With a 1300m climb on the agenda today, and rain forecast for mid-afternoon, James and I left in the (surprising) sun and (surprising) tailwind up a river gorge. The rain and cold hit at the pass, after which we cycled through the familiar high altitude lunar landscape to our warm and snug abode in Shaki.
Arctic Lake
Easy does it. The road climbs and climbs. The skies were grey and it was a bit hazy, not making for great photos. Still, it was a pleasant cycle.
Poppies
Village shop
Lake Sevan has an arctic feel. With the sun out, we had amazing views of the lake, the barren land, the snow-capped mountains and rusted paraphernalia. Today we had sun, gale-force wind (side and headwind), rain, snow, hail, thunder and lightening. And a 1300m drop into the most amazing valley. Cool!
Rusty train on Lake Sevan
The wind was ferocious – mostly a side-wind along the lake. It added to the arctic, deserted feel of the lake. We stopped numerous times for photos.
Lake Sevan
Lake Sevan
Lake Sevan
It was 15:45, and we wanted to get over the high pass and down the other side to the valley below. Well. The pass was a monster slog against the headwind, and through the snow. On the 2350m plateau at the top, it started to snow/hail/rain, the hail like bullets blown into our eyes. But my, it was beautiful!
Up out of Lake Sevan
The high pass plateau
Almost at the top of the pass
The view over the valley from the top was nothing short of spectacular. It was a long, long way down.
View from the top of the pass
And we rocketed down. We needed to find somewhere to stay. Camping was not too appealing with this weather, and the next town of any size was 25km down the valley. We are now snug as a bug in a rug (well, two bugs in rugs) in a little hotel on the corner of two roads.
Sometimes you want to meet the locals, and have a local experience. Sometimes you need quiet and to be by yourself. Today we wanted peace and a good night’s sleep. We had a beautiful day’s cycling in the sunshine to Lake Seven – a beautiful lake surrounded by snowy mountains. And then a 10 hour sleep. Wonderful.
Fisherman on Lake Sevan
Today was up, then down, then up, then down. All in the beautiful sunshine in the Armenian mountains. We got an early start from our kind host in Vanadzor as we needed to climb quite some metres today.
View on the way to Dilijan
James on the way up
Emerging from the tunnel before Lake Seven we found ourselves in the snow. Cruising down the river, we saw a gap in the mountains open out with each bend in the road, which turned into a wide expanse with snow-capped mountains on the horizon. Beautiful.
Entering Sevan town
All along the road following the lake shore were little huts, and fisherman waiting for cars to pass. They held out their arms, indicating the size of the fish they could sell. They must have mighty big fish in this lake!
’44? I wish you marry very (very) soon and have many children. Then you call: Ashot – I return to Armenia with wife and children.’
We toast (again), downing more of the 25 year old herbal alcohol beverage dating back to his friend’s wedding. And all this takes place in the Dutch language in his friend’s living room. Armenian hospitality at it’s best.
We met him in the mobile phone shop. James and I were huddled over our phones with super fast Internet like herion addicts getting our first hit for weeks, injected directly into the arm.
‘I saw James’ orange shirt and I thought – they are from Holland. I am so happy.’
I took over as the translator, and James and I found ourselves in Ashot’s humble abode eating sausages and bread, and drinking an almost pure alcohol vodka poured from a coke bottle. Then his friend came and we were invited to his place for even more hospitality.
Our friends in Vanadzor
In the living room, watched over by the dead parents’ portrait above the wall sized carpet hanging, Armenian music pumping out from the 5 thigh high loud speakers, we danced, hugging each other and collapsing into neighbouring armchairs. Ashot’s preficiency in Dutch meant we covered topics like the Armenian genocide, the role of the wife, and many configurations and permutations of how wonderful it is that we met and could share the first night of our lifelong friendship together.
Our friends in Vanadzor
And this, after a spectacular day cycling up an amazing cliff adorned valley in the beautiful warm sun and lovely tailwind.
I passed 8000km at a small village and celebrated with James and a young frenchman who is hitching around the world.
8000km
And then onwards and upwards. For this valley, it’s a case of pictures tell 1000 words.
Rubbish valley
Alaverdi
Alaverdi
The road to Vanadzor
The road to Vanadzor
Armenian hospitality and Armenian landscape. What a wonderful combination. As Ashot would say:
‘I wish you have many many special days like today!’
Our nice little camping spot on the lawns in front of an abandoned factory seemed high profile judging by the number of kids visiting us. The military also visited us – and kicked us out. We are now sleeping in someone’s house that is being renovated with a spectacular view over the mountains. This is called going with the flow.
Our living room in Ayrum
Armenia on a sunny day. We were welcomed by the border guards with their impressive tall green hats. We collected some drams (the currency) and were on our way, following the border river.
Drams
The small village of Ayrum was chosen as our end point of the day. A kind lady who spoke German pointed out a nice abandoned factory with lots of lovely lawns for pitching a tent. On getting to the factory, we passed the army barracks. They wanted our sunglasses, and James obliged, giving a spare set of spacey sunglasses. I was allowed, then, to try out the beret.
