Author: James
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The Good Shepherd?
We’re high up in the Caucasian mountains near the Russian border. It’s cold and the low clouds obscure the peaks that we know surround us. To add insult to injury the clouds drizzle cold wet rain on us. We’ve driven 100 miles to get here up treacherous roads so steep that we were forced into first…
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Together in Tbilisi
We’ve now been in Tbilisi for 24 hours. We came knowing political uncertainty existed and that as we travelled in beautiful Georgia things were happening that we didn’t really understand. Where ever we’ve been we have felt welcomed, albeit in a more reserved way than in Turkey, but none the less genuine. It’s a bit…
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Baku is Bust
So we won’t get to Baku, but we will get back. Sadly the border between Georgia and Azerbaijan remains closed for land travellers and that means we can go no further east through “safe routes”. While it is possible to cross north into Chechnya or south into Iran, for us these are not routes we…
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Georgia on my mind
After just over three weeks driving east across Turkey we finally ran out of road and headed north and west towards Georgia. Initially uncertain as to whether to stay another day in Turkey we decided given the impending rain that we would be better off driving than huddled in the van. For the most part…
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Days Like These
It’s days like these that we live for. Days that chop and change, twist and turn. Days that are seemingly certain, but actually quite uncertain. Beautiful, unexpected and ones that make you think about what you have and what you do with it. I can’t even say that today started off like any other as…
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Turkish Delight
It’s two weeks ago now since my last day at work and a lot has happened in that time. I write this sitting on a park bench. The Aegean Sea less than 10 meters away. Mirror like, a gentle breeze passing in the trees above. A white wagtail happily chirping as it sits on the…
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Rock the boat
With less than a week to go we’re closing things down as we prepare to leave for six months travelling in the van. For me one long standing item that I’ve been looking forward to is the Vesta Vets Head of the River race – it’s a fast 6.8K as we ride the outbound ebb…
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Tardis Time!
It’s two weeks till we go and time seems to have speeded up. Most of the domestic things we must do before we go are done. The van is in better shape than she’s been for a long while. While work is manic for both of us, the number of days left now in single…
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Booked!
We’ve only gone and done it! We’ve actually booked a ticket on le shuttle – so officially we are off to France on the morning of Saturday 30th March. After the last few weeks of near constant rain and floods it feels good to be able to focus on something else as the rain has…
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Jumping Hurdles
We are in the final few weeks of preparation before we head off for Baku. Most of the van related jobs are done and we have sourced pretty much every seal available and we should be well placed to strip most things down in the event that something fails. Failure is as sure as death…