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

Richard and Jude’s travels continued

We set out of Tbilisi early and headed north skirting the Russian controlled area of South Ossetia and winding our way up into the snow capped Caucus mountains to the Russian Border with much to stop off and have a look at along the way. The road is one of the many well known scenic routes in Georgia and passes through Stepantsminda / Kazbegi which is where we spent the next two nights allowing ourselves a full day of hiking up the Kazbek mountain trail.

Mt Kazbek is 5,054 mts high and the trail to the top takes 3 days, crossing into Russia, with mountain huts along the way. We will only walk part of this trail which passes another famous Georgian landmark, the spectacularly located medieval Gergeti Trinity Church perched on another mountain overlooking the town of Stepantsminda.
Stepantsminda is now a hub for hiking and other outdoor activities with a few restaurants and lots of eager taxi drivers looking to take you to the many trail heads or other activities in the area.

Next we make our way south to the border with Turkey….
​
Richard and Jude

#blackdogride #mentalhealthmotorbike

Tbilisi. Capital city of Georgia.

After a long day on the bike and visiting various sights along the way from Lagodekhi we were ready for a few cold beers on our arrival in Tbilisi.

We ended up staying in the city for 3 nights as it is another wonderful place with rich history, great architecture, street art, restaurants, bars and music and we caught up with an old acquaintance from North Wales: Luca and his wife Khatuna who kindly wined and dined us, showed us around and gave us some great tips as to where to go in Georgia. Thanks very much guys!

Luca has a friend who owns a Georgian motorcycle tour company so if anybody is interested in seeing the wonderful sights by motorcycle check them out. https://www.onwardmotorcycletours.com

We have been seeing and chatting to lots of other people on motorcycles from all over the world. We met Morteza & Razieh who are 2up on the bike from Iran and listened to their amazing adventures, along with quite a few people from Russia and Czech Republic.

​Next we head up into the mountains near the Russian border….
Richard and Jude
#mentalhealthmotorbike #blackdogride

Firstly congratulations to Lobo and Linda on their arrival back in Wales. You are no doubt enjoying seeing your family and the dogs and the comforts of home (two pillows, sink plug etc) Well done.

We said our farewells to our hosts, David and Maria, in Lagodekhi and they very kindly gave us a bottle of their home made, oak aged, Chacha (like brandy) with instructions that it is to be drunk on our arrival in Wales and headed out on our scenic route to Tbilisi. (Not sure if I will be able to resist the temptation)

With great roads, wonderful scenery and delicious food, there is much to love about this country. We took the back roads to Tbilisi via the historic town of Signaghi along with a couple of hilltop monasteries and a 20km dirt road before arriving in Tbilisi.

We originally only planned 3 days in Georgia but we are going to extend our time here.
​
Richard and Jude
#blackdogride #mentalhealthmotorbike

Richard and Jude’s travels continued..

The small town of Lagodekhi, just across the border, caught our attention when we were looking for our first nights accommodation in Georgia due to its wonderful scenery, nature reserve and many hikes so we booked two nights and planned a full day of hiking in the mountains the following day.
Davit and Maria, our hosts, truly spoilt us during our stay with so many delicious Georgian dishes, great company and home made wine and Chacha and true Georgian hospitality saying we could not leave Georgia unless we put on 2kgs.

Both Jude and I love a good hike up a river to a waterfall so the following morning we set off, with packed lunch provided by Maria, through the town to the trail head. No sooner had we started a friendly dog joined us. Great we thought. Then another joined and another and another. By the time we arrived at the trail head we had 5 wonderful companions. How good is that! So off we all set, up the steep valley through the leafy deciduous forest following and crossing the clear mountain river to the waterfall where we all had lunch and rested. Jude and I both thoroughly enjoyed having the dogs along, each with their own characters and it reminded us of the walks with our dogs when we lived in Wales. Such great company. All 5 of them came with us the whole way on our 14km hike and when we arrived back in town they went back to their respective homes exhausted (they were not strays). We chatted to a couple of their owners and learned of their names. Their company made a great hike very special for us and we were sad to say goodbye.

With its wonderful mountain scenery and legendary hospitality Georgia has exceeded our expectations and it’s only day 2 so we can see ourselves spending longer here than planned.

​Richard and Jude.
#blackdogride #mentalhealthmotorbike

That’s a wrap for us, Linda and I are home safe and sound.

