Its a bit after this video was originally published but I’m glad I just came across it. Matt Hunter is a mountain biker I’ve seen in videos before and is a great rider. This Specialized bikes promotional video shows him taking a plan ride deep into the mountains, landing on a lake and then setting over with lightweight camping and fishing gear for an adventure. A amazingly well shot video and a nice way to show how you don’t need a lot of kit or framebags to go and do a biking trip with a stay overnight.

Routes recorded with Strava in the mountains in Georgia - The first 3 in Tusheti are on jeep tracks, the other two are singletrack / mixed.

• Diklo to Shenako | Ride | Strava
• Upper Omalo to Shenako | Ride | Strava
• Girevi to Dartlo | Ride | Strava
• Udzo Monastery Ride Kustba Side | Ride | Strava
• Evening Ride | Ride | Strava

I participated in a team race at Rustavi, a city about 20 miles outside of the capital of Georgia, Tbilisi. It involved runninig up a very steep hill for about 20 minutes, then passing over to my teammate to rode back down the hill.

It was a good laugh but a hard run. I was blowing by the top. However, it gave me a taste for racing and some experience.

We went to Poland, Krakow. The food was amazing. A lot of hot stews. There was good beer too; draught lager or some dark beers. One pub had a selection dark, fizzy bitter and honey beer. The weather was cold -5 the first couple of days but warmed up.

We wanted to visit all the historical sites in the city and go and visit the concentration camps at Auschwitz and Birkenau later in the week.

I met Roland Chatwin, in Tbilisi in 2015 who at the time was setting up a cooperative & permaculture project in Kakheti, a region of Georgia.

He was in Tbilisi short-term teaching, cooking, biking and wild-gardening/foraging. He was eager to network with any other projects, isolated enthusiasts, NGO’s etc to spread the word and share ideas.

I met up with him at the old hippodrome, where he and a friend showed me an area which they had been gardening and were intending to expand the plot over time. The land was government owned but the plot they were working was hidden away and unlikely to be developed in the near future.

When I was bike guiding in Croatia, there were a couple of guests who came out called Rob and Rachel. On one big day ride we went out and headed east across the island.

At about this time through the season I was starting to explore further afield into the Island away from the normal routes and offered this as an alternative during the day rides as an ‘adventure ride’ in which I explained to people they should expect some exploring.

Having cycled to the Caucasus, I arrived in Armenia, spring 2008 and was staying with some Couchsurfers, Max and Irene.

Max suggested we go skiing in the nearby mountains. I felt a little dubious because I didn’t want to get injured but I couldn’t resist. Max’s friend turned up in a Nissan 4x4 and we piled in.

He drove fast up the highway, the car flying along in a jet stream of cold air. Then we turned off before lake Sevan up to the ski resort.

Originally written 2009, updated 2017.

Living in Tbilisi, Georgia 2009, I converted my touring bike into a mountain bike and spent an afternoon exploring. I rode rode out of Tbilisi towards Kojori and turned off the road down a dirt track into a gorge with a river flowing down a crease in a huge slab of granite. At some point there had been a road bridge over the river but that had long since been reduced to a crumbling sculpture of red brick invaded by a small plants, weeds and grass growing out of the mortar.

UK

Peak District

• The Roaches, Staffordshire

Wales

• The Gower peninsula
• Pembrokeshire
• Pony-Nedd-Fechan

• Barafundle Bay

Lake District

• Buttermere

Europe

• Lithuania
• Belarus
• Moldova
• Poland
• Denmark
• Norway
• Sweden
• Finland
• Iceland
• Portugal Azores.

Africa

• Morocco
• Senegal

Having lived in Georgia and Armenia here are my pros and cons of living there. I think it’s easy to only think on a shallow level about places, especially when travelling and try to make sense of a place with only a little knowledge. However, there is something to be said for viewing a place with fresh eyes. The pros and cons are of course subjective, hence the third ‘both’ category.