m from the sea, so anyone living there has to cross or use one of the rare underpass.... I guess there is no tradition of going to the beach!

We try to find a hotel in Trabzon, at the end of the day, but get caught up in crazy traffic. People jumping in front of me, vans trying to crush me against another van.... It is insane.. I shout at few drivers, using plenty of F words and things to do with their mothers that cannot be written here !!!

We get out of town and find a hotel by the side of the road. 

Sunday 4th of May - 109 miles

At breakfast in the morning we see few men and 2 girls. The girls have about 6 inch heels, very heavy make up, hair extensions and clothes that hookers would blush to wear.... I think they are hookers... Turkish women wear occidental clothes but not like that! Alistair is not so sure.... So night in a  knocking shop then!? Ha!

Back on the road we decide to find a place near the border and do some washing, as, funny enough the weather has suddenly warmed up and become humid! It's 23 degrees!! 

We find a place in Hopa and do some laundry in the bathroom. We then have a look around town to check if we can find a sheepskin! We fail but have a nice walk around and  a nice lunch.

People less friendly by the black sea, although when we stopped for lunch yesterday, a man and hismother  came to see us. He said his mother saw the bikes and she wanted to say hello. She gave me a hug and a kiss! She seemed pleased to meet us! Nice people.

Monday 4th of May - mileage not noted .....

Strange day today!

We set off to the border, it was quite busy but we got through in about an hour. We had a long wait at custom behind lots of lorries and buses. Eventually we were in! We stopped just after the Georgian custom to change our turkish liras and get some cash from the ATM machines.

The weather had turned semi tropical...  It got up to 33 degrees... 

Then we decided to take a nice road across the mountains, instead of the main road.

The road surface was pretty bad and then cows are left free to roam so we had to be very careful to avoid them, as well as giant potholes and cars stopping randomly on the road, usually after a bend! 

We stopped for some lunch at a cafe. We asked some stuff from what we could understand on the menu but the woman there just seemed to bring ramdom things. When i said in russian harashow ( good) she gave me a big hug. Not sure why all matronly women these days want to hug me! Maybe I am getting cute with age? 

Then we continued. We must have done about 65 miles and arrived at a small town. There was a very big square with lots of mini vans and taxis and lots and lots of men waiting around. 

We stopped to get some water, then tried to continued. After many roads ending as dead end,we  found one going up the mountains.... For several miles... Until it ended, you guess it, as a dead end too. 

The local farmers came to enqurie and try to help but we had to turn round. Bck to town we tried again but, from what we understood from some people trying to help us, the road was unterrupted or unpaved. 

We could not find the right road. Another trail going out of town was blocked by a truck and did not look good.

We gave up and came back to Batumi for the night.

Oh and we lost another hour to time travel! 

Riding into the storm

Thursday 1st April - 264 miles (Turkey)

Sorry for typos but not easy to type on an ipad! 

As we woke up, the weather was cloudy but dry. We left Afyon and continued on the D-300 east, passing Konya and Aksaray. We were then in Cappadocia. The road had been a superb 4 lanes since Cesme. 

Soon after leaving the hotel, we stopped for fuel. We put some chain lube on both bikes and decided to chek the oil. Few days ago it had been fine. Well, this time, Alistair's bike was dry! Not a drop of oil to be found! Oh dear that was not good! We bought a bottle and filled it. The engine sounded better after that. We had been complacent, once again. Not the first time on our trips! We continued, wondering if the bikes would actually make it further than Turkey... 

We came off the D300 early afternoon, riding toward a touristy town of Ilhiara. 

We did not get there in the end. We stopped for a look and decided that, as we would need to ride back the next day, the spot we were in was good and there was a hotel nearby. We stopped there. As it is still low season we were the only guests. On the plus side we managed to get some beer at the restaurant, albeit at a price! Oh well what do you expect in touristy places! Even the hotel was wildly overpriced comparing with previous hotels. 

Friday 2d May - 321 miles

After a mediocre breakfast we left by 9 am.

First, after running the engine few minutes we checked the oil again. Alistair's bike was dry again. No leak... That was a big worry now! We rode few miles to the nearest fuel station and checked the oil again.... This time it was ok. Fewwww!! What a relief that was, but from now on we are checking every day. Alistair also found out the bike runs better with a bit of oil in! :D

We decided to take the scenic route across the highlands and mountains... And it was scenic! Absolutely  spectacular. Unfortunately the few photos we took don't show the best...too hard to stop every 5 minutes... The best views are in our memories....

