Georgia

July 17 had a beautiful bright morning, which made me reconsider my decision to abort the hiking trip. I did not feel like doing the same path again for two days and packed my bike and embarked. By going down I realized how steep the climb up had been, I had to almost brake to the maximum to not accelerate. In the shady parts it was still chilly, so I was glad I had put my jacket on to stop the wind when I was going faster. After Camlihesim the road is less steep, still I make it to the coast in record breaking time. In the last town before the border, Hopa, I relaxed and updated my journal. On the terrace it strikes me that there are more girls than usual and that they are wearing more western style clothes i.e. revealing more of themselves. I like it. Passing the border is easy, no money needs to be paid, Europeans do not need a visa to enter Georgia and I only have to show my passport to half a dozen people. Right after the border I am welcomed by a guy selling a local type of bread filled with cheese, Katchapouri. He wants to give me a plastic bag full, but I convince him two are enough. They taste great and are not the last ones I eat in Georgia. When I tell them I am Dutch, he and his friends repeat with “Sandra good”, referring to the Dutch first lady. I also learn my 3 essential Georgian words. I try to learn them for every language of a country when I enter: “hello”; “goodbye” and “thank you”. I might not be able to talk to them, I at least can be a little polite to them in their language. The Georgian equivalents are respectively (written as I pronounce it): “camardjoba”, “nachvamdis” and “madloba”. I spent the night on the beach south of Batumi in my tent, which I get in a configuration I like and will be using from now on. My bicycle turned up side down, acting as main tent pole. From there the tent moves down ending in 2 low points about 30 cm above the ground attached with little ropes to stones or sticks in the ground. The sides of the tent I secure with stones. So the front is a triangle and the rear is a delta. The tent tarp is above aswell as under me so I have no problems with wet grounds (in theory).

The next morning I take a dive in the sea instead of a shower. I badly need it, even I think that I smell badly, which is not so strange when not showering for a week. The water is wonderfull, not cold at all, only beaches at the black sea tend to be of stones instead of sand, so going in and out is sometimes tricky. After I have packed everything it starts to rain again. Soaking wet I take refuge in a church in Batumi. Apparently my shorts are to short to official church regulations and I am sent back to the rain. I put my shorts down till they are over my knees but this gesture is not appreciated.

On advice of my French cycling examples, in the evening I set up camp behind a petrol station. When the owner finds out, he invites me to set up camp in his garden. Later on he offers me to sleep in a sort of arbor and he also offers an old mattress which I gladly accept, so I do not have to set up my tent at all. They also let me have a hot shower and feed me a hot meal. At first I was a bit scared with them as 2 huge security guys with big shotguns were walking around, but they also were very nice. The cook wants to ride my bike for a while and is gone for half an hour and is happy as a child when he returns.

The next night I stay on a little field near Zestaponi surrounded with blackberries. To come there at first I try to climb up at a steep part, pushing my bike. Almost up I slip on the wet ground and I fall with bike and all right through the blackberry bushes. Not much harm done only scratches on arms and legs, the bike is still in one piece. 200m further down the road I find a decent path leading to the field, I even could cycle it. After setting up the tent I eat all the berries I can. At first I have to share the field with a(nother) pig, but he maybe can not bear my smell and leaves. At night I am woken up by the rain that is raining in. I had not positioned my tent correctly and the wind came in through the front. I take out my rain poncho and hang it in the entrance, which solves the problem. Unfortunately my sleeping bag, I had been using as pillow was now a bit wet. I decide to lie underneath it to warm me and hopefully dry it in the process.

The next day the plan is to sleep near to Gori, so I can reach Tbilisi the next day, but cycling is hard. Every time the road goes up I have to shift back to a very light gear, I seem to have no power what so ever. When I am sitting by the road eating my brunch I notice that quite a few trucks are going up and down very slow. This makes me realize that the gradient might be higher than I thought.