We left you on the afternoon of Nick’s
birthday and what a time we’ve had since then!
The evening celebrations went off brilliantly with Nick providing each
of us with multi-coloured glow sticks creating a festival atmosphere. Using the next door restaurant's tables we sat
in a civilized fashion and ate our BBQ chicken.
Later with tunes from the truck, balloons with lights inside and a boxer
dog complete with glow stick, a version of volleyball was played, to an
outsider we must have looked like a happy hippy commune. Nick retired to his tent expecting a
comfortable night’s sleep, however he woke at 4am and felt he was not
alone. There was definitely something
there. The boxer dog you think, but
no. Something altogether more sinister
had crept into his tent to join him during the night. A large crab.
We were camped by a very fast moving stream and the restaurant had a
fish farm on site but nothing could really explain the presence of the crab. Nick tweeted about his night the following day
but due to predictive text, he inadvertently said he’d woken to find a large
Arab scuttling around his tent.
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| Nick's cornflake birthday cake |
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| Nick's birthday |
The following morning was spent in Trabzon,
a popular town with the Turkish and little tourism so wandering the markets was
enjoyably hassle free. We drove towards
the border with Georgia in the afternoon, following the coast before heading
inland and up into the tea hills of North Eastern Turkey. The roads twisted and turned and ascended
sharply meaning options were limited. After
a high pass we started to descend again and came across a clearing on one of
the switchbacks with a couple of short logging tracks leading off. We went up on foot to investigate and decided
it would be a suitable camp for the night.
After a tricky reverse uphill off the main road we parked up and the
group swung into action, tents off roof, tables out, bags off. The lower area
of flat ground had been designated for camping and the higher area for cooking,
eating and the campfire. Just as all
seemed well, an engine was heard roaring up the track, a dumper truck filled
with rubble. It charged down to the
lower level and tents were hauled away from its path. It promptly dumped its load in the middle of
our camp. The drivers, although friendly
enough, didn’t speak any English, and moments later a 2nd truck
turned up, then a 3rd. Much
sign language and nervous smiling later we ascertained there was only 1 more
load due in this evening. To our
surprise this arrived followed by a bulldozer which seemed only to have been
brought in to once again level our sleeping area! The local workers seemed amused and confused
as to why we wanted to sleep there, at first we thought they were gesturing for
money but it turned out they were asking if we needed food, as of course we
must be so poor if we couldn’t afford a hotel!
So the engines died down and we carried on setting up camp, thinking the
excitement for the evening was over.
Laura trotted off into the nearby woods to find a quiet spot and came
across an unexpected friend. Not far
from her in a clearing was a bear! Much
to everyone else’s disappointment when we went back to find it it was nowhere
to be seen. Laura was suitably spooked
and chose to eat her supper in the truck.
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| Beautiful views down to Black Sea |
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| Dumper Truck bushcamp |
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| Landscaping the bushcamp |
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| Ryan & Gareth find a flat place to camp |
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| Setting up camp |
The next morning, after a surprisingly good
sleep, it was time to leave Turkey, we all leave with great memories from a
country few would have listed as one they were particularly looking forward to
initially. Most would happily go back
and see more. A smooth border crossing
into Georgia where we were met by Zaza, our local guide who will join us during
our time in the country. We had one
night in the port city of Batumi. Set on
a warm semitropical coast with a backdrop of mist-wrapped hills. Wandering the streets was a great introduction
into Georgian style and architecture.
Attractive wrought iron balconies with plants growing out of pavements
and up onto buildings. The atmosphere
was relaxed but it is clearly a City that is going places, with international
hotel chains popping up along the sea front.
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| Batumi balconies |
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| Batumi street |
The evening in Batumi was an all fall down
night, due to the slipperiness of the dance floor and nothing to do with the 2
Euro 1 litre jugs of tasty Georgian wine.
The Georgian’s have a tradition when dining out and drinking. It is polite to only drink when a toast is
made, so the toasts are made often and can be lengthy. With one person starting a toast, others can
then add to it, whilst everyone waits til the toast is complete before
drinking. Needless to say the toasts got
shorter and shorter and we’re sure a lot were forgotten. Everyone danced and spun around the galley of
the boat, the local Georgians impressing us with their dancing. The men moving around the dance floor
flamboyantly like figure skaters. We did
our best with some Scottish jigs and lots of falling over which seemed to amuse
them. There was a fairly large
collective headache the following day.
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| Dancing the night away |
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| Dancing in the galley |
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| Kev, Jase, Ryan & Gareth making friends with the locals |
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| Pip & Laura, the sailors |
A lazy day’s start the following day, we
headed up the coast and inland to a bush camp next to an ancient Georgian
fort. The sun shone on a relaxed
afternoon. To top off a great couple of
days we were treated to a nighttime display of fireflies, silently flashing
past and around camp, their abdomens glowing on and off. Mikkel our resident animal catcher, who can
list lamb and lizards as his catch so far, can now add cow and firefly,
enabling us all to have a closer look at such a remarkable species.
We invited a solo Serbian cyclist who’d
arrived at the fort during the afternoon to join us for supper last night. Her name, translated into English; Snow
White. Let the fairytale continue!
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| Jody, Rowan, Ryan & Gareth |
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| Kev & Jase |
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| Ryan & Pip |
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| Nap time |
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| Lost in Turkey? |
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