Day 158: Burgas to Malkin Tarnovo

Back in Europe

We’re in Europe at last. It felt quite dramatic to set foot on Bulgarian soil and know we can now ride all the way to the English Channel.

We only get to stay one day in Bulgaria as we head south into Turkey, and it looked like we had chosen a drizzly day as we waited on the boat for customs to say they were ready for us. However, the rain stopped and we didn’t see it again all day.

Heading through Customs in Burgas

The first order of business was to find a Bulgarian courtesy flag to fly on our bikes. Normally we can wait a few days to find this - but with only one day in the country, we had to get on with this quickly. The only city we were going to see was Burgas, the port we were landing in, so we headed the wrong way back into the town and started searching.

With a fair bit of hand waving and miming we were sent from shop to shop until we were directed to a souvenir shop who had just the thing.

Now with flags to fly, the second order of business was coffee. It seems crossing the line into Europe signals the start of cafés that sell coffee and nice pastries. Georgia did in Tbilisi, but elsewhere we were less successful, here they seem to be taking more cues from Italy and Germany. They are even in the EU. Clever them.

Roadside veggies and mile upon mile of rolling agricultural fields

The road was good, gradually climbing towards the hills of the border. We started with agricultural land - first wheat and potatoes, then vineyards and fruit trees, before we headed into dense oak forests. Some of the forest looked dense and ancient and we saw signs there were some pretty ancient inhabitants.

Boar still wander the forests

Eventually we arrived at our destination, a large hotel that looked like it had just been refurbished and was almost completely empty. Yet again, we were the only diners in a restaurant built for 200 or so people.

Our hotel - the “Goat Horn Motel”

A restaurant to ourselves

Tomorrow, Turkey.

Days 156 and 157: Ferry from Batumi to Burgas

Ferry life

Ever wondered how Bulgarian truck drivers cross the Black Sea? No, me neither, but now we know plenty of detail about the Drujba Line ferry that crosses the water between Georgia and Bulgaria.

Our one view for two and a half days

As you’d expect, it’s a pretty basic setup, but it was better than expected. We had a room with four bunks for the three of us, plus a little en suite bathroom. In fact, it was very similar to the cabin we had on the Spirit of Tasmania ferry. The big difference was in the lack of other facilities. There was a small deck we were allowed to walk on and a canteen area and that was it.

Our cabin for the trip

The sun deck

However, we’d come armed with our own cinema – so we had plenty of movies downloaded to watch on the way over.

Here’s what we watched:

Pirates of the Caribbean – The Black Pearl

Better than I expected. I’ve never watched the whole thing before and Jonny Depp was quite amusing. The special effects didn’t look to bad from a distance on a laptop screen.

The Big Blue

Started well, but the whole cobblers where they try and say he’s half dolphin turned Tiger right off. I thought it was an interesting statement about the selfishness of some males, especially the French variety, and their complete lack of perspective when they have an obsession, but that didn’t seem to be a popular view. Plus, director Luc Besson seems to be showing this to be a very honourable way to live your life.

The Favourite

Interesting perspective on English royalty. Loved the acting and the comedy.

The Black Panther

Better than I expected. I’ve avoided the majority of the Marvel Comic Universe and I wasn’t expecting much, but I thought this did a good job, with the comic book heroes as a metaphor for Black politics in the US.

Game of Thrones – Season 1

I finally managed to persuade Sarina to start watching Game of Thrones and, unsurprisingly, she things it’s quite good. We’re only up to episode three. Things are going to get a lot better.

The day on board revolves around meals, it’s the only thing going on really.

8am – breakfast: Yoghurt with a little cereal, bread and cheese.

12pm – lunch: Varied menu, but usually a pile of veg for us. Nice though.

6pm – dinner: Fish one day, cheese bake another, but altogether much better than expected.

The canteen area, complete with DVD movies dubbed in Bulgarian

Mealtime

Anyway, we made it. Two and a half days of laying around, doing nothing but watching movies and eating. It was hard, but we got it done.

Day 155: Rest day in Batumi

The “buying ferry tickets” mystery adventure game

Today was all about getting on the ferry to Burgas in Bulgaria, but it’s not an easy ferry to catch. 

