Disputed borderlands … almost Azerbaijan

Alain’s colleague in Yerevan assures us that the north eastern route to lake Sevan in Armenia, which runs very close to the Azerbaijani border, is safe and can be used. Google and the foreign office do not agree - we decide to trust local knowledge. The road is through a disputed area, to the extent that it’s pretty hard to know which is what and where the borders are (see map photo). Even FindPenguins is confused and inconsistent about what country we are in. Luckily all is very calm and rural and for us there is no sense of any tension at the moment.

In fact our road crosses the ´drawn on the maps border´ several times and so (on paper, and according to FindPenguins) we have lunch in Azerbaijan. This is especially intriguing because at the moment (and since Covid in 2020) Azerbaijan’s land borders are all closed to non-locals like us. But perhaps we snick in briefly (though presumably the Armenians would not agree).

Armenia is hilly and does not spare our legs. The route profile looks like a set of huge crocodile teeth (a 400m high saw tooth). And the hills are steep. And hot. After our long day yesterday from Tbilisi, we stop relatively early and camp on a a newly mown hay field relaxing for a while in the shade of a plum tree.Read more