Day 28 – 23 September 2017 – Stepanavan to Ardahan (Turkey)
Another day, another day to pack up our gear… …and the bikes, who were waiting patiently for us…again! This twisting road on the map told us to head up this way… …and we found this – HALLELUJAH!!! The views from the top weren’t bad either… …we were celebrating! What a find, both sides of the pass were spectacular! Some dirt roads looked inviting, but we had to keep on towards Turkey, via Georgia. We found a “deserted” quarry and it was perfect for some random TRONO action…
…with some great toys to play around with…
…and some fine spots for a break…
…something caught our attention……turns out it wasn’t deserted after all……but George, the owner, and his mates were more than happy to help us out……while we waited for the tea to brew. Thanks George 🙂Did you know Armenia has the 10th highest average elevation in the world?The plateaus were endless and beautiful……and the ups and downs were pretty good too!!We had to head back into Georgia briefly as crossing between Armenia and Turkey is not allowed… …they don’t like each other very much apparently… …so we decided to take the shortest route possible, which lead us down some pretty rough dirt roads…..Sam was happy…..and we ran into some locals, who wondered what the hell we were up to……but still had a welcoming smile anyway!!!Turkey and the EU awaits us, it felt a bit like returning to the real world!The grandeur of the Turkish landscape struck us immediately……and didn’t disappoint or stop as we headed on west.Our first stop was Ardahan, met with wedding dresses (in the wedding shop), dance parties (mid-afternoon in the wedding shop), presents of cologne (from the wedding shop owner) and many selfies
Day 29 – 24 September 2017 – Ardahan to Ardeşen (Turkey)
We left Ardahan and headed for one of the top 100 roads in the world – Şavşat and Trabzon.It started off pretty impressive and really didn’t let up!There was a bit excitement to be had…… but we stopped for some tea and had our first GAS barney……we hoped blue skies were ahead, but it was looking pretty dark right now!We gathered our thoughts and headed on and found the little town of Şavşat which was going off……and everyone was having a great time.From Şavşat we headed down a little gorge which was pretty cool……but that opened out into some hydro lakes that were quite impressive……and then the scale just multiplied……and started to blow our minds – it was something else!!So we stopped to take it all in, and some guys stopped and had a yarn and gave us some beer. Wow!!!The view across the valley to Artvin was so cool, that little town perched on the side of a mountain. The roads continued to be spectacular and took us out to the Black Sea and to Ardeşen.
Day 30 – 25 September 2017 – Ardeşen to Çamoluk (Turkey)
Our one wake up to the Black Sea on the whole trip…and it was glorious!
Some maths needed to meet for a further chat…
….and some maths on how far we’ve got to go…
A quick stop in Torul where some kids gave us a can of coke each to keep us going!!The roads were fantastic and the space was wonderful……the roads just continued to bend on out of sight in front of us, tempting us and entertaining us……and around any corner or over any rise could be….something like this…we came over another non-descript rise and were forced to stop to absorb the spectacle……and it felt so right to be doing it and seeing it on a bike……just immense!!!And what better way to finish the day than with a fire and whisky by a river…in the absolute middle of nowhere……what a day this one had been 🙂