We were very grateful to a blog post that gave someone else’s story of the crossing as, without this guide, I don’t think we’d have managed to get aboard. It starts with a quest waiting outside a nondescript apartment building near the port in Batumi. The blog post shows the door you should head through at 10am, so we were there, ready to do this, but the door had changed and there was now a keypad entry system. However, on the window of one of the apartments was a small ferry sign and a handwritten notice in Bulgarian or Georgian and a phone number. We phoned the number and managed to get hold of an English speaker who told us to come back at midday.

The exceptionally low profile booking office

Ok, off for another breakfast then, and a chance to sample the best Adjurian Katchapuri in town, according to our landlord in Batumi, at the Café Retro. They were really good too. Kind of a pizza made into a boat containing a cheese sauce and an egg floating on top. You wouldn’t want to eat one every day - but a bit like a cross between a pizza and a croque madame.

Adjurian Katchapuri all round

Back to the apartment for midday and we tried ringing the number again but this time we just got a non-English speaker who hung up on us. Oh well, let’s hang around for a bit and see what happens. Then - a truck driver came out of the door and we were able to get inside. Success!

Inside, they took copies of our passports and told us we would receive a phone call some time today - probably between 6pm and midnight, to tell us to come back here, pick up our tickets and go to the ferry.

So, a day in Batumi with our bikes and bags, so we couldn’t leave them anywhere unwatched, and knowing that, at any moment, we might receive the call and have to get to the boat.

We managed a few useful things - we all had haircuts. We did some shopping for snacks on the boat and we spent an inordinate amount of time having a small lunch in a café by the water. We lay on the grass for a while doing nothing – thankfully the sun was out, although Puffa jackets were required.

Chilling and waiting

Haircuts

Some laying on the grass was called for

We moved on to a new restaurant to use up some more time over dinner, and managed several hands of cards whilst we ate - slowing everything down. Luckily there wasn’t much competition for tables, there was an electric socket nearby and the WiFi was good, all important considerations.  

Cards over dinner, that should waste some time.

Then, as we were plotting ways to extend our stay even further, the phone rang.  

We were on! We packed up and headed to the apartment/booking office and we were given our boarding cards. Then we rode round to the port and headed for the gate with lots of policemen around it, which seemed to be the right plan. The checked our paperwork and waved us through so that we could ride up the ramp into the empty boat.  

So we were on board and ready to sail 1,000km to Bulgaria.  

Into the back of the ferry. Next stop Bulgaria.

Day 154: Ureki to Batumi

​Last ride in Georgia 🇬🇪 

​We’ve finished our ride from the Caspian Sea to the Black Sea with a quick spent down the coast to the port of Batumi. It has quite an impressive skyline, which I totally failed to capture on the journey in, so here’s a postcard photo. 

Batumi skyline by the tourist board

The journey did involve one big climb on the way down, but as we created the hill we could see Batumi below us as we descended, so it was pretty spectacular. 

The next step is to get on a RO-RO ferry to Burgas in Bulgaria, but this seems like quite a challenge. The booking office is in the bottom of an apartment block and it’s only open on Mondays, when the ferry is in the port. So, we turn up tomorrow and everything should be fine, we book our cabin and we’re off to Bulgaria. If anything goes wrong, there’s only one ferry a week, so we’d be in for a long wait.  

Fingers crossed.  

Day 153: Zestaponi to Ureki

140km is a long, long way on a touring bike

Because of a lack of hotels at about the right distance from our starting point, we had to do a big day. I’m not sure we knew it would be quite so big it was our new daily record.

There wasn’t too much climbing today, apart from a little rise early on, and we kept chugging along for longer than normal before we took a break, with 50km already under our belts.

Lunch was the Georgian fast food specialty, cheese in bread/pastry. It’s an amazing space filler, like eating a whole concentrated pizza in one go. 

The whole of the afternoon was flat, just driving along consistently for kilometre after kilometre. Podcasts on, brains tuned out and we soon made it to the Black Sea coast.

Black Sea, black sand. Makes sense.  

