We are lying in the tent beside the large slit laden Zeshko river, the sun has gone, obscured by the early evening thunder, lightening and rain storm that is upon us. Alan is reading and I am working my pink iPhone hard, choosing and editing photos, uploading to the blog and writing the story. My cheap SIM card and purchased data are locking into the 3G network – impressive! It has been a few days of ‘pinch me’ this can’t be for real moments…back to the story…

From Mestia cyclists normally take the main paved road over a pass, and then follow the diminishing Enguli river up to Ushguli, a cluster of 4 small villages famous for being the highest continually inhabited settlements in Europe and a UNESCO World Heritage site due to the well preserved fortress towers that date from 9th to 13th century.

Our route was a bit more circuitous taking us through some beautiful forest and amazing alpine scenery, some paved and some rocky roads, steep rough hike-a-bike and flowing single track. We camped high below the pyramidal Mt Tetnuldi (4800m) and had grand views in the morning to Mt Ushba and an amazing ride down to the village of Adishi for a huge breakfast at a guesthouse (camp high, eat low!).

Onwards to Ushguli, a unique place with 1000 year old towers, a scattering of  brand new guest houses around the edges for the tourists, all nestled in green hillsides with a wall of mountains up one side valley that culminate in Shkara at 5200m. The river we have followed most of the way into the Upper Svaneti starts below this face.

We stayed in Guesthouse Data, with dinner, bed and breakfast costing us approx NZD$50 or 100 GEL (Georgian Lari). We managed lunch as well with some of the leftover huge breakfast (eggs,  khachapori (flat bread with cheesy centre made fresh in the morning), homemade cheese, fat pikelets, honey, jam, tea and coffee. Doing it tough I hear you say.

We crossed Zagaro pass above Ushguli, then a steep rockabilly descent and continued rough road to pavement to more rough road that took us to the large town of Kutaisi. Beautiful gorge travel through dense forest most of the way.

Now we are in Kutaisi, one of Georgia’s older cities, enjoying the warmth and hospitality of Leyla and her family at their family guesthouse on the river. We arrived very tired and hot after a longer than expected day from our river camp. The evening meal prepared by Leyla and her mother- in-law at late notice was a banquet we had no hope of finishing, the same went with breakfast!

We had a look around central Kutaisi enjoying a ride in the tiny gondola to the amusement park, a look at the Bagrati Cathedral and walking the quiet streets and discovering wee gems like the Olympic Park honouring the world class athletes (and chess players) of Georgia. Did you know thar a Georgian team has competed in 4 consecutive Rugby World Cups?!

Farmhouse with a view

Alan enjoying being off the paved road

The meadows are full of wildflowers because there appear to be few grazing animals and the cows we see are kept off the fields, presumably because the growth is harvested for winter feed

Alan chasing piglets through the village

The GPS waypoint said hike-a-bike so that is what we did!

And did some more..

..followed by some sweet riding (and a bit more pushing)

A litter of napping piglets

Grandma all in black and granddaughter checking out Alan as he passes

After a climb up the Tetnuldi ski field road we started out on the walking track to Adishi village

For the first afternoon since starting it didn’t look like storming we chanced it and camped high

A wee wander from camp and we discovered a sunset view of Tetnuldi peak

And to the west Ushuba was still hiding in the cloud

And the rewards of a clear sunrise view of Ushuba from camp

Just pinch me…

The riding flow is interrupted by photo stops (or rocky bits too tricky for me)

This was a wow moment suddenly having the village of Adishi appear

Alan on a collision course with some horses on the track

From Adishi the trekkers head up valley to continue their way to Ushguli, we headed down valley on a rough road to rejoin the ‘normal’ bike/vehicle route to Ushguli

It was a fun and beautiful downhill

Followed by 13km on the paved road and another 10 on a narrow rough road to Ushguli

Approaching Ushguli

The ancient fortress towers outnumber the modern day cell tower

On the hunt through town for a guesthouse

For six months of the year there is deep snow in Ushguli, we saw a number of these sleds lying outside houses

Morning shadowline clearing the village as we head up to the pass

The road is rough in places so few vehicles carry through this way

Alan reaching Zagaro Pass (2600m)

Spectacular views on the descent

It was the sort of descent that was faster on a bike than in a 4WD (we easily caught up and passed some people driving it)

We enjoyed a cuppa tea here thanks to an older Israeli couple who had driven over the pass

There was no sign announcing this imposing statue of Stalin outside this abandoned building. He was born not too far away in the town of Gori – maybe this was a holiday spot?

Riverside camp before the thunder, lightening and rain

The local pack of dogs from Tsageri take a liking to Alan

Lucky we fuelled up as there was a solid 400m climb out of breakfast town

The road we followed down to Kutaisi probably hadn’t had any work done on it since the Russians moved out

But it was a scenic ride along the Tschenistkali river gorge

With little surprises if you happened to look the right way at the right time

We saw many colourful hives alongside the river and in many peoples front yards

We stumbled upon this guesthouse on the outskirts of Kutaisi. We were too tired to go into town to eat and so the host Leyla and her mother-in-law whipped up this feast, including fresh raspberries from their garden

A short walk into town and we discovered the tiny gondola that takes people across the river to a small amusement park

For a $ we got to take 360 degrees on the ferris wheel

Then a visit to the Bagrati Cathedral, built in the 11th century, severely damaged over the centuries and then reconstructed over the last 70 years

Georgian physique is typically on the larger side than these 2 lasses posing at the cathedrals back door

The Colchis fountain in central Kutaisi featuring figurines that were discovered in gold miniatures in archeological digs in Georgia