Batumi, Georgia 25/26th July

It turns out all the Georgians we have met have been charm itself.  Add the fact that you 'disapprove' of Putin and Russia and you have friends for life.  They really hate him/them here.  Ironic given that the biggest monster of all, Stalin, was Georgian, but hey, what's one bad apple...

We eventually found our little hotel, Hotel Leon, down a completely wrecked set of streets that hadn't had a makeover or a lick of paint in fifty years. The hotel, by contrast was perfect. Clean, safe, friendly and cheap.  By this time it was 11.30pm, but they directed us to a great Georgian restaurant a few blocks away where we were an object of much curiosity, and where we came into contact for the first time with every Georgian's favourite food - meat.  Tons of it....

who says we'd lose weight on this trip....

It is now nearly 24 hours since this blow out, and I've only eaten a few precious fruit gums since then....

Georgian legend has it that a Briton will one day rule over them.  Rodge quite fancied this idea when he found out, but there appeared to be little local enthusiasm.

Peter and Rodge fill out the job application.  Note the ginormous cheesy pizza thing that was our starter before 'death by pork' was served up.

Anyway, we slept like logs, although each morning you wake up just a bit more tired than you started the previous day.  We've done well over 3,000 miles by now, nearly 40% of our total mileage (which I find hard to believe), in just six days. Not bad at all. Tonight we are in Tiblisi, the capital of Georgia and tomorrow we cross into the wild west state that is Azerbaijan.  We targeted Baku in a week, and with a bit of the prevailing, we should do it.  Wish us luck.