We can’t believe we are coming up to the halfway point in our journey to Baku and Back – or as it is now – Nearly Baku and Back. In terms of driving miles we probably passed the half way point a while back down the road.



Every day brings the chance to meet new people. Some look like us, some don’t. Some dress like us, some don’t. Some think like us, some don’t. What makes the journey interesting is the tapestry of people we meet.

A tapestry made up of the same thread wouldn’t be a tapestry rich in colour, painting a beautiful picture, the tapestry would be boring and look much like a blank canvas. Uniform in every way.



It’s hard to write a story about the different people we’ve met as each is a story in it’s own right. Camping in Macedonia the other was an evening that illustrated to me all that’s interesting about travel and the people we meet along the way. One evening in a simple nutshell. A shell that we’ve encountered now many times and put together these shells make up an interesting, emotional and beautiful journey that is the journey we have travelled so far.

Rolling into the Macedonian camp site, a place browed by the searing and unusual heat in early June, we asked the man who was sitting in the shade if we could camp. He replied we could, but he wasn’t the owner. We pulled up next to his van in the little shade available at that hour of the day – the temperature somewhere between 37 and 40C. A temperature that’s challenging in an old van. Us hot and bothered and pining for the cooler air that we’d left earlier in the morning high up in the mountains above the Rila Monastery in Bulgaria. Unpacking only the few things we needed in those moments to keep ourselves and our food cool – some chairs, the fridge and solar panels.



Juliet slumped down in a chair to cool down, and I went over to talk to the man and see if we could get some wifi as we didn’t have a Macedonian SIM card. Quickly a report was established – he from Turkey, his name Serhat. From Istanbul where we’d just come. He had swapped a boat for his van to try something different. Quickly the conversation turned to Turkish politics and the state of the Turkish nation.
Then a young woman on a bicycle arrived. From Chambery in France, I’m embarrassed to say I didn’t ask her name. Like us she was struggling in the heat and needed time to cool down. She nearing her journey’s end having left France alone on her bike some two months earlier. Wanting to do something interesting and challenging before she settled down.


Then a little while later a couple from Leipzig arrived in their estate VW Passat, two kids in the back. Them uncertain where to camp. Like us in desperate need of shade. In the end they pulled beside us and their two children stripped off to cool down.
After this another young French woman on a motor bike arrived. Similarly in need of cooling down. We didn’t get her full story as it seemed like she needed space and for her it was nice that there was another female French traveller, so they nattered away for a while.

Later as the shadows started to draw across the site, the owner arrived. Beers in hand, having jumped out of a taxi. Speaking good English she shared a beer with Serhat and I. Both of us very thankful for the kindness. As we continued to talk drinking the lovely cool beer she wandered around the site watering plants and making sure the other campers where all happy and felt welcome.
Later on Juliet and I handed over our passports so that she could register us with the Macedonian authorities. Most of us by this time had found out where we were going to, where we’d come from and a lot more. I often think it’s strange how quickly we divulge quite personal information with fellow travellers. Possibly it’s because we feel we only have a few brief moments to set our context, or maybe it’s because we think it’s unlikely we will meet again. What ever the reason, it means that we get to know each other personally quickly. It makes honesty easier and reduces the need for the facades we all use to protect ourselves on a day to day basis.

In the morning we wait for the owner, who we now know is called Valeriya, to come and provide us with the registration papers that we will need when we leave Macedonia. Of all of us the previous night she remained closed about her story. But that morning as the heat of the day started to build she opened up and told us her story of how she and her husband had come from Russia a number of years back. Both of them professional climbers. They developed climbing in the gorge a short way down the river and setup the campsite. She then dropped the bombshell that her husband had died 18 months earlier.
Later on Juliet and I talked about Valeriya’s story and how amazing she is. We were truly touched and we hope that as she re-builds her life she overcomes challenges that she faces in a country far from her family with two children.
Five hot and sweaty hours later we arrived at lake Ohrid and found a lovely campsite with lots of shade. The waters of the lake helping along with the shade to moderate the temperature.


But as on our first evening in Macedonia, we have continued to collect stories about all of the wonderful people that we are meeting along the way. Some are locals, others are fellow travellers. Travelling in an old van helps make those connections as there’s an interest as she is different and unusual and people want to know more.
Moving into the second half of our journey we will endeavour to make connections with the people around us. It’s these connections that ensure that the memories we make are happy and the chest of stories continues to grow and fill.
