Svaneti second time round.....

After a short journey north I stopped at the cracking little Aghvi campsite run by the friendly and welcoming Mzia who lives nearby in the village of Larchvali. Reached by crossing the fast running Tskhenistskali river via a rather decrepit steel and concrete bridge the site has shaded parking and excellent facilities with good hot showers and a small camper kitchen and relaxation area with a fridge full of cold beer. Initially I was the only guest but a Dutch family arrived later on followed by two Georgian families with roof tents. I offloaded the bike and put a tube in the rear as the tubeless set up had deflated over recent weeks and distorted the rim tape - a job for when I get home. Next day I cycled up to the Chkumi monastery up a side valley and realised I had stayed there in very wintery conditions last year. A young German couple were parked up by the fast flowing river so I stopped for a chat on my way back which I extended by riding on to Tsageri for fresh bread. Back at the site I enjoyed a couple of beers as rain fell overnight and slept soundly. 

Another gentle run north brought me to a sign on the Ushguli road declaring 'Movement Prohibited' between two kilometre posts 20km ahead and 25km apart which I didn't really understand. Fortunately an oncoming Georgian car stopped and he explained that they were now obsolete as the road works had been completed. As there was a very nice parking spot nearby alongside the river I decided it was time to stop anyway and enjoyed masses of wild strawberries from the flower filled meadow. A local passed by on his way to rotovate some land but otherwise it was a serene spot to spend an afternoon near the hamlet of Mele. The following day the excellent new road climbed steadily higher up in to the mountains with plenty of snow on the summits and in the shadier gullies with a final set of hairpins bringing me out at the top of the Zagaro Pass at just over 8,600'. I parked up to walk the half mile or so to the small chapel known as the 13 Assyrian Father's Church which had stunning views across to the ridges leading up to Vakhushti's summit a little under 13,000' high. 

Dropping a few kilometres in to Ushguli soon had me turning off to a perfect park up on the edge of the village, one of the highest permanently inhabited villages in Europe. There were a couple of other vans but masses of room and I parked up so as to keep the fridge in the shade as I planned a two day stay. The stone towers that in days gone by were vital fortifications for the individual families are UNESCO protected and I wandered around the village's unsurfaced back streets admiring them under a warm sun but with a welcome cool breeze. It must be a very harsh place from October to April when the village is usually cut off by snow and the highly seasonal tourism trade disappears. At this time of year though there were a steady number of visitors and a good choice of cafes and restaurants to grab refreshments. I scaled the Queen Tamar tower, initially by a rickety external wooden ladder and then four more internally that brought me to the top floor where outlets on each wall under the eaves would allow the occupants to repel invaders.

Back at the van various trekking groups on horseback were returning from the valley which led up to the walk out to the snout of the Shkara glacier five miles further on. This was my intended destination for the following day and I had a good chat with three British walkers who had just returned and were grateful for the offer of chilled water.

I set off fairly early and was soon locking the bike up at the end of the track and then walked the hour or so along the river, across a terrace of boulders and reached the grey blue wall of ice strewn with rocks and gravel and with the river emerging at the foot a greyish brown and of course icy cold. It was a dramatic spot with rocks on top of the ice regularly slipping over the edge and crashing down rather like those coins games at fairgrounds. As others arrived I made my way back to the van grateful that the bike saved a long and dusty walk and then dropped back for another look round the village. The hilltop church had some faded frescoes inside and occupied a lovely spot looking right up the valley to the Shkara summits at over 17,000' and beyond which lies the Russian border.

The cool nights at altitude were very welcome but a squally spell at breakfast the following morning saw me firing up the Eber for the first time in months. Heading downhill and roughly southwest on the newly surfaced road was an absolute delight with snowy peaks, wooded slopes and the occasional small village before I finally reached Mestia where I had had to turn round last year after coming up from Zuguidi. A small garage had a powerful vacuum cleaner to attack the Truma vent once more and I bought some fruit and veg from the adjacent shop where my confusion over the lari exchange rate caused some amusement as I offered ten times the requested amount. Yet again total honesty from the assistant who soon put me right. After lunch out I picked up one of the huge Georgian flat breads and drove out past the small airport and up the valley I had stayed in last year. This looked very different with flowers and plants growing profusely and none of the two metres of snow that I had encountered. I parked up on one of the many tracks along the valley floor just along from two Russian families, one with a trailer tent and the other a rather tired caravan.

So yesterday I set off to revisit my failed attempt of last year to reach the Chaladi Glacier which descends from the 4,280m peak of Bzhedukh that again straddles the Russian border. After an hour along the valley floor a wood floored suspension bridge crossed the fast flowing Mestiachala river and the path began to climb through pine woods to the Tchalaati river. This was fast flowing and I reached the point where deep snow had forced me back last year but was now able to carry on with the snout appearing way ahead - a point was reached where the snout had been in 1974 : it has receded by about 800m horizontally and 100m vertically. This last stretch was therefore on the jumbled rocks left behind that made for hard going but it was worth it as on reaching the upper level there was an impressive river barreling out from under one section and disappearing beneath another. 

I had got chatting with another walker who was from London, had a Georgian wife and two kids and was planning to relocate back to the UK next year when their teaching contracts at an International School in Tbilisi ended. They were all heading to Ushguli as part of a tour of Georgia and I reassured him that his kids would be able to reach the Shkara glacier as it was a much less strenuous walk in. A welcome beer at the small pop up bar by the bridge brought an excellent day to a close and back at the van I fired up the genny briefly to give me hot water for a much needed shower. Despite the vacuuming the Truma is still unhappy running on gas and I really don't want to risk a fire so have decided not to try it on gas again. As I'm usually pretty remote a genny session will do the job and after checking out various YouTube videos I am confident that fitting a new unit will be the way to go. Servicing a 25 year old unit would no doubt require parts such as the flame control device and jets plus a new vent and still leave me with the old electric elements, wiring and water tank. As the same model is still available it should be a pretty straightforward task once home.

Today I stopped briefly in Mestia for some shopping and have dropped partially out of the hills to stay on a shady terrace at the Wonderland Svaneti restaurant that allows camping as well. I had a closer look at the Truma installation and it does indeed look to be an easy one to replace once my clobber has been removed - the surrounding space is taken up with guide books, spare front and rear brake pads, a set of bulbs, air, oil and fuel filters, a large allen and torx key set, soldering irons, 12v water pump, via ferrata kit and other bits and bobs.......

So I now continue south west and out to the Black Sea coast where I hope it will be cool despite the loss of altitude, returning to the Svaneti has been a great success and in about a fortnight I will enter Turkey and stay up in the mountains where possible during August to steer clear of the heat. I need to be in Thessaloniki at the end of August so with far shorter distances to cover than in the Stans I can take my time and explore places at my leisure.

A return to extra photos sits HERE