We passed then the touristic town of Goreme and rejoined the D300. 

At a fuel station in Goreme, we got talking with a local. Our intention was to continue east via the Central route. However one man told us of a couple of really nice places going toward the black sea. He also said something about " the situation" further east on the central road..... We decided to follow his advice and aim for the little town of Niksar... And avoid " situations"!

Once again we took some minor mountains roads that provided amazing views! A we rode East we could sea a very clear cut zone of white clouds and then black clouds...we were riding straight into a storm! However, with our change of plans, as we left the D300 and turned north,  we just skimmed the edge of the storm, getting wet here and there but finally getting away! 

We went through some gravel and unsurfaced / under construction roads. Our little bikes behaved impeccably! We arrived at a hotel in the centre of Niksar by 7 pm, covered in mud, but happy! It had been an amazing riding day, great twisty mountains roads, magnificent views... And great dinner at night! 

That's all for now folks! 

Miserable day...

Weds. 30th April - 147 miles ( Turkey, Afyon)

What a day! It started gorgeous enough with the most impressive breakfast buffet! There was an incredible amount of stuff to chose from, lots of it not sure what it was so we sampled few things. 

As the weather was cloudy we put our waterproofs on and loaded the bikes, it was time to move on. 

That's when Alistair checked my bike and tried to start it. Nothing happended. We tried again, several times, same thing. The light will be on but the bike would not start at all! Not  good.

We started removing the bags to examine the bike again, nothing obvious. It could be the battery ( it was new), the voltage regulator, the starter motor ( new as well).....

One lad, Kenan, and the receptionist, came out to check on us. After many gestures and using google translate, kenan and Alistair tried to bump start the bike by pushing it on a side quite street. They got it started  but did not solve the problem!

Kenan , whose honda CG125 was parked next to ours, phone a mechanic who arrived quickly. After some time looking at the bike, Alistair and Kenan bump started the bike once again, and Kenan guided Alistair to a workshop, while i waited at reception with the luggage.

About 2 hours laters they were back. Success! This is what happened. The starter motor was completely seized and as a result the Relay ( solenoid) was also broken. The shop next door had a starter motor that fitted the bike! Then the mechanic phoned someone, and 5 minutes later, someone brought a relay, that also fitted my bike! Quite remarkable, or all those little 125 have standard type of parts that can be swapped between models? 

Cost fo all this? Parts and labour 90 TL ( about 42 dollars).... In the UK a Honda starter motor costs at least 130 pounds!

After many thanks and exchange of details,we left, soon after midday. The people there had beenvery helpful   and friendly. 

The destination for the day was 250 miles away, still doable....except that, as we kept going the weather turned to storm and it got progressively colder and colder, and the rain and wind was relentless.... We stopped after a while to get some fuel and i added a jumper.

An hour later we stopped again as it was too cold. We were given some tea ( tea and coffee seems to be usually on offer for free at fuel stations!) by a lad in the restaurant near the fuel station. I got my feather jacket on and my under gloves.

As we climbed to 1000m altitude we got even colder and stopped again. Around 3:30 pm we pulled at the usual restaurant sitting next to fuel stations. The staff there told us to come behind the counter near a giant barbecue to warm up our hands. We were totally shivering and could not get warm. 

They gave us some tea, and as the kitchen was open, we decided to have a kebab to warm up a bit. 

The kebab came with plenty of side dishes and salads and pickled chillis... They seem to love chillis here! 

We got the maps out. It was clear we would be able to go very far in that sort of weather. Our gear was wet, the gloves were drenched inside as the water seeped inside from the jacket, and my plastic rain over trousers were leaking.... After drinking more tea brought by the staff, we decided to get to the nearest town, Afyon, which seemed to have plenty of hotels, acccording the the GPS. 

So went back under the storm and made the 30 ish miles to Afyon. 

We stopped at the first hotel we saw from the side of the road,  and got a room. It was a business hotel / thermal spa. We got all the wet gear hanging from my camping washing line and the placed looked like a gypsy camp with stuff all over the place. One of the panniers was also leaking water and some stuff got wet despite the dry bags! Gear was drying everywhere. Not a good day in total! I expected that at least in Turkey we would have some sunshine, instead this has been the coldest and wettest day so far! 

What happened to Spring?