Day 152: Khashuri to Zestaponi

A lot of up but a lot more down 

We wound through the hills  today, heading up to start with and then 20 minutes of descending, fantastic. The only problem is making sure we don’t lose Tiger, the Blue Strawberry is so fast downhill. It was pretty chilly to start with, around 10˚C (50˚F) and there were thunderstorms forecast for midday, but somehow the rain never quite materialised and as we descended the temperature rose.

Descending through the green valley highway.

Rugged up for the cold.

By the time we arrived in Zestaponi the sun was poking through and it was getting pretty warm, and our afternoon stroll through the town was in t-shirts.

We’ve had a couple of shorter days in a row now. Partly because there aren’t a lot of towns with hotels or guesthouses, so finding somewhere the right distance is pretty hard, but also because I’ve been suffering with a cold and a fever. Hopefully I’m over that now because we have about 190km to do in two days now – time to crack on to catch the ferry across the Black Sea.

Zestaponi in the sunshine

Lots of descending keeps the average speed up!

Day151: Gori to Khashuri

It appears we’re back in the land of coffee! 

We started with a cappuccino at Coffeegizer, which was a relief after two months(at least) in tea, chai and çay drinking countries. It wasn’t great, but we can work on that.  

First stop was Fortress Gori, a castle dating back we’ll BC, but most of which is about 500 years old. A lot of it fell down in the earthquake in 1920 and it doesn’t look like anyone was was too bothered about fixing it - until now. 

Fortress Gori.  

At the base of the castle are eight statues of seated warriors. Each one seems to have been wounded in some horrific way, losing limbs, hands, chest wounds. As a war memorial it seems way more fitting than the often glorified versions elsewhere. Tbilisi didn’t agree though so the memorial was moved to Gori.  

Gori’s big claim to fame is as the birthplace of Stalin. They have a museum here dedicated to him and the main street is Josef Stalin Avenue. Not the long term treatment most mass murders get!

Day 150: Tbilisi to Gori

Liverpool 4 – Barcelona 0

Let’s face it, nothing gets bigger than that today. I’m normally the pie eyed optimist, but I didn’t see Liverpool keeping a clean sheet against Messi and Suarez… and scoring four goals. Over the moon – Champions League final here we come again.

Our little apartment in Tbilisi was a house full of character. Squeezed into a corner plot, none of the rooms were rectangular and it had a lovely quirky feel to it. It even had a courtyard in front perfect for storing the bikes.

We headed off to the bike shop in the morning to pick up Tiger’s bike. Lado from Velo+ had driven his scooter over to the Georgian Cycling Federation to pick up the new derailleur and the mechanic had it fitted and running smoothly in no time.

Lado and his mechanic really saved our trip - getting us back on the road again so quickly

It was almost midday by the time we were riding – but we were still pretty determined to do a full 80km day today as we have a ferry to catch on Monday, so we can’t get too far behind schedule. We rode out of town before we stopped for lunch, bread, eggs and tomato that we’d bought yesterday, and found a lovely spot by the river to eat it.

Picnic spot by the river

…plus shade for the bikes. The perfect venue.

Then it was grinding time. The road was steadily climbing next to the river, and the villages got smaller and smaller. Soon we were out of the trees and on windswept grasslands and, for once, the wind was behind us.

There’s still signs of some Soviet architecture, even in some quite rural villages.

Rolling green hills, the perfect temperature for riding, a smooth road and a tail wind. Champagne cycle touring today.

There was hardly any traffic too - so we got to block the road and take a picture

Some of the hills were pretty steep. I swear this is a real photo from a flat camera!

It’s a mystery to us why the water supply is all above ground. It seems it’s more likely to freeze in winter and looks awful. I’m sure it’s easier to maintain, although many Georgian villages are only recently getting 24/7 water supplies. Anyone know why the pipes are in the air?

Finally, around 5pm, we made it to our guest house, and were served a selection of home made wines and spirits to try. The perfect end to the day!

Our guest house and our host, George.

