Category Archives: Finnian’s Galleries

Everyone who saw us was asking if we were on our way to Lhasa. It’s a popular destination for Chinese overlanders. Unfortunately, we would not be joining them.
Noodles in a filling station. After leaving here, a hilarious chinese guy on a motorbike hung out with us for the evening. After finding out he was going to Lhasa we asked if he was going to see the Potala Palace. Through his translator app he replies ‘No, i travel to feel the feeling’. Right answer.
Our first Prayer flags.
A Chinese businessman chasing an ibex for a photo
A brand new taoist temple. However interesting the temple was we would have been more interested in a restaurant
“Maybe theres a restaurant around this corner” we finally found somewhere well after dark. We were literally jumping with joy.
And we are officially on the plataue. Thats about the height of Mont Blanc for some refernce.
And the plataue is as a flat as you’d expect.
Can’t pass up a swim at 4000 m
The water at over 4000 m was pretty cold and after only few strokes i was gasping for breath. There isn’t much oxygen either at this altitude either. After cathching my breath i decided
Good bye Andre.
High grasslands
It snowed every night on the plateau.
All this snow would be burned off by noon at at this altitutde. As a combination of the stronger sun a and lower melting point.
After every climb there’s a descent, and on the plataue both are pretty big.
A giant Prayer wheel at our first monastery
Thanks for the coffee Vinnie.
Huge vultures scared from a carcas .
Combustion engines loose a lot of power due to the lower oxygen. So the roads have to be long winding switchbacks that never get too steep. make for pretty scenic riding.
A lot of the roads we’ve cycled on have been so fresh that they’re still steaming. This was one of them.
The wind was so strong we could barely stop.
This Brand new bridge towering over rural china sums up the country pretty well.
Evening riding is pretty nice.
Prayer wheels
Hugo and his crew
Stupa
Us and our gang.
Mani wall in Zhidou.
Monks having a waterfight
Someone doesn’t approve.
Hey mister.
Where did he learn that?
This is how we spend most of our days off.
Weather at the passes is pretty volatile.
A shaggy dog losing his winter coat.
Leaving Yushu.
One of our better camp sites.
Newly built temples are quite common as the Chinese realise their value to tourism.
All you have to to to receive a nice new temple is renounce any relation to the 14th Dalai Lama.
Monks practicing their dance moves.
Entering The Princess Yushu Temple valley.
Prayer Flags sending out good fortune to all sentient being. They are a pretty common sight all across the plateau.
Monks taking pictures of each other. They were all to happy to pose for mine when the saw me.
New chinese roads, ancient prayer flags
Hup the Reds.
A wrathful Dharma protector. If you give away any sect secrets and he’ll be coming after you.
The faithfull circumambulating the world’s largest Mani Wall.
This monastery was destroyed. Our guide explains what happened, something involving guns. Couldn’t figure out whart or whom they were used on.
A veiw into a prayer hall while monks chant.
This little guy became our selfassigned guide for the monastery
Chinese make pretty nice roads.
We had all four season going over this pass
We met a lot of families picking caterpillar fungus. They were even more surprised to see us on bikes up this pass then we were seeing them. After chatting with them they gave us a push up the hill to get us going.
The weather cleared up when we reached the pass.
China, Dublin to Nepal, Finnian's Galleries

Qhinghai, China

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After being in Pakistan this is the most space we have had for months
Like a kid on christmas morning
Loud music woke us up on our first morning in China. Looking out our window we saw the local school children dressed as everythign from soldiers to chickens. This would continue for three days
And so we started riding in the desert
Turns out it’s pretty big
The only shelter we could find was the odd telephone mast
And vast oasis cities built by the chinese
Howdy partner
Hugo ‘ What is it, a dust storm or just haze?’ Andre ” I don’t know but it’s getting closer’
I’m going in!!
Really??
We’re neever going to see him again
Baby Bactrian Camels
Ohh what’s over there?
Not much going on in the desert
Pretty much this view in everydirection for a week
Dad are the same the world over. ‘No this is how you do it’
It’s a bad sign when the milestones are the most interestuing things you pass
Somewhat less important then our joint birthdate but still notable
Smile everyone
No muslim dress in the bazaar
But east asian fashions shows are encouraged
Setting off from Qiemo for about a week crossing a where we think there will be a road
After weeks in the desert we were nearly in the mountains
Our expedition starts
the tarmac ends
and the washboards begin.
Hopefully this wasn’t an omen
Roads climbing this steep are usually fine. When they do it over sandcovered switchbacks, progress gets slow
Slow and steady
A wild swedish cowboy in his natural habitat
Fleeing the dust
This was the complex which turned us back. They claimed it was a national park ahead and we needed a permit from Beijing. I don’t know why a national park would need such a large army barracks but we didn’t stick around to find out.
Walking to our campsite
Hard work riding in the desert
Dogs in tibet are big
Dragging our bikes back to the road after camping
Today wasn’t bad, we only needed to push our bikes for 1 hour over this hill
Riding with camals through a gorge is pretty fun
The camels are suprisingly fast
Glad to be out of the desert.
China, Dublin to Nepal, Finnian's Galleries

