Dusty roads

Today's route promised to be spectacular, even if it was mostly off road....

Tried to get a pic of the Eka landlady, but she wouldn't have it  ....



Said our goodbyes, and fought the Batumi traffic for 30 mins before leaving the city behind, and climbing into the mountains.  Took loads of photos, so here are just a few (click on a pic to enlarge)... ...

Stopped for a brunch and had this local speciality ... egg, melted butter, and cheese ... cholesterol city!

Then the road tuned into a stony gravel track for about 50 km... that gave the arms a workout...

2000 mts - top of the pass

And finally back to tarmac ....

Was a long day, but certainly worth the time spent on the track.

Got into Tbilisi and the Red Fox Guest House, run by the delightful Tamara.  

Met up with Alan Welburn who is the third guy from the UK , and will be riding through China with us. However, as Alan rode our route back from Thailand last year, he leaves in the morning heading for Tajikistan and we will meet again in about 2 weeks time.

A day of rest tomorrow.

Georgia, Georgia....

Another border crossing today, so we leave the "interesting" Hotel Elegante, to join the queue to enter Georgia......

Georgia, Georgia, 

The whole day through, just an old sweet song, 

Keeps Georgia on my mind

OK, I think Ray Charles was singing about another place, but the sun had come back out and I was in a good mood.   After a brisk run along the coast, we stopped for a coffee before the border....

Refreshed, we get to the queue.....but all the cars are being directed to a holding car park.  Policeman says to me "where you going?"  Now I'm sure this catches a lot of terrorists out, but not a smart Welshman like me.  We are at the Georgia border, what options are there... so I point to the barrier, big smile, and pretend I don't understand the question, or the queue system !.

He doesn't seem to worry, we ride straight to a empty booth (ok, so I didn't see the lorry only picture), and 5 mins later, we are in.

Sweet Georgia.

Change the time zone on the GPS and head for the Eka Guest house, probably named after most guests shriek "eek" when they see it.  I suppose in the fullness of time, I will get more astute at choosing places to stay, and if there are no exterior shots, that should raise suspicion....

So we enter the courtyard, and I try to pick some good points out to Jeremy... "at least the bikes are safe" was about all I muster...

In fairness, the rooms were a lot better than the outside would intimate, and the lady of the house made us feel welcome.

Spent the evening wandering around Batumi, even finding a nice beach bar to chill out in. Jeremy had an early night, but I wandered back out with a view to checking out a Casino. But the closer I got, the more I realised that I would not get in with jeans & flip-flops.... so bought a bottle of incredibly cheap beer from a store and headed back.

Seemed like there was a bit of a family gathering on the balcony and they motioned me to join them... they do speak some English here, and I met one of the relatives who is the head honcho in the local port.  We shared some business experiences, eat a load of water melon, and solidified Georgian/UK relations.

Rain, rain, go away...

And then the rains came.....

Very nice hotel

Despite trying many weather sites, they all agreed that heavy rain was due today, all along our route.  But as we left, the sun was shining, however I did have the foresight to wear my waterproofs just in case..

Unye beach - not up to much.

After fuelling up, we hit the dual carriageway which runs along the coastline, and the sun is still out.  10km on and we enter a long tunnel, and as soon as we exit, it was like going through a timewarp ... the heavens had opened on the other side !

And from that moment on it was heavy rain interspersed with light rain, for the next 4 hours.  Now I'm going to suggest to the motorcycle clothing industry that use they use a sliding scale for amount of waterproof-ness of each garment.... from 0% to 90%.  There simply isn't such a thing as 100% waterproof.

Got to our next hotel in Trabzon, and I really should have read the description a little better.  It was out of town, near the airport, isolated, on a main road, and had a "Disco bar" underneath.

All well, when we checked in, and due to the weather, we felt a bit marooned. Ended up eating in the hotel, and turned in about 9pm.  Well, at midnight, I wake to the sound of heavy base vibrating through the hotel.  I throw some jeans on and leg it downstairs to check out the "disco"... some women sitting around, some men sitting around, but nobody dancing!

Hmmm, back to bed.  The next morning, I go to reception as the wifi is stronger, and there's about 7-8 guys all "waiting" in reception.  One by one, women come down the stairs, followed by a sheepish looking guy.  He settles the bill, and the girl is driven off by her minder ....I'd only booked us into a knocking shop !   Whoops, Sorry Jeremy ... blame me for that one.

The Tortoise

And today ... nothing of note happened !

Left Kastamonu trying to take a few photos on the way out, but rush hour and impatient Turkish drivers prevented that.

Straight back onto the dual carriageway with all good roads & great scenery, all the way to Trabzon.

