Turkey was a major cause of delay in our route. The country is massive and we ended up climbing about 3000 feet into the mountains which took some time. Georgia was beautiful, some of the roads weren't so good though and late last night we had our first hairy moment driving around the Tbilsi ring road at night.
We ran over a large rock, which hit the underside of the car very hard making a pretty bad racket. After pulling over and checking the sump, exhaust manifold and fuel tank we could see nothing wrong. Later we found that a large chunk of seemingly unnecessary metal has been taken from Molly. Hopefully this weight reduction will aid performance.
Animals we have nearly hit so far include Dogs, Cats, Geese ,Horses ,Cows and Goats. They roam free in these areas and seem to rule the road! You have to be on your guard in case one of them decides they feel like a stroll in front of three lanes of traffic.
The border crossing into Azerbaijan last night was the most intense yet. They were very friendly but it was manned entirely by armed military and there were spotlights on the hilltops. I don't think it helped that we were crossing in the dead of night and that the bugs were out in force. Tom, Will, Felix and I felt like we were in some cold war film.
For 100km today we have been on the worst roads yet. Potholes everywhere and top speeds of about 30mph. When we finally hit some decent tarmac and decided to get the miles ticking over a bit quicker we were pulled over by a police officer. We had been caught speeding in two Fiat Pandas! About 10 minutes of not being able to understand each other ensued. We offered the police officer the equilvalent of $2 in Azer money and he laughed and eventually let us go.
So in summary, we are fine and this trip seems to be getting more and more surreal. We've just had confirmation of our Turkmen visas so we are about to power on to Baku to get the boat to Turkmenbashi.
As soon as we can get mobile signal or internet access Tom or I will update you again.
xx
4 comments:
Tim, Tom (and Molly),
Now you be careful with your money. You cannot afford to use up such huge amounts in single bribes!
It sounds as if things are beginning to get interesting, but thankfully you are still forging onwards and upwards (very occasionally downwards - pothole).
Keep the news coming when you can,
David and Helen x
p.s.Don't forget to keep checking the water and oil in the car. Oh yes, and putting some more in if they are low.
Tim,
I don't know why you didn't keep the Peugeot 309 it sounds more reliable than Molly. Some suggestions about the missing piece of metal- exhaust,wheels,engine? It is encouraging that you know about as much about car maintenance as I do.
None the less it all sounds very exciting so keep going.
Len and Mary
We are keeping track of your exciting progress.The Azerbaijan border will be an experience not easily forgotten!
Good luck in Turkmenistan. We look forward to reading your next posting.
Regards,
D & D
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