Day 149: Rest day in Tbilisi

Tiger wants a redo on today​

Not our finest day in a very fine city. ​

We set off with Tigers broken bike to get a new dérailleur ​arriving at the nearest bike shop at 10am as they opened. Things didn’t look great - the shop was really a bike hire place, and although they were keen to help, they didn’t really have the tools or the parts, and definitely lacked experience.

 We eventually found another bike shop 5km out of the centre and had to walk the bike up there instead, by which time it was already the afternoon. ​

We left the bike with them and went back to our apartment for a short time before we had to grab another taxi back out to pick up the bike. ​

We did pass a few local landmarks in the day

Mixed news when we got there. Everything was fixed, but they derailleur didn’t work with the shifters. ​

However they’d been complete legends and phoned around and found a derailleur that would work - from the Georgian Cycling Federation of all people - and they can get hold of it tomorrow. So, no early start for us tomorrow and we spent our day on five taxi trips and a five kilometre walk... and we still don’t have a working bike for Tiger. 

Still, we ​got to see The Avengers film this evening, which cheered Tiger up. 

Nice bridge

Day 148: Babaneuri Marani to Tbilisi

A very eventful day

Yesterday evening we learned a lot about kvevri wine making – the traditional way of making wine in Georgia, going back thousands of years. The earthenware amphora, or kvevri (pronounced “query”) are sunk into the floor of the winery and replace the tanks, barrels and press of European winemaking methods. 

The winery - not a tank or barrel in sight, just the heads of the kvevri on the floor

Vakho, the winemaker at Babaneuri Marani talked us through his process as we tasted the wines, which were all very different to the wines we are used to. Tannic whites that were a golden colour from the kisi grape. Deep dark reds with intense flavours from the saparavi variety. All novel names and tastes to us – not a merlot or chardonnay to be seen. 

Vakho talks is through his work with a passion that was infectious

A quick stop at a very impressive abbey. The head honcho jumped into a Sikorsky helicopter whilst we were there – presumably being whisked away to bless someone or something very important.

In the morning we set off for what we knew would be a hard day. We needed to get over a range of mountains between us and Tbilisi, our destination. They weren’t small either – in 25km we needed to climb 1,200m and then descend into Tbilisi for a total of 110km of riding. That’s a big day for us, with all the bags we don’t go fast up hill. 

However, we managed to make it a little more tricky. Before we’d even reached the start of the climb the derailleur on Tiger’s bike suffered a catastrophic collision with the spokes of his back wheel. It was mangled beyond recognition – we were facing a “taxi for the McNamaras” situation.

We had a go at bending it back into working order, and we did quite well, but in the end the derailleur arm’s junction with the parallelogram was too damaged and it came off in my hand. Oh well – single speed it is then.

The mangled derailleur. It’s not meant to point in that direction.

We shortened the chain and set it up on the largest sprocket and the smallest ring, because we knew we were going to climbing, and we set off again.

Tiger’s new single speed set up. He’s such a hipster.

To start with being locked in his lowest gear was no impediment to Tiger. We climbed up through beautiful forests with the gradient ramping up to over 10% as we went. Then we emerged into the windswept grasslands above the trees and the gradient rose further – peaking at 13%. With all our panniers, that’s a real challenge.

Tackling the steep switchbacks on the Gombori Pass

We made it to the top though – although it took us three and a half hours. We needed to get a move on now or it was going to be dark when we got to Tibilisi, still 60km away. We were fine on the steep initial descent and we’d knocked off 10km in 10 minutes, but then we started hitting the flats and slight drags. Tiger’s super-low gear was no good here and he could only crawl along.

We tried moving his chain to the middle ring, and that worked ok for a while, but it was inclined to wander across the cassette and occasionally locked up with the chain bar tight.

More successfully, Tiger perfected holding onto our rear panniers so we could tow him along. Heading down a slight descent we couldn’t even feel the drag for bringing him along too. It was a different story on the false flats, where we could feel the extra weight, but it was the only way to proceed at a sensible pace.

Atop the Bombori Pass, quite proud that we’d made it.

The winding road to the summit

Eventually we rode into Tbilisi, which was great, except this added traffic to the mix. Tiger did a fantastic job of surfing along holding our pannier – splitting off to freewheel a little on his own to avoid a car or bus and then maintaining enough speed to catch back on again. Amazing bike skills on a heavy bike with no functioning chain by this point.