Nice vista.

and again.

"Uh, hello, hello ... can u hear me... there must be something on the line"

 And then for 12 km, the GPS wanted to take a short cut, so I complied .... come across what I thought was dung in the road.  Then as I drew closer ....

Dung ?

 It was a wild tortoise crossing the road ..... slowly.  And a bus was fast approaching !

.... very slowly.

 So, I put the bike across the road, and made the bus go around.   Ah, that's my good deed for the day.

Then the road turned to gravel.

... then a brand new dual carriageway that followed the coast for 100km or so.

Tunnels galore.

In the evening, met up with Jeremy, and we planned a nice meal with a glass of wine ... oh, Muslim restaurant, I forgot.  OK, I'll try the 2014 Chateau neuf de Fanta than.  I heard it was a good year.

And I hate to say, but Jeremy brought the rain from England, so after 16 days of sunshine, I had to get the wet weather gear out for the morning.

Onwards to Kastamonou

400 km planned today, and suffering from a lack of caffeine ....

More pipeline .... must Google it later.

Mountain roads = mountain views

Eventually the roads improve

Selfie, with some cows.

Lunch was taken at the Nil Cafe .... I can only assume the Nil refers to Nil Alcohol available !

There was no English menu, so it was a case of point and hope for the best.  I managed OK, until I got a coffee without milk, and making "moo" sounds with my hands for horns, still failed to break the communication barrier.

Had to revert to the "Picture Book"

Success

The owner insisted on taking pics of me for her Facebook page, so I grabbed one back.  Had a good laugh, then was on my way.

The afternoon roads were a lot better with decent dual carriageway into Kastamonou.

Kastamonu is an ancient town, and the hotel I stayed in was a old stone built affair, full of ornate furniture, high ceilings, and soft beds.  Excellent ... I needed a good nights sleep.

And after checking in, I spotted a old Haman (Turkish Bath) opposite.  Built 500 years ago.
So that was it, do as the locals... went in and had 16 days of road grime scrubbed of my body ... urgh !

I had a gander around in the evening, and have to say I wish I had more time here.  There's loads to see and I just caught a few glimpses.  I should have taken more photos, but I'm sure you could find them on the web.... start here Google Kastamonu

Another 400 km in the morning, so bed by 10.30, really !

Know your ferries

Today was one of those days that turned from Plan A, to B, to C...

The original plan was to avoid Istanbul and its traffic, and cross the Bosphorus River, north of the city, using a local ferry.
.
A moments lapse of concentration and I missed a turn, and was getting sucked into Istanbul itself.  Found the first exit, and just happened to stop outside a big Harley Davidson dealer.  Thought I would buy another inner tube, but all they sold were bikes and expensive riding apparel !

They directed me to the Honda dealer that was on my way back to the ferry I was originally aiming for.  Once they said, "keep the sea on your right, and you can't miss it", I knew I would.
So, I did miss it, but found the ferry ... Guess what ? Passengers only ... how did I cock that up ? I'll blame the GPS, it routed me that way.

I then had no choice, Plan C... through the city and across the bridge.  I took a scenic way back into Istanbul so as not to retrace my steps, then in fairness the traffic was not as bad as I thought.

View of Istanbul

The GPS redeemed itself by taking me through without a missed turn, and then I was on the bridge ... but gridlock.  Again, after a few minutes a local came riding past straight up the side of the lorries on the hard shoulder .... so I followed him !  I'm sure I should have payed a toll, but somehow the opportunity never presented itself.

The rest of the morning was spent doing some fairly nice roads until my stomach signalled a lunch break was required, so this backwoods diner fitted the bill.

   

Shish Kebab was all I knew in Turkish, so that what I got.

Plus a customary cup of tea at the end.

Shooting on, the roads got steadily worse as I got closer to the sea, ending up with the last 25 km being just a dusty gravel road.  There is a massive pipeline project going on here, and as the site was deserted, I had a little "play".

Not quite the same as in the "Italian Job"

Got to Kerpe about 5 pm, and checked into my first "hostel" accommodation ... The Danube Surf House.  It conjures up images of a evening around a camp fire on the beach with a load of Turkish Surfer Dudes.

In reality, I was the only one there, the place was 10 mins from the beach, and at the end of a housing estate.  The owner, while pleasant enough, had a couple of tiny dogs that growled, yelped and whined, every time they spotted movement.  I asked about breakfast .... "oh, about 9, or 10 dude" (in a Turkish/French accent, but you get the idea).

9 beds in this "mixed" room

So the next morning, I had the last laugh ... and while he was still asleep on the outside sofa ... I set the dogs off !  Left at 8am, minus a breakfast.