Xingjaing, China

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Leaving Gilgit we took the quiet road to avaoid police checkpost and aquiring an escort
When you see huge section of metal guard wiped away like ribbon
The old silk road overlooking our camp.
New Silk road and Old Silk Road
Little did we know we’d never make it
Entering the Hunza Valley
First sight of Himalayan architecture
This expression was on richie’s face for nearly his entire time in Pakistan
Richie weilding a shovel
He looks mysterious but really he just needs to poo
View from our bedroom in Karimabad
Karimabad
One of the many landslides which we crossed in hope of still being able to get to China overland. We’re slow learners.
Some yound girls looking more Central Asian than Pakistani
Loli was a snow leopard that the nature reserve had rescued and now looked after
Richie realising he’s a little bit stuck
‘Hate to be the bearer of bad news lads but this is not easy’
And then we were back on the open road making great progress towards China
Not for long
An adorable Yak
Hugo supervising Richie’s firewood collection
Morning view from our campsite
The Pakistanis seem to come out of the womb on these motorbikes
That’s an entrance to a tunnel nearly completely covered by an avalanche.
Andre receiving his bicycle after our stay in Sost trying to organise entry into China
View from the bus as we head south
Evening in Islamabad
Good Bye Pakistan
Dublin to Nepal, Finnian's Galleries, Pakistan

