third attempt at putting this onto the blog!!!!

Its not quite just the stove that sometimes slightly annoys Jon. My fantastic abilities with the computer occasionally make him sigh with exasperation and scratch his head. All this though is nothing compared to trying to speak the Russki Ynzik.

Animals in Georgia live the free and easy life and go where they want.

If you are bored at work you can zoom in and try counting frogs.

We have never heard [let alone seen ],so many. You can hear them from miles away.
The muezzin call to prayer has been replaced in georgia by the frogs calling to mate !

Photographic evidence....of Jon finding his favourite bit of the stove again . Thats the 2nd time ....does there have to be a third. !

A water buffalo we think. He is thinking too......what are we ? He is probably right to regard us with the deepest suspicion .



Not beng able to do "extreme computing " thats all for today. We {or I } did have a multitude of pics of georgian animals....pigs, dogs, etc....to entertain you with....but tomorrow if time we will show you some of Tbilisi and bicycle things.

Trabzon to Tbilisi

Georgia is full of beautiful old churches... Many being restored as they suffered under the Soviet rule... This one just popped up as we were on the way.. Think we got here when the light was just right, ( Gary would have had to be there for hours to get this shot!!!!)

Our last day in Trabzon with Phil.. Interesting city!! it has a lot more to offer than you at first think...

In Georgia... This was a beautiful valley that we traveled up.... and then back down again.. Never have we been through a country of such decay and beauty together. The rural houses are large with terraced balconies,wrought iron work...filigreed guttering...all different....but nearly all knackered. I think they were mostly built during the relatively prosperous 70's ,and absolutely nothing has happened since....not even a lick of paint. People in the country do not have even 2 beans to rub together. Everything is growing though...it is Spring at last.Most houses have huge vines for shade and wine !Giant bamboo grows in the black sea area..

We did this valley twice as after cycling 80kms to within 11 kms of the pass [at 2ooomtrs ]...
we were told it was closed...under 3 mtrs of snow....so back down 80kms again and the long way round. Just as well prob that jon vetoed my stupid idea of a mtn border crossing in eastern turkey [passes over 2500 ! ].

There is another very good thing about us having to retrace our steps....but jon can fill you in on that if he wants { i have photo evidence ! ]

Jon was unable to resist the opportunity of extra exercise. This one proved later to be the one exercise too far !

Can you imagine the pain involved in doing this exercise.... well then you will imagine the pain and frustration brought on by using our stove... It hasnt let us down too much but it has been the biggest pain for lighting running and everything.. It has a mind of its own! sometimes it can be really nice to you... but sometimes it can be the devil.... but mostly its the devil...

Nic will back me up by telling anyone that I have had allot of patience with it.. (Nic now knows when to say nothing too!!) one example is taking 2 hrs to make a cup of tea!!....

Well..... one morning I just had enough.... across the field went the pan ... closely followed by the stove... Nic very wisely stayed in the tent.. So no coffee for breakfast, and on with the day...

That night (however) I discovered that in my rage!!!!! the diffuser on the top of the stove was missing (this is the second time it has mysteriously gone missing! the first time we had to backtrack for it was in Holland!)

But as luck would have it.... being forced to go back down the valley.. we had the chance to pick it up again... ( phew!!!!!)

I did promise to Nic that I wouldnt do this again... (bloody stove!!)

Right. You see that large white lump below jon,s hands. That is poisoned cheese,which we are both about to gaily tuck into. The consequences later that night were dramatically sudden and fairly catastrophic,especially for jon. [no more detail is required]. It left us quite weak and wobbly,and together with the "detour"is mainly why it took us so long to get to Tbilisi. Ah ha though.....having just about recovered , thinking that the culprit was dodgy water, we then tucked into the same cheese again 2 days later. That night we finally ,using our well honed deducing skills,detected that the cheese was the source of all illness .We are still a bit "off " cheese.!

At the moment we are reeling around Tbilisi clutching our notebooks,,,,,trying to learn Russian . Honestly !!!We have our 3rd lesson in about an hour.....so have to rush off to meet Sasha ...so thats all for now ...da svidanya,,,,,

Where we are......sort of ! Nerelsiniz ?

Just another bit of turkish scenery.Some solid looking rock and a deep canyon with the euphrates (Firat in turkish ) below.....a huge damned section .

Phil and his bread for the day !Delicious though I could have used them usefully to pad either buttock which have been suffering somewhat. Two floury buttock breads for tea anyone?

A mountain snack stop.Phil was,nt enjoying himself quite so much through the long tunnel at the top with no lights......as for the FREEZİNG descent...we had to stop for invigorating 100mtre sprint sessions.

İs it winter or spring ?

This is a bit of a mess, but if you are interested and do some zooming you might be able to follow our wanderings. We are currently taking it easy in Trabzon. Phil has not yet swum in the black sea. (puff)....thats jon,s spelling again,but you know what he means.

Cycling with the menopause

(There will not be any accompanying relevant photos )
People with no particular interest are advised to skip this bit altogether.

For some illogical reason i presumed that this biological phenomenon would pass me by relatively lightly (this is Nic writing )....perhaps it is........but as i am being woken up several times a night at the moment by my body going into thermal overdrive i am not that pleased with it. İ am very happy about the no more periods bit ( though am still carrying unnecessary extra weight in the form of unused tampons that i feel should not be just thrown away nor do they make an easy gift to give away.....so i am keeping them for fitness training and possible useful first aid .İ have also an idea that soaked in petrol they would make excellent firelighters ).
As for the hot flush bit......i have tried mind over matter,thinking of lying in cold snow,for example,or under a freezing waterfall....but it is not working. Nor yet are the very wonderful herbal supplements that phil and clare have got for me. İt is a shame that my mind is.nt more in control as i can see that a "hot flush" to order would actually be very useful. Instead of cold hands and feet on the bike ,say ,on a long descent , you could actually summon up a flush and Bingo........Why, you,d be quids in, would.nt you ?
So,there you go....thats a current status report. Hopefully there will be no need for any further updates on this strange phenomenon.