Thank you to everyone for your kind words and support over the last 5 1/2 months, it’s really been very much appreciated.

A big thank you to Paul Oxborough from Mental Health Motorbike here in the UK, a charity we have been proud to be associated with throughout the trip. Black Dog Ride were the cause we supported in Australia and they are two very similar charities, both doing great work to promote good mental health.

One of the reasons for us going on an adventure like this was to help Linda get over the death of her parents, so good mental health has been at the forefront of our minds while we’ve been away. Paul has always been there with supportive emails and we look forward to continuing to work with the charity now we are home.

Travelling through Germany, we were due to stay in the historic town of Potsdam and made a small detour to Berlin and to the house where Linda was born and lived for the first 4 years of her life. This was quite an emotional moment for her and a nice memory of her Mum & Dad.

The trip will definitely have an effect on me too I’m sure, but I don’t know how yet. One result I would like to see is for me to be less driven to achieve/do things and to be able to relax a bit more. I would like to sleep in when I want to sleep in, have days away when I want days away and maybe have a glass of wine or two watching an old black & white film of an afternoon, bliss!

I’m sure events, people we’ve met and places we’ve visited will occur to us over the next few months and we will post again when they do.

So that’s it, thanks again everyone,
​
Lobo & Linda (in Wales)
#blackdogride
#mentalhealthmotorbike

Richard and Jude’s travels….

After the vigorous shaking and lots of dust on the road to the Uzbekistan/ Kazakhstan border I checked the bike over for any loose bolts and damage and gave the air filter a clean before getting on our way to Aktau where we would put the bike on a ferry to Azerbaijan. The bikes battery had shown a sign of future failure and I hoped it would last until I could get a replacement.

We had put a tracking device on the bike and watched it as it headed out across the Caspian Sea towards Baku /Alat where it moored for a couple of days waiting for some strong winds to subside. Meanwhile Jude and I had flown to Baku and enjoyed a couple of days exploring this European styled city with its impressive mix of modern and ancient architecture, thousands of cats and another cuisine to try until we saw the bike moving towards the port for docking and unloading.

We were reunited with the bike after the usual customs formalities at the port and rode out of the port gate but the battery failed after much stopping and starting during the customs checks. A kindly gent jump started us and I found a bike repair shop to ride to in hope of getting a replacement. The Gods were with us and after a bit of phoning around Samir the shop owner found one and had it sent over and we were on our way again in double quick time.

The following day we left Baku and enjoyed time exploring a village in the Azerbaijan mountains near the Georgian border, the bike glad of a new battery and premium fuel after the scarcity in Uzbekistan where most vehicles run on Propane/Natural gas.

Next stop Georgia.
​
Richard and Jude.
#blackdogride #mentalhealthmotorbike

Lobo and Linda's travels continued...

At 35,000kms through 25 countries, we knew we’d be covering some big distances on this trip. Coming from the UK and specifically Wales, it can sometimes be hard to appreciate the scale and distances involved when riding in other countries, especially the likes of Australia and China!

To cross Australia from Sydney to Perth was 6000kms and we’d allowed, and took, 19 days. In Indonesia, travelling up from Bali, through Java and Sumatra was 3000kms and took us 15 days – if you’ve ever ridden/driven there, you’ll know why, Java is the most populous island on earth with a population of 150 million! Thailand at 2400kms was 11 days and included the Mae Hong Son Loop, which has to be one of the best riding roads in the world.

China was 8,250kms but that included a detour to Everest Base Camp and Tibet, the crossing took 27 long riding days! After leaving China in snow, we zipped through Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan in 13 days. Turkey is huge country but on this occasion we just tracked the northern coast on the Black Sea, with a few excursions inland.

After China, we needed to head directly home for personal reasons, but we definitely got a taste of the places we would definitely return to in the future.

Now we can appreciate how small scale the countries that make up Europe are and that includes the UK. On Saturday alone we were in 4 different countries: we had breakfast in Romania, crossed the border into Hungary and headed north into Slovakia (S). Our hotel that evening was on the northern border, and after dinner, we walked through a nearby forest to emerge into Poland (P)!

*Lobo’s tip of the day*. If you do have a long days riding ahead of you and you get invited to join a party in Romania, try to avoid any indeterminate, clear drinks served out of plastic bottles written on with marker pen! It might also be better not to finish the evening off with 52% Prune Liqueur!
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Cheers all.
Lobo & Linda
#mentalhealthmotorbike
#blackdogride

Lobo and Linda's travels continued..

