Day 13: The dog days are over (maybe) 🐾

Can you believe, we only came across ONE guard dog today?! We certainly can’t believe our good fortune, but we are sooooooo relieved our day panned out that way!! Praise be 🙏 (This is in comparison to yesterday, when we were aggressively barked at on three separate occasions by big dogs - and that was on a short hike day!!). We had such a lovely day today!

This morning we felt pretty keen to leave humans behind and get into nature. No humans = probably no death dogs!! Our trek started on the road and slowly wound its way up and out the other end of Sisian. The further we got from Sisian, the happier people in the cars and trucks seemed to become (I measured this by how many people readily waved back to Ben and I, and how enthusiastic they were in their waving or tooting of their horn). It was really interesting to me. Personally, I didn’t find Sisian as welcoming or warm, in general - there’s a lot of army presence, and a lot of the men seemed to ignore me and only acknowledge our presence if Ben waved or said Barev (hello). Eurgh! 🙄 So, I was happy enough to leave Sisian behind this morning.

We followed the main road for quite some time, as it took us up and around some hills. Walking around various corners was neat, as the view we’d receive of either back over Sisian or ahead to the river inside the canyon were awesome. Eventually we turned off the road and ambled our way down the steep slope to the valley of the canyon. Ben and I figured there’d be no sheep or farm animals at the bottom - why would they be farmed at the bottom of a canyon? 🤨 Nek minut… there’s a flock of sheep at the bottom of the canyon 🤣🥲😮‍💨 And if you thought there’d also be a dog in this scenario, then you’d be right - there was a massive 80kg dog to boot! It eventually spied us as we slowly made our way down and it, of course, began barking. It didn’t approach us, however 🙏 We could see the farmer, but he was busy having a smoke and looking at his phone. We tried and failed to get his attention, so we just stood and waited for him to do something about his huge and barking dog… which he eventually did, and the dog got back to work with the sheep.

After that, our passage through the canyon was peacefully dog & farm animal free! This portion of our trek was just wonderful - so freeing! The river ran alongside us, bubbling and gurgling away, and looking up we could see the steep canyon walls were covered in greenery and topped with massive rock formations. We came across a few significant rock slips, and even watched a digger working way up high (we think it was mining for stone, and we think it’s this that has caused the most recent slips). At times, the track on which we walked had big puddles full of tadpoles and frogs that would dive into the water to hide at our approach! How awesome!!

We stopped for lunch in a grassy riverside clearing. This is when we discovered that in these lower lands and warmer temperatures, our food is not lasting nearly as long 🫠 Our salami was covered in new blue mold, and worse still, our big pile of lavash was starting to sport green spots… hmmm… we’d been in a supermarket just this morning! If only we’d thought to check the food we had already! A lesson learned. So, after a snack of fruit and Scroggen we set off again.

Some hours later we stopped at a picnic table and chatted for a time - Ben showed me his newest house design for our land on Waiheke. I’m really loving this design this time around! He’s such an incredibly creative thinker and artist. We stayed at this picnic bench for a long time, just enjoying each other’s company, the birds, the deep canyon, and the chattering river!

From here we passed a hydro station (it seems like each town has their own small power station) and then climbed a biiiiiig hill before a quick jaunt along the highway to Vorotnavanq; a 1000 year old monastery where we had been told we could camp if we got permission. Upon reaching it we were met by some friendly locals, one of which suggested we visit the nearby hot springs, and, of course, a friendly stray dog for Ben to pat. The monastery itself was beautiful, but without finding a priest or local caretaker to ask for permission to camp nearby, we did not feel comfortable staying.

That being the case, we picked up our bags again and looked up where the next campsite was - a further 2 hours walk away in Shamb. So off we went! Our path took us right by the hot springs the local had mentioned, so we of course dropped our packs, kicked off our boots, and soaked our feet for a while. This hot spring is naturally heated by geothermal activity below ground! It has a big jet of bubbles erupting from its centre. After a few minutes we thought “why don’t we just camp here?”, and that was that - decision made 🫡

There’s also a couple from Switzerland staying here in their campervan! They said they stayed in Oman on the Arabian Peninsula for the winter before coming here 😱 whaaaaat! So many people out here doing such epic things!!!

After pitching our tent, Ben of course decided he had to go for an actual swim! The spring water is lukewarm at best, and the air outside is cold, so I decided I’d drink some freshly boiled tea to stay warm whilst keeping Ben company as he mermaided about in the water 🧜🏼‍♀️

The day finished with a peaceful, delicious dinner. We watched the sunlight fade on the mountains beyond, and then... plop… plop… plop plop plop plop… big raindrops started falling! 😰 We had just enough time to pack up our shit and clamber into our tent before the storm began. SHE REALY SAID THUNDER! The whole tent is lighting up as the lightening flashes, and then moments later the booming thunder bangs and clatters for aaaaaages!!! This is the first real test our tent has had in terms of how waterproof it is, and it is raining pretty heavy! ☔️ It’ll be fine! We have a good tent, and right now it’s double layered 🤪

Tomorrow we will have been doing this trek for two weeks! Wow! How time flies.

Hope you’ve all had a fab weekend! 🩵Read more