Onwards and upwards

Camping in the mountains above the euphrates.....
So we got a visitor... Phil has come out from the uk to cycle with us for about 10 days... How excited were we!!! We met at Diyabakir and had a day to sort stuff out then off into the mountains... The usual plan.. plan on the way..
The weather seemed to be quite good, signs of spring in the air, flowers out and the usual amazing scenery..

A small detour due to building a new road!! but what a fantastic route... this is down the black canyon along the Euphrates.. the road (taş Yolu ..the stone road....over 4000mtrs of tunnel )has been dug into the side of the canyon, quiet and very scenic.

But then we got caught out!! up at about 2000m it got a bit cold.. as many of you will know! ok going up!.... but on the way down.... just a bit cold.. An enforced camp (due to me (jon) freezing: must eat more pies..as soon as you can Amos) we had a very cold night.. but in the morning, all of us with hot water bottles down our pants, we got started again..

(Phil here...) The best cafe in Elazig... with the best family serving us. Chorba (soup), wonderful Ekmek (home made bread) and cake to warm us. Brothers, sisters and mum all helping out. This poor city had experienced a terrible earthquake the day before with the loss of life but it couldn't demolish the amazingly generous spirit of these people. I've been overwhelmed by how the people here treat you. Some days progress (in dıstance) is so slow because everyone invites us to share cay (tea) with them and we end up swapping sign language (Nic is not bad at her Turkish actually) and sharing tıme with shepherd families, soldiers, petrol station folk and many others. So in other ways progress is just how it should be.....at a pace much more centred around people and their stories than about jobs. That's my medicine right now.

Çay with some shepherding folks. Nic trying to explain that "No, Phil was not married " and thus if Jules does,nt want him then either of the two younger girls could have him. Quite complicated in turkish. They had 200 sheep which had just started lambing. They were a good laugh and gave us an especially big stick to fend of kotu kopeks (Bad Dogs )

Dust mud and languages

My Turkish lesson group in Dalyan, with the lovely Ayten in the back row (the Turkish teacher)
Message from Nic....Now we are back in Turkey again the Turkish lessons are really paying off! Only 2 days ago we were rescued from a huge storm by a great Kurdish family.. They had a shop on the side of the main road from Silverek to Diyabakir. They seemed to be selling food sweets and just about anything else.. but.. their main buisines was diesel trading, big trucks from Afghanistan and İran would stop and sell fuel to them. They had no large fuel tanks they just used 25 litre plastic drums to hold the syphoned fuel.. Then it was sold onto smaller local trucks.. They were working hard in the torrential rain. The bıg truck drivers could speak Arabic, Kurdısh, Turkish, English and who knows what else.. It was very interesting. Anyway the main point is that İ can speak enough bad Turkish to explain our journey and to try and thank everyone for their amazing hospitality. So İ hope you are all keeping up with your Turkish lessons? İts worth the hard work.

This is the dust that gets into everything in the desert.. İts still in our ears, hats, tent, toothbrushes, everywhere.

The morning after the sand storm! Well done our tent. ( Terra Nova 2.2) You can see the wind is still quite strong, but it is NOTHİNG compared to what it was..

Turkish mud!! İts out to get you and stop you going anywhere!!!!

Diyarbakir Capital of Kurdistan..

On the way to mount nemrut, we met these two old characteres. King Antichos is shaking hands with Heracles, and trying to ignore Jon. ( quite imposible) You will also notice.. not only has Jon got thinner, he is also a lot smaller than the average man ( height wise that is!!)
These are really beautifull sculptures, in almost perfect condition despite being around 2000 years old (Jons in quite good condition too) We feel very lucky to have seen them.

Can you see Nic?? she is down there somewhere!! This is the entrance to a secret religious meeting place. İts over 2000 years old, (but everything is around here!)

We were brought to Şanliurfa by the belgian boys.. (who had been before) they soon convinced us to stay a night and showed us around the city.. What a beautiful place.. its a very important pilgrimage site.. these are just a few of the sacred fish.. in the main park there,s a maze of fresh spring fed lakes and rivers. Since the fish are sacred and fed!! they are thriving..

Gregoires face a week after the accident.. He was enjoying himself so much cycling down hill he thought he could fly!! A huge boulder at the side of the road abruptly brought him back to earth... There was blood everywhere and you should have seen his bike:: Luckily the bike was made from steel ( so repaired at the next town by a welder called Yusef.. he also signed the bike after the repair.) and Belgians have tough heads. Though he did get a trip to a Syrian hospital. Oh yes !!!! and they left us in the desert.. İn a sand storm... wıth NO FOOD!!!!

well actually Jons reknowned one pot cooking means he can create a meal out of camel dung and sand, wıth a hint of tumble weed. So we were alright..

These are the happy happy Spaniards.. We met them at the snow line on mount Nemrhut.. They were the only other people crazy enough to be up there. We had a 2.5 hr moon lit walk up to the summit and back, to look at the stone hats!! that was all that was sticking out of the snow.. the famous heads were well buried. we did see the ones on the eastern terrace though. The spanish however were sensible enough to have walked up there!! you can guess how we got there.. Notice the carpet in their tent! Say no more..