We went back to Sveri for another round of climbing and there we met our favorite temporary dog friend: Ophelia.
She was such a wonderful dog and companion. Because it got cold and rainy we let her sleep with us in Rosinante and she accompanied us all day while climbing and taking walks in that beautiful area.
When we wanted to leave Sveri, we thought about taking her with us. But in the end we decided to leave her where she was. She had a lot of other dog friends there and the villagers fed and treated the stray dogs pretty well.
So we came to the conclusion that taking her with us would be better for us than for her.
Finally, after weeks of waiting for the package from Germany, I got my first own pair of climbing shoes!
In the past, I always had felt that rock climbing would be something I’d love a lot. But apart from two or three times in a climbing and boulder gym, I had not been getting into it. I had been too much into trial biking and downhill biking and I did not like the necessity of making appointments with a friend to be able to climb. This dependency… Did not like it. And only bouldering I did not want to do as well.
But now the time had come! I was with Cindy, the best climbing partner one can think of and it was perfect. We parked Rosinante right next to a beach close to Batumi and went climbing a whole lot. The climbing sectors were pretty crazy because they were located right next to a fuel station and the main road between Georgia and Turkey, but it was super fun and exciting! The rock was pretty hard to climb as well: just very few bigger steps and handles. Cindy taught me a whole lot. Including self-belaying and belaying from the anchor point/ top.
When we were not climbing, we spent our time in the Black Sea or on the pebble beach. And of course Cindy became friends with all the stray dogs. Not only the small ones. Franz was one of them. A pretty impressive American Staffordshire with scars in the face. A fighter. Fearless as always Cindy played and danced with him. Once they had been playing enough, Franz went to the next group of people. They got afraid and their looks were begging for Cindy to come and take Franz away.
