The mountain plateau

Turning off at the pass, a wonderful plain opens up before us. It is unlike any of the rest of Georgia that we have passed through so far. And it comes as a surprise. A nice one.

The plain is scattered with blue (nomadic or summer only?) tents, each group a small farm. There are huge herds of sheep with shepherds, donkeys and a few goats. Then horses and cows grazing. It brings with it gangs of sheepdogs and we unfortunately have to stop regularly to disentangle ourselves. But even so, it is worth it. Wonderful vistas, a quiet dirt track and mountains all around.

By lunchtime we have views over Lake Tabatskuri with mountains behind. Then its on through flowering grasslands with more tents, sheep, cows, dogs repeat. We decide to camp whilst we are still high to enjoy the quiet mountain scenery and pitch on top of a rocky knoll. We get set up and then thunder crashes and the downpour starts. Perfect timing.

Despite this area being a remote reserve, it is also an important infrastructure thoroughfare with gas and oil and electricity all coming this way (hence the police checkpoint and passport control at the pass). So whilst remote, we still have huge pylons for company overnight.

The next morning we have a wonderful sunrise and another 15 km of bumpy dirt track to cover. Its actually cobbled… but the cobbles are so bumpy its preferable to cycle (or drive) beside the road. Our progress is hampered by yet another gang of dogs. Running across the plain from the tents about 400m away (which is impressively keen) we end up entirely surrounded by 7 or 8 barking and growling sheepdogs. Luckily there are plenty of stones on the track (its cobbled!) and the dogs, whilst very large and noisy, are kind of wagging their tails too. We gently chuck stones in their direction and they chase after them :-). One by one they get bored and leave us to enjoy the wonderful scenery.Read more