Day 43. Sighnaghi - Mingachevir
After breakfast we said goodbye to our new friends and headed to the border. Only feeling slightly seedy after last night, Robyn and I got out in the nick of time, it could have got messy.
At the border they asked if we had a drone, I said mate I can't even work the go pro properly, not sure he got that. Usual roundabout of bike passport. That is the bike passport. No I want bike passport. That's all I have. Don’t you understand bike passport. Yes I understand bike passport but that's all I have.
I think I’ll pre -record a message.Anyway we got there in the end.
Ominous sign I thought.
So we set off full of trepidation, at least I was. The stories of the Azeri traffic police are legendary and not in a good way. At one stage I pulled over to let a horse and cart pass me, I was so paranoid about not speeding.
The road was beautiful for the first 40km as we skirted alongside the Caucasus mountain foothills. We pulled over to get some local money and buy snacks at the supermarket. The police are thick on the ground here but thankfully let us be.
We then turned away from the hills and the scenery changed to fields of crops and a hell of a lot of hay being cut. Nice countryside but it got hotter and more dry the further we traveled.
The scenery wasn’t the only thing that changed, the road became a potholed, rutted, and bumpy mess with more patches than a Mongrel mob convention. Once we got through that we were treated to 30km of really, really rough roadworks.
Stopped for gas and decided enough was enough, the Triumph is just not up to the job. So we traded it in. See photo.
Actually the Triumph is lapping it up or should I say the Nitron shock is lapping it up. Money well spent.
Pulled up at our accommodation and parked in the shade. Temp gauge at 37. Phew.
At the border they asked if we had a drone, I said mate I can't even work the go pro properly, not sure he got that. Usual roundabout of bike passport. That is the bike passport. No I want bike passport. That's all I have. Don’t you understand bike passport. Yes I understand bike passport but that's all I have.
I think I’ll pre -record a message.Anyway we got there in the end.
Ominous sign I thought.
So we set off full of trepidation, at least I was. The stories of the Azeri traffic police are legendary and not in a good way. At one stage I pulled over to let a horse and cart pass me, I was so paranoid about not speeding.
The road was beautiful for the first 40km as we skirted alongside the Caucasus mountain foothills. We pulled over to get some local money and buy snacks at the supermarket. The police are thick on the ground here but thankfully let us be.
We then turned away from the hills and the scenery changed to fields of crops and a hell of a lot of hay being cut. Nice countryside but it got hotter and more dry the further we traveled.
The scenery wasn’t the only thing that changed, the road became a potholed, rutted, and bumpy mess with more patches than a Mongrel mob convention. Once we got through that we were treated to 30km of really, really rough roadworks.
Yippee. Speeding was not an issue anymore.
Actually the Triumph is lapping it up or should I say the Nitron shock is lapping it up. Money well spent.
Pulled up at our accommodation and parked in the shade. Temp gauge at 37. Phew.
These are the most openly friendly people we have come across. Every second car either waves or flashes their lights or gives a friendly toot.
We went out for a meal on the bike as we are a bit on the outskirts and had a look around. People thought we were lost so tried to help us out.
Bit embarrassing really. " where you want to go". " don't know really" đŸ˜±
We went out for a meal on the bike as we are a bit on the outskirts and had a look around. People thought we were lost so tried to help us out.
Bit embarrassing really. " where you want to go". " don't know really" đŸ˜±
We find a nice place by the river to have a meal outside, it got darker and darker, thick spots if rain and an incredibly gusty wind got up. We shifted tables, gobbled our food and headed home before we got too wet.
Sorry to say biker friends, in these temperatures I have been a bit slack on the all the gear onall the time rule.
Mingachevir doesn’t have much for the international tourist but its a lovely city split by the Kur river. It it spotlessly clean and ordered with lovely parks and wide boulevards. It is the site of a massive hydro dam and the resultant lake is used for boating and fish farming. A very pleasant layover for us.
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