Pakistan Part Two

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Leaving the levie station in Taftan in the back of our first escort
A lot of the barracks are done designed like medieval castles.
The windchill of the back of the trucks was pretty cold
These are the main truck used to transport everything in Pakistan. With horns as elaborate as their designs.
Back of another tuck
It gets pretty windy on the back of the jeeps. So windly you need to tie your hat on
It was a fun challenge figuring out how to fit four bike tourers and all their stuff in the trucks
Trucks passing through a police checkpoint
Out the back of a pick up truck is actually quite a nice way to see somewhere
Most of baluchistan looks like this
But some parts are nice and irrigated.
Waiting for our next escort
Being the smallest of the group it was my job to lodge myself into the smallest spaces in the back of the vans.
Wasn’t much room for rich either
Pensive rich
Hugo and his Pakistani friend. He spent the whole journey perched on his chair, unwrapping his turban into a blanket and wrapping it back. The pakistani man not hugo.
The train station in Multan
Old colonial building, Mughal mosques and Indian extravagance make for an interest mix in Pakistan
This would become a familiar sight. Men on bikes or motorbikes pulling along side to have a chat.
Andre with Rickshaw. It’s horn is nearly as loud as it’s decoration.
The price for getting free accommodation in a press club is being interviewed by 3 different TV stations
First grass we’ve seen in months
Just a camal drawn cart down Sahiwal mainstreet
We camped near a potato farm, the farmer came out and gave us some potatoes for dinner. A welcome treat for 3 irishmen.
A whole family on the motorbike
Hugo sitting down to tell us the tale of a spicy fly flying into his eye.
Passing a huge group of people and the sound of drumming off the the road we stopped and had to have a look. This was the first and last time we would willingly enter into a scrum of pakistanis.
What was going on was the annual drumming competition. And this was where we would meet the Lashari’s of Bama Bala and spend two nights with them.
This man looks so happy because he was in charge of crowd control. This involved flinging water at anyone who got two close.
We quickly over took the drumming as the main attraction of the event.
Anytime we stop we gather a circle of observer who just loom not interacting at all.
Amar Lashari’s adorable son Mehrooz
Mehrooz and Andre
The narrow streets of Bama Bala
Andre happy to pass on the coma inducing hookah
We waited around for hours for a dancing horse. What arrived was much more of a terrifying jumping and kicking horse. That had people taking pictures and running for safety in equal measure.
This was the hookah That The townspeople of Bama Bala puffed out of. I thought it was better to not subject my asthmatic lungs to it but it nearly knocked over the lads
After two days of constantly asking if he could shoot a gun richies wishes were answered.
Wahoo
These are too big for hunting.
This is Habib. Habib only wears black, he doesn’t speak and he always sits slightly outside the group of people. Yet when we were shooting the guns he was the one showing us how to do it.
Give us your best intimidating face
After spending two great nights with Amar and the rest of the Lasharis he had to say goodbye
Being invited to our second school visit in as many days
Maybe remembering all he wanted to do when he was in school was yell at the top of his lungs, this is exactly what Richie got every class we visited to do.
Spiderboy teaching the class
These hay carts were very common on the narrow punjab roads
Any room to get by?
Frank was the amazing couchsurfing host who put up Andre and Hugo for nearly a month. Frank and Lisa from germany also enjoyed his hospitality before leaving for india
Dehydration is the enemy
Richie fielding questions while Hugo engoys the peace
Hugo chatting to some Pakistanis … and a suprise MONKEY
Cycling sweetheart
Days and days of switchbacks
They just keep going
Cycled up to the snow
Feeding time at the zoo
Picture of us with the Kasmir mountains in the background
Pakistanis who we’ve never met and didn’t talk to us who wanted to be in the photo
More Pakistanis who wanted to be in the photo
Kashmir in the distance
The roads around Muree were the steepest of the trip so far. We often came across vomit left behind by pakistanis more used to the flat roads of Punjab
Clearing a landside
Not a bad view at lunch time
Cooking With Andre Augustsson
Hugo waiting for lunch
A typical scene of us being swamped by Pakistanis all wanting a picture. Though after a long climb Hugo was more interested in his lunch
The descent into Abbottabad was the longest of the trip so far and absolutely incredible. Perfect roads and great views the whole way
Richie taking the lead
Could do this all day
Our first sign with three scripts. No better example of the Silk Road.
Mosques and mountains
Vibrant laundry out to dry
Appperently there are rice paddies in northern Pakistan. Surprised all of us.
Escorts got pretty annoying as they followed us up the steep climbs
We camped behind that barricade to the left. After we were set up we asked the police if they had any drink and they said no but brought richie to some chinese. We presumed it was a chinese shop but turned out to be a bunch of chinese workers staying nearby. When Richie asked if they had a bottle of whisky the chinese laughs and say ” i don’t have a bottle of whisky, i have a bag of whisky. Yes apparently whisky comes in bags in china
Causing traffick jams evrytime we want a picture
First sight of the Indus
Landslides are very common along the KKH
China may be only 625 km away but beijing is 5425.
Kersplat
After changing a flat with an audience i got a pitcure of them
I don’t remember taking this picture but it looks like it was taaken from a plane
Cycling through a construction site
The misty rain really added a lot atmosphere to the ride
We cycled through bigger and bigger rivers as we got further up the mountains
Richie being chased by a JCB
One days worth of food for four bike tourists
After cycling through lush paddy fields, rolling foothills, the steep Indus valley arrive at the vast barren plateau was a lot to take in.
At this stage we knew Nanga Parbat was somewhere ahead and we were pretty excited.
Our police escorts always wanted their photos taken.
This was our guard for our day off in Chilas.
Landslide waiting to happen
Our dancing guard, a man prodding Hugo’s bike and Hugo having a piss in the distance.
Richie burning his head on hot spring water
Cycling from your front door to the ninth highest mountain in the world. Really we were just on a road beside it. It doesn’t really come out in the photo but i nearly fell of my bike when i saw it.
Nice spot to break down
Cycling through this landscape you really feel like you don’t have time to take it all in.
Sometime half the road falls away
Finger guns Fitzpatrick
The confluence of the Hindu Kush, Karakoram and Himalayan mountain ranges. And our jaunty gaurd
He’s such a charmer
Dublin to Nepal, Finnian's Galleries, Pakistan

Most of Pakistan

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Dublin to Nepal, Finnian's Galleries, Pakistan

Umbrella

Hey everyone, Finnian here. This post is a little different. We’re still cycling away, heading up the KKH and having a great time. But I won’t be talking about that, I’ll be asking a favour.

