Day 15: We didn’t skip leg day!

I didn’t sleep well last night, for two reasons. 1. I was fantasising about the house Ben and I are going to build and the children, guinea pigs, and puppies we’ll eventually give a home to. And 2. It was absolutely bucketing with rain all evening and all night, and I was really worried that the trail we were set to take today - a steep descent back into the giant canyon we’d traversed and walked out of yesterday - was going to be too muddy and slippery, and therefore too dangerous, to attempt. What then? I tossed and turned, flip-flopping between fantasising and worrying 🤣 By the time I managed to calm my brain down and fall asleep, it was something like 2 or 3am 🫠 woops!

This morning we woke up (at 7am) to overcast and low cloud conditions - it was also really chilly! But, at least it wasn’t raining anymore. I suggested to Ben that maybe we could walk to Halidzor and get the gondola down to Tatev, considering how bad the rain had been and how steep our path looked on the map. Ben said that the path should be a 4WD track, so in theory it SHOULD be okay - perhaps a bit muddy and slippery, but probably not dangerous like yesterday’s track would’ve been after rain. We decided to just see what it was like and go from there.

Reaching the edge of the canyon, so standing before our descent, really was intimidating! We had to go allllllll the way to the bottom, and then allllllll the way back up the other side… 😮‍💨 Turns out it was a bit muddy but it wasn’t very slippery. It was actually sweet as! We walked past old Harjis (pronounced har-jeece, but soft on the j - like how you would say “je” in French), which is more or less now the ruins of the old town. It would have once been a very pretty town, with its views across and down the canyon!

Our descent felt peaceful. The canyon was silent but for the breathing of trees, the twittering of birds that echoed in the canyon, the trickling of an occasional stream, and our own footsteps. Everything was green and serene! About halfway down, however, Ben swore he heard a dog bark, and I swore I could hear sheep baa-ing. Neither of us could hear what the other was picking up, so both of us just wondered if the canyon was playing tricks on our ears. It’s a real interesting test, actually, because sound in a canyon could be coming from anywhere as it bounces around! Were the sounds coming from back up in Harjis? Or were they coming from below or ahead? Or somewhere else entirely? No clue! Further down, the to-ing and fro-ing of sheep conversation became unmistakable, however. Ben and I side-eyed each other 👀 but kept walking. We had no idea where these sheep were in relation to us, but we suspected they were ahead. We just had to hope that either they were up really high, and therefore so were the dogs (we could hear multiple barks at this point), or that the farmer was close by.

Nearing the bottom of the canyon lay the ruins of a 1100 year old church - “The Chuch Of Alan”. We felt a bit too stressed by what might be waiting for us to really enjoy it, but we stopped to take it in, anyway. After that we rounded the corner and descended the final metres into the valley. It became clear where the sheep were - way way way up high! This was good news. Would the dogs come running down? Hopefully not 🫣 Then, we saw there was a shepherd sitting outside the house ahead of us - relief washed over us! Everything would be fine with a shepherd in that close range. We were safe. Thank goodness for that!

At the very base of the canyon was a stone bridge made in medieval times, which we used to cross over the roaring river. It seems this path and bridge is still in frequent use by farmers and herds of animals alike, as there were signs of its recent and past use all over the place. Of all the places we’ve visited in Armenia so far, the base of this canyon has been the prettiest. If it wasn’t so difficult to get to and from, it would be an ideal place to live :)

From there we just had the ascent ahead of us - 600m up across 3km. Steep! It was, however, mostly weaving through oak forest, so risk of falling was as minimal as you could ask for. This change in scenery was welcome - we hadn’t yet hiked through forest, so we both looked forward to the various scents and sights we’d come across! But boy oh boy was it a steep incline 🤣 We just took it slow and steady, chatting as we ascended. Before long we were almost at the top and were leaving oak for pine forest! At this point we had climbed up into the low cloud, so we couldn’t see very far ahead of us let alone the view from the top! It was eerie walking through rows of pine trees as we wound our way across the top of the mount, towards Tatev.

As we started to descend again, the cloud lifted a little and it was as though we were back in England! All around us were flat fields of bright green with little stone houses in rows. It was wonderfully English! This highlighted again how everyday here is different - never a dull moment!

Upon reaching Tatev, we’ve found it’s another small-ish village with mostly dirt roads. Tatev feels more welcoming, somehow, than all the towns we’ve been in since leaving Artavan. I’ve been missing Artavan, with its remoteness and generally warm vibe. Jermuk, Shaqi, Sisian, Vorotan, Harjis…they’ve all seemed to have an undercurrent of “am I going to get in trouble just for being here” kind of eggshell feeling…hard to describe / put into words. Maybe it’s the after effects of Day 9, or maybe these places really aren’t as receptive to outsiders. Who knows!

Tatev has an epic (and famous) monastery that I’m looking forward to exploring tomorrow before we set off for Bardzravan. Tonight we are settled in the Old Tatev Guesthouse - very warm and spacious compared to our tent last night 🤣😝 We went for dinner at a local restaurant earlier and once again enjoyed delicious Armenian food 🤤 I’ve been really into soups lately - tonight I had the chicken soup alongside some incredible Armenian dumplings I can’t remember the name of! Ahhh they were soooooo good!!! 🤤🤤🤤 Tomorrow night we are staying with another grandmother who is also named “Anahit”, but this time in Bardzravan. Hopefully she is as warm and welcoming as our Anahit grandmother in Artavan 🥰

Day 15 over and out! 🩵Read more