When you’ve been on ‘the road for over 5 months, you really come to appreciate any downtime you can get and even one day off the bike can revitalise you. That time can let you catch up with washing and emails, and you might even get to sleep in if your body clock will allow it!

We always prefer homestays to hotels and we had booked what we hoped would be two relaxing days in the hills of Romania. What we got way exceeded any expectations and our two amazing hosts were just the nicest people. Milena, Bogdan and Romeo their dog, live in Bucharest but every summer open up their two cottages to guests and just seem to relish looking after you.

We easily found Cottage Poe with no dramas or off-roading, which was a real shame - Google Maps obviously let us down on this occasion!

We released our bike into the paddock to rest and Linda caught up with some much needed ‘self-care’ in the form of Yoga.

We had messaged the night before that we are both vegetarians and Milena took this in her stride – it seems to have been a challenge in most countries up until this point unless you like salad. The 2 evening meals and breakfasts she produced were incredible and luckily we didn’t try to ‘outdo’ her, otherwise we would have burst (for those of a certain age, think Mr Creosote and Monty Python!).

On our day off, we walked the 9km back from Campulung, the former state capital of the region (Bogdan had kindly driven us there), where we stocked up on snacks for the journey and the local currency, the Romania Leu. This also gave us some much needed exercise, something else you miss on a trip like this.

With the offer from Bogdan of local beer and a seat to watch the local derby with Romania taking on Slovakia in the Euros (my self-care), who could refuse such amazing hospitality!

‘Coincidentally’, we are in Slovakia tonight just as they are about to play England.
​
Cheers all.
Lobo & Linda
#blackdogride
#mentalhealthmotorbike

Lobo and Linda's travels continued....

We are building a good list of our favourite countries we want to revisit in the future, Kyrgyzstan is on there and Georgia is going to be very near the top for sure.

We have moved on now but we had several lovely days in the mountains on our way to the border with Turkey. One day was particularly memorable when we managed to combine our two favourite activities when travelling, they are: riding trails ‘off the beaten track’ and staying with local people.

One trail took us up a mountain pass, where we tracked a ski lift until we reached the snowline and were quickly engulfed by the clouds, when these cleared, we were treated to the most amazing views. Other trails took us past startled road building crews who obviously hadn’t expected to see a motorbike, where we were. Health & Road safety doesn’t seem to exist in some places and we found ourselves dodging excavators breaking through the rock.

On our last night before the border, we had booked an Eco Lodge in the mountains through Booking dot com. The problem we had was that we couldn’t locate the property on Google Maps, but it would get us to the nearest village. We arrived at the village but couldn’t locate the Lodge using the map off the website. We came across a lady walking up a very steep hill out of the village and asked her if she knew of our place. She walked with Linda for over 1km up this super steep hill whilst translating through her son, who spoke good English. Her son (on the phone) said the Lodge was further up the road and we should follow his Mum. We were joined by another enthusiastic lady on the way and then came across a JCB digging a new lane to the property. A 3rd local stopped the JCB and guided us through the soil stacks and across a scaffold plank (I was glad Linda wasn’t on the back for this!) and right to the property, happy days, we were so grateful for all their help!

The 1st lady had called ahead and the owner came to meet us. He showed us into the lovely accommodation and set the place up for us. We went back to the bike to get or gear and then talked about our booking, it was only then we realised that it wasn’t the place we had booked!

It was such an amazing property in a stunning location that we didn’t want to turn around and leave, we were also very reluctant to ride down the mountain past the JCB and the 3 super helpful locals! We agreed a rate and they also threw in an evening meal, they actually delivered so much that evening that it did us for breakfast and lunch the next day.

In the evening, the owner took us on a tour of his land and to the most amazing view point that he was obviously very proud of (his family have owned the land for the last 200 years). We spent the rest of the evening talking to him and his wife about our families via Google Translate and we also shared a bottle of Vodka we’d been given in China, which always goes down well!

On this kind of trip hotels can be instantly forgettable, but this is a place I don’t think we’ll ever forget, as much for the circumstances that got us there as the lodge itself and that amazing view!

​Cheers
Lobo & Linda
#blackdogride
#mentalhealthmotorbike