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Free wheeling - Cycling from Georgia to Armenia

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  • Free wheeling - Cycling from Georgia to Armenia

    TNT Magazine, UK
    Sept 2 2012

    Free wheeling - Cycing from Georgia to Armenia

    2nd Sep 2012 1:50pm | By Celia Topping


    We wake with the sun streaming into the tent we'd hurriedly erected
    the night before.


    Having crossed over the border from Georgia to Armenia on the
    overnight train, and aiming to cycle the next 250 miles to the
    Armenian capital of Yerevan, we'd disembarked and watched the train
    pull away, leaving us with our bikes on a lonely, dark platform in the
    Armenian countryside.

    After about half-an-hour's painstaking cycle along uneven, pot-holed
    roads, lit only by our head-torches, we realised there wasn't going to
    be a motel, so hastily put up our tent near the railway track.

    Paul, my travelling companion, pokes his head out of the tent and
    laughs. In our tired, night-blind state, we've pitched up in someone's
    garden.

    But instead of waking us to ask what the hell we think we're doing,
    the homeowners have left us a basket of fruit and some water and
    allowed us to snooze until 9am.

    However, as soon as the children of the household see movement, they
    bundle over in a frenzy of excitement and drag us into their father's
    house.

    Amongst much laughter, handshaking, back-patting and miming, we are
    sat at a table and offered a meal of cheese, tomatoes, bread and
    coffee.

    The house is small and poor, yet Alexander, a small, bald-headed man
    in his mid-forties, and his younger brother Hajet, a more rotund type,
    are insistent that we indulge in whatever food they have to offer.

    Then they bring out the schnapps. As it's only 9.30am, I'm pretty sure
    I'm not ready for hard liquor, but as it would be rude to decline, I
    accept their toast and while by number five I'm feeling a little
    woozy, the brothers seem to be just hitting their stride.

    The children come in to play and dance, and the men's wives, Diana and
    Carine, bring more food. It's a little party put on especially for us.

    At 2pm, we manage to extricate ourselves and wobble away as the whole
    hamlet waves us off, most as drunk as we are. I guess they don't have
    English people pitching tents in their garden that often.

    With the panniers feeling incredibly heavy, we begin our cycle up the
    Debed Canyon towards Yerevan.

    Either side of the undulating road are forests and high rocky peaks
    and ridges, dotted with broken buildings, ruined houses, abandoned
    petrol stations and rickety Indiana-Jones-style bridges, all shabby
    remnants of the Soviet era.

    Armenia's history is not a happy one, having been subject to various
    invasions, wars, occupations and a horrific genocide as recently as
    1915.

    Due to emigrations over past centuries, there are more Armenians
    living outside the country than in it, including former tennis
    superstar Andre Agassi and System Of A Down frontman Serj Tankian.

    However, despite past turmoil and national division, since
    independence in 1991, Yerevan is thriving once more; Armenia is again
    open for business and the people, as we've already found, are
    incredibly kind and welcoming.



    Just a couple of hours down the road, as we strive in vain to cycle
    off our hangovers, the skies turn a dark grey, a rumble of thunder
    echoes across the valley, and the heavens open.

    We try to shelter under a tree, but the onslaught is so intense, we're
    soaked within minutes.

    Ahead is what looks like a derelict hotel, so we push our bikes into
    the grounds and shelter in an unlocked shed.

    Using the bits of wood and cardboard lying around, we make a fire in
    an old rusted tin bath and sit back smugly to wait out the storm.

    After just a few minutes, an extremely puzzled man appears at the doorway.

    He looks at us, looks at the fire, back at us and beckons us to follow him.

    It seems it's not a derelict hotel at all; it's occupied, and we've
    just set fire to his shed.

    http://www.tntmagazine.com/travel/big-trip/free-wheeling-cycing-from-georgia-to-armenia

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