Day 19-21: Home via Instabul When we were in Istanbul 30 years ago we stayed in what was surely the biggest shithole in the city. I remember covering the pillow with my travel towel, crawling inside my sleeping bag and making sure no part if me touched any part of the bed. The toilet I…
Day 18: The Long Road Home We awoke early to a beautiful morning in Mestia and flung the curtains wide to drink in the view of the towers and mountains, to which we would shortly say a sad goodbye. We dressed hurriedly and set off for a last wander around town. No Nescafe for us…
Day 16: Oh Gosh, Oh Golly; Here We Go Again A recurring theme of this trip has been Gamarjoba 2 & Nagwamdis 2 (Hello again & Goodbye again). The very nature of the terrain, which has long valleys ending in BIG mountain ranges, means that some out & back is inevitable, but in our case,…
Day 16: Oh Gosh, Oh Golly; Sweaty Ride to Ushguli Last night was festive indeed. We hooked up with two SA girls (Lindy & Bridget), the Danish couple (Ella & Michael) and a Turk from Istanbul (Honour). The wine flowed and there was much mirth and swapping of stories. We got back to the guest…
Day 15: Marvelous Mestia After sailing downhill into the incredibly quaint little town of Mestia, we headed straight for the central square and adjacent bar. Here we met up again with world cycle tourist, Nick from Birmingham, who’d left us in his dust earlier in the day. He’s been on the road for 3 months…
Day 14: Back into the Big Mountains I slept like the dead with the sound of the raging river right next to my head. When the alarm went off at 05h30 I was NOT ready to come back into the land of the living. The plan was to set off at 06h00 to beat the…