THE TOUR IS BAKU
Yes that's right, the tour is back! Up and running and in Azerbaijan!
After the enforced break at the Georgian border we retreated to Kars where we were able to visit the medieval Armenian capital of Arni - a real treat. From there we bussed it to Ankara, packed up the bikes and flew to Baku (more about which later). Unfortunately we had to fly via... yes you guessed it ISTANBUL!!! but once all the Deja Vu had subsided we were just happy to be on our way!
To make the trip as authentic as possible we bussed ourselves back up to near the Georgian/Azerbaijan border yesterday and rejoined our route in Shaki, a beautiful provincial capital nestled in the foothills of the Caucasus! An impressive caravansary got us back in the mood and today once we were back on our bikes it was as though we had never been away!
Having said that some things are a little different as we have two new riders, Thomas from Austria and Nick from Holland and they are settling nicely - Thomas bought his first round of beers tonight!! and Nick took out his first stage today!! We have lost Stephen though who had been due to finish his tour in Tbilisi!! Hope you arrived home safe, buddy!!
There were a couple of mechanical tweaks necessary yesterday morning (there always are when putting bikes back together from boxes) but two 95km rides soon ironed them out. This part of the world is very rural so there are more cows and sheep on the roads than cars but they aren't any easier to negotiate!! Most of the roads are tree-lined which offers lots of shade but the steep hills are no less difficult because of that. The imposing Greater Caucasus kept us company to the north today and the Lesser Caucasus to the south, but we knew it was only a matter of time before the road had to cross one or the other.
Just our luck it crossed both!!!
Still we are safely in Shamacki and ready for a bit of a party - three parties in fact as we have three rider birthday's today: Clive Dan and Knut - photos (appropriately censored!) will follow!!!
|
Posted August 18, 2008 by Ben Shillington
Azerbaijan |
|
