Getting off the sofa in the first place is quite often the hardest part of an adventure, but doing it again knowing it will be cold and wet makes me regret pausing my journey! Although being at home with parents all day pushes you out the door. But I did start again and am happy that I did. Why did I stop?
After a quick flight to Istanbul with the bike and a new saddle, hopefully less pain this time, I found myself a quick hotel for the night. The next day, knowing crossing the mountains would be very cold in March I decided for a coach over to Trabzon.
The Black Sea
Setting off from Trabzon I was aiming for Rize, a coastal resort town on the Black Sea. At this point I had no gas for cooking, so opted for an odd tactic of asking the cafes along the front whether I could camp behind them in exchange for buying dinner. One eventually said yes. Due to the weather, I ended up staying two nights. It rained solidly all day and the temperature made me question why I restarted when I did.
At the cafe, I met Alsan and Nodre. Both are in their 20s with children. One was divorced and his ex doesn’t allow him to see his child. You could see the pain in his eyes. As we had a lot of time we got on to the discussion of our countries and jobs. They were struggling to find any work so I suggested they learnt construction skills. The UK is desperate for workers with skills, especially in construction!
The weather changed and I finally set off again, but the damage is done and I am coming down with a cold. I head on and decided to stop in Findikli for the night, asking at the restaurant on the coastal park whether I can camp on the grounds. They say yes. The sun was out and it was a perfect sunset, lovely food and warm to camp. A rather curious 4-year-old came over and started asking questions about my tent and where I sleep. All in Turkish, luckily the parents spoke English.
Georgia, Shromantic Gardens and the mud
I made it to Batumi in time to watch the rugby, Wales vs England. England won but not the most convincing of displays. I stayed in Batumi for almost a week with the intention of getting over the cold and working on getting a volunteering project for the next two weeks. One came through in a little village called Shroma, they were building a guest house and yoga studio. They had started the project in August last year so I thought they would be adding the finishing touches and getting ready for guests. I was wrong and it was a full-on construction project.
Despite my expectations being completely off, I jumped into the project full-on and enjoyed my time moving the mud and all the people I met. This included many Russians either avoiding the regime or the call-up. There were a lot but call-outs to Nikita and Anya who run the project on behalf of the owners, Petr and partner. The Mischas (not sure of the spelling), Leo, Moro and Lev. But there were also people from South Africa – John-Lee, Iran – Eli and Amir, Turkey – Sude, France – Pilou and Hugo. I would try to include all the names but it isn’t easy.
Whilst I am not an expert in construction I do know how to Follow tasks and primarily move mud. Both John-Lee and I seem to enjoy this exercise and along with Amir we levelled and prepared the ground for concrete for the outside kitchen area, a converted barn.
Georgians are an experience
The volunteering projects through Workaway are an excellent way to get to know the locals as well as other travellers. This brings me on to the two main local characters, Ronaldhino and Guldan. Guldan was laid back and enjoyed a drink, especially when he was driving a lorry the next day. Ronaldhino was retired and enjoyed a drink every day! He visited every day to see how we were progressing and often brought gifts of homemade wine or cognac. We were invited to Ronaldhino’s house for a bite to eat and a few drinks of wine.
Georgia doesn’t export much wine, which is odd considering the amount they produce. They seem to consume it all and then I found out how. During the evening it is customary to have a toastmaster, our host Ronaldhino took up the position. Each toast was long but included a small glass of wine, which you don’t sip but down at the end of each toast. There were 11 toasts. John-Lee and I were destroyed. It was a fun evening and, despite the language barrier, we managed to understand each other.
Leaving is never fun but after two weeks I will miss Shroma and this team of people. I hope to meet some of them on my journey in the future or, maybe, I will go back and visit again. It would be nice to see the project finished. On my last day, I bought some beer for everyone and we had a bit of a party in the evening. Even Ronaldhino visited. The next day I set off for Kutaisi and eventually Kazakhstan to restart the adventure.