I’ve been accepted into a teaching programme in Nepal with the Umbrella Foundation. Umbrella focuses on protecting the children of Nepal from war, poverty and trafficking. A job all the more difficult since the earthquake. I will be teaching children in rural Nepal for nine weeks after I arrive. Here is their website if you want to learn more about the charity  (Umbrella Charity).

I am raising money for the programme before I arrive. As I’m still on the road online fundraising is the only method available to me. So if you been enjoying the blog I’d really appreciate anything you have to give. I’ve put a donate button on the menu bar beside Finnian’s Galleries, it will bring you to a page where you can donate directly to the charity.

Thanks a bunch.

Oh and here’s a photo of where we are at the minute hugo-1-2

Standard
There are no pubs in Tehran so everyone hangs out in coffee shops .
Traffic in Tehran
Ski in ski out hotel north of Tehran. Apparently the Shah used stay here
The green party in Iran is the anti-government party. Here are some government smear posters against them.
Apperently they are afraid of jews shooting nucluer bullets at them
And america are playing them like pawns
Posters of the cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr executed by Saudi’s were all over Tehran.
American embassy in Tehran
A slightly bloodier poster. An in true iranian style the saudi embassy was stormed.
Military murial
The Azadi tower
This is the street the british embassy is on. After the revolution it was changed from Winston Churchill street to Babisandz street. We think the misspelling is to maintain plausible deniability
More murials of the supreme leaders and some martyrs
Pictures of matyrs and the supreme leaders cover the country
The hijab laws extend to both men and women. Meaning men have to wear trousers. We observed the law until cycling in the desert got just too hot and we had to change on the side of the road.
Only two days after skiing north of Iran we were in the desert. and you can see the smog covering the city.
Long shadows after cycling late into the evening
Camping under an old persian bridge
Most Iranian sit cross legged on these raised platforms when eating
We got invited in to stay in what was becoming a tourist house and campsite
Large “friday mosques’ are being built in all cities
Mosque in Kashan
Dome in a historic house in Kashan
More domes
Finding this historic hotel at half price in off season was a deal too good to turn down
Great spot to read your book
Nice visiting a UNESCO heritage site sharing your name
Recently the iranian government has instituted a 6 euro (200,000 rial) entry price to most tourist locations. But if you can read farsi you can see beside the 200,000 rial price is 30,000 ( 1 euro) price for iranians. Pretty cheeky, but we often haggled a bargain out of them.
Originally each of these fountains shot up the same height, maintained purely by the natural pressure of the entering water.
Far away mountains seem nice and manageable
less so the closer you get
After cycling down this lovely road we stopped and realised i had taken a wrong turn and we would need to turn around and go the whole way back up. Whoops.
Clearing the road of debris
Mosque at Natanz, right beside the Nuclear enrichment site. The gaurds were very suspect of us passing the site until we said we were going to Natanz, after which they beamed with smiles and said it was lovely.
More crazy domes
Our campsite seemed pretty interesting to a police hilux that drove up to have a look at us
Chadors are the dress of choice outside cities
Shah mosque in Esfahan
When this school group walked in and saw hugo they swamped him all crowding around to get selfies. Very quickly the mullahs corralled them away from the infidels
Mullahs with selfie sticks
At the Friday mosque in Esfahan
There an elephant strangling someone in this painting
Iranian take their confection seriously
Richie smushing his first Ab Ghoust
Relaxing after an Icecream
We were pretty excited approaching Persoplis
The original gates all guest would have walked through
One of these would have been placed on top of each pillar and a rafter ran over it.
Even though the complex was burned to the ground by Alexander the great. It was later buried under sand preserving it excellently.
The new year consuming the previous
Guest from around the empire being lead to the King.
The Faravahar symbol of the zoroastrian religion, hugely important for iranian identity.
OUr best attept at an album cover
Bastani is iranian icecream and in the south they make it with gelatine and it’s one of the best things we’ve tried all trip
Tombs of Kings of the persian empire. I can’r remeber but Xerxes from 300 might be there.
The founder of the entire Persian empire Cyrus the Great’s tomb. We were asked by the tour guide who was Irelands Cyrus the great
A bridge in Esfahan
Inside a bridge in Esfahan
After our first day climbing Richie thought the climb would never end
But then it did
Cycling down hill to have a warmer campsite had us cycling into the night.
Kerman is our last stop on the bikes in Iran
Beware of camals
Police waved us over, not to check visas or anything but just to see whats going on and get some pictures with us.
Hot in the desert
Last pic of Hugo and his Daesh beard
I got caught in a swarm of chadored women very hard to get out of.
Can’t go to a persian garden without taking a picture of the dome
Persian gardens are a nice break from hectic Iranian cities
Richie, Julie and France at a Zorastrian fire temple
Richie and Zorastor himself
View from our hostel roof in Yazd
There’s a huge amount of littering all across Iran. These are what we call plastic bag farms, nearly ready for harvest
Spiderman making his morning coffee
We could cycle ooor we could throw rocks for another half an hour
How did this pine cone end up in the desert.
Luckily or unlucky we didn’t come across any
Nearly finished cycling for the day
We found this house in the middle of nowhere, thought there might be bathroom we could use
One of the worse bathrooms on the trip
All the camping spots are kind of the same in the desert.
When it rains it pours, punctures for all.
After patching this puncture I found out it went through to the other side and had cause a second puncture.
My bike is somewhere in there being repaired by the local electrician.
A shot of the villagers who came out to help me find my stolen light. This is about a third of the total charcters who made an apearence over the course of the afternoon. The secret police refused to have their pictures taken for obvious reasons.
You could pick up these huge mud bricks and throw them around. Throwing things around the desert is one of the best ways to stay sane.
Hey buddy
The camals were a bit camera shy
Pistachio bush or tree
Sun setting on our way into Kerman
The start of the armed escorts
After cycling out of the iranian border town we were stopped at the first checkpoint. After we spent the whole day in escorts only to get to the border too late, we were pretty forceful explaining we had to get to the border. It was all well humoured and after marching around yelling and waving our hand a truck arrived and took us on our way.
Iranian Border with Pakistan in the distance
After the myriad of iranian offices, customs buildings and security measures we walked across the border in to the desert. There was nothing. We were lead over to one small mud building processed to all the incoming and exiting traffic.
Dublin to Nepal, Finnian's Galleries, Iran