Armenian beret
So, they knew about us. And they knew where we were camping. We set up the tent, and the soldiers visited our campsite, together with the kids, multiple times. We also socialized with the neighbours – with all 3 generations.
The neighbours
On the 3rd visit from the soldiers, the boss told us we could not camp. We were near the Georgian border. (We weren’t.) Our neighbours spoke to the soldier – could we camp in their garden? No, said the soldier. So, we are now in their second house that they are renovating – up on the hill above the village. What lovely people!
Our Ayrum hosts
View from our verandah
Since our dash to Tbilisi against the wind, we have completed a relaxing week with our great new Tbilisi friends Pieter, Floor and Mathias. Repairs, collecting mail, catching up on the blog and buying odd bits and pieces, was combined with mountain walks, city walks, a visit to castles and cave cities and a stimulating Green Pedals visit to the QSI school in Tbilisi. Thank you very much Pieter and Floor for the great hospitality and the amazing time!!
And I had time to put together a video of the next part of my trip. 🙂
Cave city at Vardzia
We made it! Stage 2 of the bike trip is complete, and what a finale! Bright sun along the valley between the snow-capped small and large Caucasus mountains. A hurricane headwind making a cruising speed on the flat of 10km/h. And 2 flat tyres.
Plains before Tbilisi
Photos can be deceiving. They give the landscape a serenity that I didn’t feel – except when I stopped, and looked. What beauty there was around me. The walls of rock in the distance, covered in snow, were spectacular. Cycling into the headwind, I didn’t notice them. My memory is blank between the stops. I was focussing on the next post, and the Chinese language course in my ears.
It was windy
It was a rush to cover the 120km to Tbilisi before dark. Short stops to consume as many calories as possible, and then continue. At one stop, the Georgian Easter bunny came early and left a typical Georgian gift on our bikes – alcohol.
The easter bunny has arrived
Two stops were to fix a flat tyre.
Flat tyre number 1
One stop to observe the Love Tourism bus. We saw the Love Tourism bus hotel when we were in Batumi – a city with quite a reputation.
The Love Bus
One stop to let the donkeys pass.
Donkey rush hour
And some stops to take in the scenery.
Hay petrol station
Plains before Tbilisi
The sun was ‘a shining and the wind was ‘a blowing . The snow-capped mountains were our spectacular horizon companion in the morning and the evening. In between, we slogged into the wind over a 920m pass. Our tents are erected for the evening on the grass in the Coliseum-like sport stadium in Khashuri.
Early morning mountains
I am now the proud owner of a bike with new brake-pads. I have proved that my bike maintenance skills extend beyond changing a flat tyre. After reading horror stories of people coming down high passes in the rain without being able to stop, I thought, take the time to change the pads that were passed their prime.
I knew the climb was over 50km, and would rise to almost 1000m. The fierce headwind got to me, and I was exhausted, even before the climb had started in earnest. Sometime knowing what is ahead is more of a hindrance than a help.
Village shop
On the way up we passed numerous stalls selling pottery and statues of leopards. On the way down we passed numerous stalls selling a kind of raisin bread, and the pottery moulds used to bake them.
Georgian sweet bread
The descent into Khashuri was lovely, overlooking the valley with the high, snow capped mountains as a backdrop.
View over Khushuri
Church near Khashuri
We have created some interest setting up our tent in the sport stadium. The rugby team was practicing, then the young kids played soccer. A group of girls then dropped by and screamed. I’m sure we are featuring on Facebook (assuming the landline internet is better than the mobile internet).. ☺
Cooking at the stadium
We left Samtredia, back down the road we had come up yesterday evening in the rain. Today we were riding under clear skies towards a wall of snow-capped peaks. In front loomed the snow capped minor Caucacus. We turned and behind us, on the other side of the wide valley were the massive white peaks of the major Caucacus. The mountains surrounded us today as we cycled down the bumpy road through farming, rural Georgia.
Rural Georgian village
All animals roamed the road – pigs, cows, ducks, geese, a goat.
Farmhouse
Church
A local
The people were very welcoming. James was invited into a local wine producer, and was given many glasses of wine to try. I was ahead on the road, and eventually saw his message to return. We got a tour of the ornate house and farm, including turkeys that responded to my call.
Wine making friends
The kids were curious at the lunch stop.
Georgian kids
We are all excited – camping for the first time since we restarted our trip in March. (It has been too cold up to now..) Nestled in the foothills of the minor Caucacus, we have a great view over the snow capped mountains behind.
Mountains
When you have a tailwind, make the most of it. We cycled, blown by the wind, and made some kilometres. We also cycled through the teeming rain, punctuated by stops squelching into a café to warm up, and a short visit at the stormy Black Sea coast.
Black Sea coast
That was kind of it, really. We are seeing signs for Yerevan and Baku. Kind of cool. No more photo opportunities as it was too wet and bloody cold.
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