We flew out of Queenstown as the sky was filling with cloud spaceships heralding a northwest weather change. It was a short hop to Sydney, 15 hours to Doha followed by a 3hr flight to Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia, nestled in green hills on the banks of the river Mtkvari.

Hostel Fabrika, where we stayed a night, started life as a fabric factory and has been converted to large, ubercool hostel. It was a good place to start our trip with lots of room to put our bikes together, English speaking staff and comfy rooms. The next morning our loaded bikes got to ride in elevators and on escalators in order to catch the 8:10 train to Zugdidi.

We enjoyed the 5 hour train ride, but the strong hot wind outside the air conditioned carriages was not looking fun to ride in. The wind did die down for the 38km ride following rough tracks and roads to Jvari at the edge of the mountains but the mid thirty temperatures lingered. One amusing encounter was with a local woman who invited us to rest in her garden. With only 2 words of Georgian under our belts we ended up communicating in Spanish as she knew a little Italian and a little Spanish.

The next 2 days we climbed our way up to Mestia and the Svaneti region – home of the Svan people who till recently were isolated during their 6 month winters. Nowadays a paved road follows the large glacial fed Enguri river as it drops 900m over 80km after which it is stopped in its tracks by a 250m high concrete dam (2nd largest in the world) forming an ugly 25km reservoir (being presently at low tide and brown with glacial silt).

The forest, river and mountain views beyond the reservoir surpassed expectations (so early in the trip) and Alan commented that being in places like this give hope that the planet may not implode in 30 years because of human interference… 

We started seeing the medieval towers that are unique to this area, fortified fortresses, living quarters and treasure chests from the 9-13 century. Nowadays the people have moved into more comfortable accommodation and they are used for storage.

We rested a day in Mestia (town of 80 towers) and had the unexpected trip up 2 chair lifts up to 2500m and a 360 degree panorama of the peaks sorrounding the region. Returning to the town we visited the National Museum, got a chance to climb up one of the towers, watched an amazing movie Dede (filmed in the upper Svaneti based on a true story from there) and had yet another amazing meal of local dishes at the popular Laila restaurant. Time we burned off some more calories..

A spectacular departure from Queenstown

Leaving the Fabrika hostel in Tbilisi

The foothills of the Caucasus mountains draw us from the heat of the plains, the Black Sea is only 35km behind us

Delicious food- refried beans and walnut paste, an eggplant stew, tomato and cucumber salad and a huge bread.

The 2nd largest concrete arch dam holds back the Enguli river

The 25km reservoir behind was a pretty ugly scar in the landscape

The river is channelised all the way through the steep sided valley, chocolate brown and untamed

People come to Georgia for the food, which so far has not dissapointed. The naming is in Georgian, Russian and Latin lettering

The road to Mestia was never busy and the drivers not too crazy

Not a lot of grazing in the dense forests so sometimes cows grazing the verges. We came across one dog protecting its cows from the traffic by rushing out and barking at the cars

Looking down into the raging torrent

While we were waiting for our khachapuri (bread with local cheese inside), the friendly cafe owner Nino insisted we had some chacha – homemade grape brandy. At 8 in the morning and a fair few miles left to bike we couldn’t go there!

Centre of the photo is a tower dating back to the 9th century. These khoshki comprised a 2 storey house attached to the 4 or 5 storey tower and were safe places for family and animals in times of invasion

The forest was a mix of pine, maple, alder, ash and oaks, with a rich understorey. Lower down we came across nut trees and fig trees

In winter there could be knee to thigh deep snow for 6 months in the upper reaches. Now in summer green and lush fields producing food

The density of towers in the villages increases as we head up the valley . The Upper Svaneti region is a world heritage area as a result of the well preserved medieval architecture in the mountain environment

Approaching the tourist town of Mestia. There is a ski area nearby and it is a very popular trekking destination in summer. Downtown Mestia is full of cafe’s

Lady on a horse – a stylish monument near the town centre

A passing comment from some other cyclists gave us the idea to ride the chairlift for some elevated views without the sweat and tears!

..it was well worth it. Tourists only started coming here in more numbers in 2014 as the country became more stable. I am sure it is going to get crazy here as people discover the gem it is. Mt Ushuba (4700m) dominates the northern side of The Valley.

Small pretty wildflowers dot the alpine meadows

This tower was open to people to climb up the steep ladders between floors. The last 2 afternoons we have had violent thunder and lightening storms, maybe another today.

View from the top windows of the tower, five stories up

Dede – the movie set and filmed in the upper Svaneti using locals for all but one of the acting roles. The twin sister of the writer and director runs it in her cafe each afternoon. It was based on a true story and set in the 1990’s, brilliant

The stringier the cheesy potato the better the dish, served along with beetroot salad, grilled eggplant rolled with walnut paste, a tasty soup and still to come khabduri (the Georgian equivalent of a meat pie)