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Richard and Jude’s travels continued. We awoke in Stepantsminda at 7am with the sound of heavy rain and anticipating a wet ride but by the time we finished breakfast the skies had cleared and Gergeti Trinity church was visible from our room along with the snow capped Mt Kazbegi so off we set on our journey from the northern border with Russia towards the southern border with Turkey. We booked ourselves into a Homestay just outside of the spa town of Borjomi, renowned for its healing mineral springs where the Russian Imperial Romanov’s came to “take the waters” and now gives its name to a Georgian bottled mineral water. After a walk up the river we were yet again treated to another Georgian feast on the balcony of our Homestay by our wonderful hosts washed down with some home made wine. This would be our last night in Georgia and although we had extended our stay here several times we had to move on but we could have stayed much longer as there is just so much to see and do here. It’s definitely on the “Return to” list. The next morning we followed the road along the river, twisting, turning, rising and falling through the renowned hardwood forests of this region and through the 10th Century town of Vale, close to the small border crossing with Turkey. There were no other vehicles at the crossing so we sailed through easily on both sides, exchanged our Georgian Lari for Turkish Lira and said our fond farewells to Georgia (you’re on my mind) and set off for for our first adventure in Turkey. As we crossed into Turkey we climbed up to over 2000mts with very little traffic on the wonderful roads, some of the best (tarmac roads) I have ridden on for quite sometime. A bikers dream, with long sweeping bends and great scenery although there were signs of the conflict with the Kurdish PKK: military checkpoints and barricades, hilltop lookout posts, and barbed wired compounds. We arrived at our hotel in a picturesque mountain village on the banks of the Euphrates River just as the afternoon thunderstorms broke out. We showered and changed and went in search of a drink and food. Beer is not that easy to find in this part of the world. Tomorrow we will ride one of the world’s most dangerous roads - apparently, where one wrong move could end in disaster. I am nervous and I had not told Jude about it yet …. Richard & Jude #blackdogride #mentalhealthmotorbike
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