We wanted to go in some mountains but not too far away from Batumi where we would have to pick up our package from Germany in a couple of weeks.
So we took our first mountain pass with Rosinante into the small Caucasus. The weather was pretty tough and rainy but we went to hike anyway.
In the beginning there were signs pointing the way on real hiking trails but soon there was no trail at all. We tried to go on with the tracks on Open Street Maps and went down very steep slopes. Soon the plants got as high as our shoulders. And after a while we got to a small creek. The only way to go on would have been directly in the creek but the water and weather felt not warm enough for that. We checked our options and came to the conclusion that going back was our best option.
Finally we made it out of Turkey into Georgia! When I had started my journey in December 2021, Georgia had been the first country I really wanted to visit. Of course the other countries were all nice as well but Georgia was always special to me. It looked just awesome in the videos and photos. And for me it is the country between the West and the East.
I often thought: from Georgia eastwards the real adventure will start.
Immediately after crossing the border between Turkey and Georgia, we felt the difference: no singing/ chanting of Imams, alcohol everywhere, the people were dressed more revealingly, and although we met a lot of lovely people, some people seemed to be a bit grumpy.
After visiting old friends of Cindy near Batumi we continued to continue our traveling only with Rosinante and would pick up Thor some weeks later.
The weather got better and better and we decided to try the first climbing area in Katskhi. I did not have any climbing equipment at that point but we met again with Isarne who we knew from Cyprus and they borrowed me one pair of their climbing shoes.
Climbing was awesome and I loved how much it fits into the car and nature live. It was awesome to wake up, have some breakfast and just walk some hundred meters to the first climbing wall. And all of that together with very good friends.
Katskhi itself is an interesting spot for sightseeing as well: they have a chapel on a big stone pillar. Although it is not allowed to climb up there, it looks awesome.
And again we found some dog friends. Especially Humpelino was a nice companion. He got his name because he was limping and the German word for “limping” is “Humpeln”.