We passed a number of amazing new buildings on our way in to town, so tomorrow’s a rest day to go and check them out.

The profile for the day

Day 147: Kvareli to Babaneuri Marani

Riding through the green hills and vineyards

More idyllic riding today - and the rain held off. It was still drizzling first thing, but whilst we had breakfast things brighten up and we managed to spend the whole day in the dry. The countryside here is so lush - long grass dotted with poppies, bursting hedgerows and the tidy lines of vines just bursting with new bright green buds.

Our hotel and the extraordinary glass structure opposite

We were heading up another valley today with the Caucasus Mountains rearing up on our right and another ridge of smaller hills on our left. The road was being set up for the Red Bull Wings for Life Run, which was taking place later that day, and the rain was certainly giving them some trouble. Their finish line marquees were under about six inches of water and their were all sorts of people milling around trying to resolve things. In common with most places we’ve been, about half of those people were policemen, who seem to do a lot of standing around, smoking and drinking tea.

A country Muriel

We met a group of cycle tourists - the third we’ve seen since Baku

We’re in a land of churches again, and quite impressive ones too

We’ve now arrived at the Chateau Babaneuri, a very presentable winery with rooms and a restaurant where we’ll be spending the night. We did a short day today to give us time to have a good look around. So far we’ve already had a (slightly chilly) swim and I think there’s time for a few glasses of wine on the terrace for the wine tasting and dinner. It’s a hard life. (This is work for Sarina obviously.)

Jumping in to a chilly pool (Tiger’s already underwater)

Sarina hard at work

Video: Azerbaijan

Day 146: Zaqatala to Kvareli

Welcome to Georgia, with vodka 

It had to rain at some point and it chose today, big style. We left Azerbaijan in a drizzle, went through the border in chilly rain and then hove in to Lagodhek, the first town in Georgia, in a downpour.

We shivered into a restaurant (thankfully with tiled floor we could drip onto) and set about ordering some food. The very loud group of men next to us helped out and in the end bought us our delicious lunch of dumplings. They reminded me of the Shaolin Bell dumplings I’ve had in Melbourne many times.

However, it wasn’t just dumplings that were being consumed. They topped up our glasses with beer and then added a shot glass of vodka. After five shots, and several beers, we weren’t too sure about riding in the afternoon, but we needed to make some more headway, so we declined an offer of a bed for the night and pressed on - in a slightly wobbly direction. At least the rain had cleared up.

Tomas and friends toast another vodka shot.

Despite the rain, the riding was fantastic. Green mountains, vineyards, nut forests all looking gorgeous.

We wound up at Kvareli, a centre of the wine trade in Georgia, and we’ve been tasting the various offerings. Not overly impressed so far, but we still have more research to do.

Day 145: Sheki to Zaqatala

As we’ve ridden further up the valley towards Georgia things have steadily grown greener, and with the lush pastures, green rolling hills and the snow capped mountains, today’s ride was fabulous.

We’re now within a day’s ride of the Georgian border, so country number eight tomorrow.

We started with breakfast in a park

Bread, cheese and apples did the job quite nicely

Smoko involved lighting a fire and boiling up a huge pot of çay for these market gardeners

A little bit of drama with every sign for regions and towns

These kids on their way home from school wanted to mug for the camera

Day 144: Rest day in Sheki

Wandering around Sheki​

Sheki used to be a stop for the caravan trains on the Silk Road and we’re staying in a Karavansaray, the equivalent of a coaching in for the camel drives a few hundred years ago. ​It’s accommodation is just as suitable for bicycles riders - with our bicycles finding more than enough room in the stables. 

The very grand front gate

The grand entrance hall. Plenty of room for camels.  

Vaulted ceilings are a real speciality here

It’s not changed much in three hundred years

To be honest, our “hotel” is the highlight of Sheki. We took a trip up to the fort and went round the Palace, and it had a lot of intricate stained glass and frescos, but it was mainly a bunch of local crafts people hawking their wares. Not that riveting. 