Southern Iran

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Our first sight of the infamous Ayatollahs
After cycling in the dark and not findiong anywhere to camp we got invited into a “Hubble Bubble” lounge. The tall guy was the owner and had to leave to go to volleyball practice.
Iranians: If you don’t believe in god what do you believe in Finnian:Education?
We slept in one of the guys from the hubble bubble’s living room
That dot would be the closest I got to Hugo today. I was a bit sick and spent the day sweaty, red and about an hour behind him.
Farsi is painted on pretty much every wall in sight
Mosque in Germi
Our iranian posse
After waking up to ice blocks in my cleats, I learned that I would have to clean them out before night fell. When everything we own turned to ice
Hugo heating up his iPad after it says it’s too cold to work
Freewheeling downhill with a view like that. Definitely one of those moments you stop and think ” and I cycled here?”
I believe i was listening to The Real Slim Shady when taking this photo
They love volleyball in Iran
The government’s advertising can be pretty crazy at times
This guy very kindly gave us a free breakfast and some cinnomon tea
After i left to get some water i the shop keeper produced a seat and some chai and i chatted with him and his friends. After i finished the chai i felt i would be keeping Hugo. I found him in another building also having chai so then i got invited for more chai.
Abghoust is a mutton, potato, tomato and chickpea stew. which you pour into a bowl and mash with the mallet
Big passes are always fun
Highest we’ve been on the trip so far
Camels
Too cold to take your gloves off
That evening climbing hunch
Sun set before tabriz
Forgot to clean my cleats
Us and some kurds.
A huge amount of very larges rocks pass us every day
Easy does it, easy does it
Ah Christ
Nothing better than waking up knowing you’ll be going downhill all day
Still downhill
Frozen paddy feild
Amir
Climbing out of miyaneh
The broken bridge
This was our coldest morning yet, at about 1600 metres.
Visiting a Mongols tomb
We had the whole thing to ourselves
There haven’t been many camp photos in winter because it’s usually straight into the tent
Although from the photos it may seem like we are always smiling, heres one to prove otherwise.
Hugo pulled over one morning and said ” do you want to go slegding?”
So we slide down the hill on our map cases
Iran has been really windy so far
Can put up the tent without even looking at it
Learning Farsi is hard. The shape of the letters change depending whether they are at the front middle or end of the word. We know a few letter like ‘n’. All these cities end in ‘n’.
stocking hung by the chest of drawrers with care
These lads were full of beans and wouldn’t let us go until our pockets were full of oranges
these characters gave us a christmas present of some oranges
First esspresso in three weeks.
Bazaar in Quazvin
Nothing like visiting a holy islamic shrine on christmas day
Kufic script repeating Alla Ali and Mohhomad.
You guys aren’t supposed to have these.
Regular sight of a car pulling up beside one of us and the driver having a conversation with us as cars weave around him
Nearly there…
A non alchoholic brewery
Milad tower
Dublin to Nepal, Finnian's Galleries, Iran

