Day 39 Tbilisi
Bike day today. New tyres and an oil change. Tyres are still good but the next place is a long way away so I would rather have good tyres for the Pamir highway etc.
We set off for the bike shop in heavy traffic, unfortunately my friend Tomtom doesn’t cover Georgia so its a combination of Google maps and Maps.Me. Must have circled Freedom Square about 6 times before I found the correct exit. I didn’t realise it was a double roundabout, one on top of the other. Ahhhhh. Anyway we got here in the end.
New tyres and fresh oil, big ups to Rushmores motorcycles Tbilisi for great service and good prices.
Ride home was less stressful but the phone is much harder to read than the Tomtom especially with the sun on it.
The temperature on the ride home hit 40 degrees so straight to the shower for us.
Our plans have proven to be very fluid as things have changed. It all started with a sudden and unexplained ban on motorcycles greater than 250cc entering Iran.
We thought we could go to Turkmenistan from Azerbaijan but this has proved impossible as we must set a specific date to enter, and as the ferry has no timetable or any way of pre booking we cannot meet that requirement.
So then we could go by ferry to Kazakhstan which means a 24 hour ferry ride on a less than optimal craft also with no set schedule and a possible wait at the port of up to 5 days. A notoriously difficult border crossing, then about four days through a desert on variable roads and petrol only available on the black market. Also we would totally miss Turkmenistan for which we have already arranged and paid for our compulsory guides.
So we have arranged with a local Iranian guide for a truck to transport our bike to the Turkmenistan border and we will travel with him in his van from the 1st to the 8th July with him as a guide. He has also agreed that if the ban is lifted (which rumour has it, it will be soon) then we will be free to travel independently.
We have wrestled with all the possible permutations of this for weeks. It has been quite stressful because of the uncertainty of it all and also we have a specific date to be at the China border so at least this way will be right back on our schedule.
On the plus side we have visited Georgia, which is really nice and we’ll get a look at Azerbaijan, neither of these countries was on our original route.
Yay our Azerbaijan Visa’s have just arrived. Amazing how these little things take on such significance and bring us joy.
We set off for the bike shop in heavy traffic, unfortunately my friend Tomtom doesn’t cover Georgia so its a combination of Google maps and Maps.Me. Must have circled Freedom Square about 6 times before I found the correct exit. I didn’t realise it was a double roundabout, one on top of the other. Ahhhhh. Anyway we got here in the end.
New tyres and fresh oil, big ups to Rushmores motorcycles Tbilisi for great service and good prices.
Ride home was less stressful but the phone is much harder to read than the Tomtom especially with the sun on it.
The temperature on the ride home hit 40 degrees so straight to the shower for us.
Our plans have proven to be very fluid as things have changed. It all started with a sudden and unexplained ban on motorcycles greater than 250cc entering Iran.
We thought we could go to Turkmenistan from Azerbaijan but this has proved impossible as we must set a specific date to enter, and as the ferry has no timetable or any way of pre booking we cannot meet that requirement.
So then we could go by ferry to Kazakhstan which means a 24 hour ferry ride on a less than optimal craft also with no set schedule and a possible wait at the port of up to 5 days. A notoriously difficult border crossing, then about four days through a desert on variable roads and petrol only available on the black market. Also we would totally miss Turkmenistan for which we have already arranged and paid for our compulsory guides.
So we have arranged with a local Iranian guide for a truck to transport our bike to the Turkmenistan border and we will travel with him in his van from the 1st to the 8th July with him as a guide. He has also agreed that if the ban is lifted (which rumour has it, it will be soon) then we will be free to travel independently.
We have wrestled with all the possible permutations of this for weeks. It has been quite stressful because of the uncertainty of it all and also we have a specific date to be at the China border so at least this way will be right back on our schedule.
On the plus side we have visited Georgia, which is really nice and we’ll get a look at Azerbaijan, neither of these countries was on our original route.
Yay our Azerbaijan Visa’s have just arrived. Amazing how these little things take on such significance and bring us joy.
A few more city scenes
Good luck! Adds to the adventure. As always a great read you two.
ReplyDeleteGlad you’re enjoying it Audrey.
DeleteHere was I thinking "another two or three weeks of heavily laden touring and the tyres will be buggered. We'll see photos of Mark struggling with tyre levers and Robin , sweat coated, pumping away on a Stirrup Pump, changing tyres hours away from and shade. "Sounds more like coffee and cake while state of the art technicians popped on new top drawer tubeless hoops? No stuffing dried grass into the tyre by the roadside yet?Typing from Cromwell where the cloud ceiling is almost at ground level all day today and the temp not much above zero.
ReplyDeleteNo point in roughing it Russell. I sold this tour as the luxury package so now I have to deliver!!!
DeleteThat maybe yet to come Russell!
Delete"Luxury package?" So far Mark you seem to be delivering. Absorbing adventure for those of us reading about it.
ReplyDelete