The town has a nice vibe though - so a good place to relax for a day.  

Gateway to The Fort

Stained glass windows - much more impressive from the inside of The Palace, but no photos were allowed inside

Tomorrow we head towards the border with Georgia and for our last day in Azerbaijan. 

Day 143: Yevlax to Sheki

 “Pinch, punch” infractions to be taken to the Court of Arbitration for Sport

In a series of rule violations not seen since cricket matches decided to fix the result and go down the pub because the games were so dull, The Pinch, Punch, First of the Month community was thrown into turmoil today. 

Names are still being withheld at this time, but a middle-aged woman of no fixed abode has been charged with jumping the gun and both pinching and punching a day early. The offence occurred in a remote town in Azerbaijan yesterday, which officials have confirmed was indisputably the 30th April, and therefore not the first of the month. 

Then, in what is rumoured to be an offence committed by the same woman, the same victim was sucker pinched and punched the next day - which, whilst technically within the rules, breaks many ethical guidelines and was condemned by both the Pope and a bloke who looks a bit like the Dalai Lama. 

The victim was named as David McNamara, also of no fixed address. His lawyers released the following statement:

”I’m deeply shocked and trying to come to terms with these events. The bruising will fade but my faith in the good nature of the world around me may have been irrevocably damaged.”

We went for a nice cycle ride too, climbing up the ridge on the northern side of the valley in the foothills of the Caucusus Mountains. It was only around 1,000m of climbing but it felt hard.  

Morning tea was at the top of an early climb

The toilet facilities were basic...

 ...but the view was great 

We’re now staying in a ​300 year old Karavansaray - a traditional resting place for travellers which has been restored to cater for modern Silk Road followers. We’ll be spending our rest day here, so more tomorrow. 

Video: India, Jaipur to New Delhi

Day 142: Kurdamir to Yevlax

We got the job done today. 95km in an 8 knot headwind and 25°C temperature. A pretty nice day’s riding. It would be so much fun if the wind would swing round behind us, we’d rip along these wide straight roads, but we’re happy with what we’ve got.  

Tandem buddies. 

You get to see a lot of Lada cars here. Many are stuffed to the gills with people, goods or livestock. 

There was a spot of rain first thing this morning, but now the days are cooler we don’t need to get up early, so the skies were soon clear as we set off.  

The mountains in the distance are where we need to go tomorrow. Yikes!

Day 141: Shirvan to Kurdamir

Slogging across the steppes 

Wide open plains and headwinds are becoming the them of Azerbaijan. We’ve left the oil fields behind and we’re in grain growing country now but, if anything, the landscape is even flatter. 

Plugging a headwind for hours

The people are lovely though. Encouragement from passing cars, waves from people by the road and a nice guy who invited us into his empty shop to sit at his table and chairs instead of eating our lunch on the ground outside.  It makes moving through a strange country so much more fun if you feel the people are in your side. 

Day 140: Ələt to Shirvan

Headwind again

We went really slowly again today, battling a headwind through the valley. We’ve turned off the coast now, but somehow the wind has turned with us. Still, we’re still making progress, so no worries. 

Our hotel last night was too weird to compare with Fawlty Towers. Just one guy running a huge hotel with about 80 rooms - and there was only one other group of guests there - a Swiss motorcycle touring couple on very smart BMW G5’s. 

There was no electricity until 7pm, but everything worked once it was on. We had breakfast too, which was pretty good. We ignored the plastic looking sausages but the boiled eggs, cream cheese and bread was a nice start to the day. 

We get ready to go

The Swiss bikers head off

The people here are so welcoming and helpful though. It’s a theme we’ve noticed in Muslim countries that people are so helpful They go out of their way to help, whether it’s directions to a restaurant, where we might find a hotel or just shouting out their car window “Welcome to Azerbaijan!” as they drive past. 

The locals are always keen to find out what we’re up to

The big wide roads, and no shelter from the wind

On the other hand, we’re having to be on our guard when paying for things. Twice today we were given 10 Manet less in change than we should have received. They are very apologetic when it’s pointed out, but we get the feeling it’s no mistake. ​

More fun tomorrow. ​