Northern Iran

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After denying we had ever been to Armenia about 20 times we were let through the border.
Instead of being greeted with perfect roads bought with the large oil reserve Azerbaijan is home to, we met this scary billboard and some of the worst roads of the trip .
They have quite the penchant for faux medival buildings in Azerbaijan
Posters and billboards of this guy popped up pretty regularly. Turns out he is the curropt president of the country. He’s dead now but his son was voted into the presidency after him.
These guys were great. Mustafa found us having one of our least substaintial lunches of the trip outside a small shop. he had no english but put us on the phone to his daughter who inited us for chai. What followed was an extravagant feast of pumpkin pancakes, sweets bread, coffee whiskey and a variety of fruit from his garden.
So much fog
Waking up to more fog
With all the rain and fog this was the first time we saw the sun or our shadows in days
The perplexing rock rivers of Azerbaijan
Mosques, petrol stations and mountain summed up our riding in northern Azerbaijan
We ended up camping somewhere down there.
They only had 12% gradient signs in the whole of Azerbaijan
This valley was full of picnic areas and gazebo, say it’s lovely in the summer.
Greater Caucusus
It’s pretty cool to vaguelly be following the silk route.
Hugo pretty sick of unnecessary climbs.
After spending the day climbing unnnessacry ridges we were pretty spent. We spotting these guys at the base of an unexpected climb late in the day. I pulled up beside them and asked if we could have a lift. Their reaction was priceless. The the three guys in the cab started hooping and hollering and jumped out and ran around shaking our hands. We all threw the bikes in the back of the van and we were off. After having chai and some of their homemade strawberry preserve we left them and looked for somewhere to camp.
The 120 km day to baku would be mostly downhill out of the hills and to the caspian sea
Rainy foothills turned to arid planes as the day passed
Old Baku and new
The flame towers have an english cinema and if you ask at the reception you can get a guided tour of the hotel to the top floor
View from the top of the towers
Can’t keep him away from the art
When you find yourself outside the worlds largest KFC (called the KFC palace by the local) you have you go in . Hugo was quite a fan of the ceiling
Visiting a Zoroastrian fire temple. Hugo and i split up when we entered the museum. When we bumped into each other we had both acquired a chaperone. The museum was completely empty except for both of us and our two chaperones following silently behind us.
An eternal flame
Baku means windy city
New Baku and old
The Eurovison was held here
The largest flagpole in the world
A peculiar looking mosque
Hugo stitching his pants by torchlight. That car in the background is a police car. Two police came over to see what was going on. When they figured we were foreign they left without saying anything.
Iran is like a night club, you need to put on trousers to get in.
Hugo got bit by a dog. Don’t worry Pauline, he’s alright.
Azerbaijan, Dublin to Nepal, Finnian's Galleries, On Tour

Azerbaijan

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Crossing the border into Georgia the first thing you see is a church
So I got a lift to the border with a Russian. When we arrived he got out of his truck took the bike out and drove away before I could thank him say good bye or ask for a lift to batumi. Leaving me to walk the 20 km from the border
Wheeling my bike along I was able to stop and admire these guy
Georgian is our third alphabet we’ve come across on our trip and definitely the hardest to understand
In Georgian M is O and N is I
Batumi is a seaside city full of strange and unfinieshed skyscapers. That’s a gold ferriswheel pocking out of one of them
The “Old town” as it’s called is actually quite new they’re still building most of it
Our first camp site outside Batumi
Nulzari and Lilianna.
Passing back through Batumi the weather was crazy. Even the police had the ear flaps on their russian hats pulled down.
Keega was a Georgian kid who showed up at our camp on his bike. He proceeded to help put up the tarp and get our camp ready. He was great. He also took this phot
Keega taking pictures of us
“Right time to get cycling”
We we riding in a storm for about 4 days