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To Destinations Unknown

A big drive to Mount Nemrut, we made it to a nearby campsite just in time for a lovely sunset, tasty dinner and the last of our Bulgarian wine ... it’s been a big few days driving, time for a few days rest and hopefully to get the diesel heater working.

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Fairy chimneys - these incredible natural rock formations were transformed first into a monastic retreat around the 9th century, then a village (maybe around the 13th century?), with homes, halls and religious areas. People were still living here until the 1950s until erosion meant it was too dangerous and they were moved to a new town nearby. It was amazing to wander thought the valleys and into some of the caves dwellings themselves.

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Camping - we found a very comfortable campsite, got adopted by a cat and made friends with the Van Trip Family (love the name!!). It was great to have a few rest days, catching up on washing, a little relaxing, working on a few tasks on the car and trailer, all surrounded by beautiful mountains.

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Campsite cuisine - spaghetti con aioli, spicy mince soup, spicy chicken soup, chicken drumsticks with Jamaican rice, chicken stew, aubergine & pepper stew, baked potatoes

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Another great write up and Pics Sarah (And Grant) ... How are the Iranian plans going?
 
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Another great write up and Pics Sarah (And Grant) ... How are the Iranian plans going?
Thanks mate

we are back in Tbilisi now for a week. I’m still super keen but Sarah is waning a little with all the tension. We are giving it a few more weeks hoping it goes back to “normal”
 
We found snow! The highest we have been so far (2300m) and the lake we wanted to wild camp at ... but it was way tooooo cold!!! Off to find a hotel and hope that it’s not too cold overnight for our trailer .....we aren’t winter proof yet

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Ani ruins - these UNESCO listed ruins were once part of Armenia, but now sit inside the Turkish border, dotted around a grassy landscape right on the northeast of Turkey, surrounded by mountains and not much else. We wandered around for hours, walking between the buildings, exploring the churches and houses and enjoying the stunning scenery.

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Wild camping ... we found this gorgeous spot by a river, set up a big fire and got ready for a cold night, minus 7 expected!!!! It was still below zero when we woke up, so we needed to wait for the tent to defrost before we could pack up during which we had a visit from a local farmer, a dog and some turkeys - but we were back on the road again by 1pm, headed to the Georgian border.

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Turkey has some incredible infrastructure, after driving through some dodgy roads in the Balkans and Europe we were so surprised (and happy!) to find such great roads in Turkey; they also have so many roadworks ongoing, pretty impressive to see. All surrounded by some amazing scenery. Thank you for an amazing month!

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Welcome to Georgia! We arrived at the Turkish side of the border a little later than we hoped, had a fairly uneventful entry into Georgia, lost internet immediately and decided to head straight for Tbilisi, a five hour drive from the border as it just felt too hard to try and wild camp in a country we don’t know without internet to help us search. We drove past a beautiful lake and mountains, and saw enjoyed an amazing sunset in our rear view mirrors ... so far, Georgia is stunning!!

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Gyoza & ramen - funnily enough on our first night in Georgia we decided to have Japanese These prawn gyoza were melt in your mouth amazing!! And a nice cold beer, our first in a few weeks - refreshing!

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After a day of chores in Tbilisi, we picked up our guests from the airport first thing in the morning and started driving west ... a little later, we heard a pop! Grant knew this was the inter cooler hose (which if not fixed straight away can damage the engine) and we pulled over straight away into a quiet side street ... which ended up being the busiest street ever. Grant quickly got it fixed up whilst Sarah and Tianna tried to protect him from cars getting too close, but we were a little surprised that not one person stopped to help us or ask what was happening ... hopefully we are just used to the super helpfulness of the Turkish and we will get to know more of the Georgian people as we go on. Also, every time we get a guest, we have a maintenance issue ... hrm .....

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Camping inside a 17th century castle .... we were given this wild camping spot from a fellow overlander and it was amazing! Way to set the bar high on our friends’ first night camping with us evening fire, dumplings for dinner, bacon and eggs for brekkie and animal watching - what more could they ask for??
PS @troopy_on_tour we said hi to the dogs for you!

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Who’s been sitting in my chair?! We often have animals keen to take advantage of our comfy seats This cow was totally giving us the evil eye but we stayed strong

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On our way to Mestia we passed this amazing coloured river, horses by the roadside and beautiful snow capped mountains; it’s getting colder now

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