Azabaijan already?

Ok, so this is me having my photo taken next to a ahhh you get the picture and I thought the idea was pretty neat. This was in Tbilisi in Georgia (we arn't ther now) no not Tbilisi, Georgia. Its a really cool place and a lot of work has clearly been spent in getting Georgia up to scratch and clean of corruption. In fact all the Police force were sacked (apparently) on the spot, yep all 17,000 of them. They trained up a nice new bunch and hey presto, swanky new uniforms n stuff. So we arrived in Georgia, did I tell you about the brothel Paul and I went to by mistake. Trust me it really was a mistake but sorry folks what goes on tour stays on tour and its going to cost you a lot of hooch to get that story out of me. So back to Georgia, what a great place full of bloody big mountains, lots of very deep snow, so deep in fact on one steatch of our trip, they were still digging it off the road.........jeeps!

Hey, this was up a very steep hill, I did'nt make it up to the top, just about everybody else did and there was a cracking monestory up the top or maybe it was a church or a bar or something. I had a cold and ran out of puff so cried off. The sceneri here just takes your breath away and so good, I might just come back one day.

So this is the view from the tent at sunset, nah I lie. We were looking for a bar (rest assured we found one) and the sun was setting so I thought how cool hmmm? Anyway, we spend a lot of time drinking and sampling new wine and all the local beer we can get our hands on, some light weights have been having AFD's 'Alchohol Free Days'. Rest assured Stevie has been keeping the English end up.....just and is still standing.......just.

Some places here clearly have been dragged up by their boots and are looking really cool but there are loads that still need a lot of tlc. No matter couse that adds to the charm of it all. We arrived in Azerbaijan this morning after a bit of a wait at the border, but it was sunny and hey, its a new country so the next blog will have a few more piccies next time.

Hugs n stuff xx

Georgia and my feet stink!

That tiny spot in the middle of the fence is the truck. I'm halfway up some bloody mountain catching my breath. We stayed as this neat town which begins with Stepensomething a few miles from the Russian border. The first night we bush camped and some random strangers came up with wine so what could you do but welcome them and drink their stash haha. The next night a couple of hit the town (such as it is) and had a beer in a local bar about .50p a pint....slurp!

Anyway after four days of bush camping no clean socks or crisp boxers I've developed quite an odour mmmmmmm. I've even got to keep my boots on or faint!!!!!

So this neat place up in the middle of goodness nowhere, one road in 130km long and road works all the way. Let me tell you something about most of the roads in Geogia, they are either full of cows, dogs o flippin great potholes The journey up took seven hours in a bumpy Odyssey truck but the views were awesome as we got higher and higher.

This is the main street in Metsia, yep that is the street. The road only opened in the 50's and is full of rather large pot holes. I'll never complain again, these are pot holes on speed, you could even swim across them.

Ok a brief potted history. The siege towers above were owned by each family in the village, they were built, erm.....along time ago to keep them safe when, erm......pirates came calling and tried o steal their cattle or women or something. There are lots of them and they are unique to this area. Oh, men are king here, women do all the work, everything. Yep the blokes just sit around and chat - quite right too.

Just lately and its probably due to our travels being off the normal route, we have become quite an attraction, people stare, dogs gather in large packs, taxi drivers offer tours and best of all the local police stand guard while we sleep - how cool is that.

That's the potted version, its beer o'clock, my turn in the shower and I need to have my pants an socks surgically removed so see you next time. Oh we are now 3 hours in front of you guys in Blighty, its warm suny and all that stuff.

Big Willy's......

So into Goreme we go for a big tour, hence the name for the blog and the erm......piccy above ha haa. Last day in camp an we are off after lunch today to do some bush camping and pooping behind a bush, nice huh?

We visited and underground city (me in the bat cave), masses of underground caverns, steps and other cool stuff.

The entire area is a world heritage site an was formed millions of years ago following volcanic eruptions, now wind, rain and weather have combined to form this unique area. People moved into the peaks and hillside to live and protect themselves from pirates arrrrrrr. Only kidding

The weather was fantastic, hot and well.....nice.

A large camel having his lunch......YUM! OK so I've tried to improve my blog to make it look a it better after having a lesson from my new best bloggy tutor Ben. Hope you like the newer format? The weather as been just great and gets better and better I've really got into the groove and prefer camping to anything else. Grub is excellent, camp accommodation cool, company fantastic, CJ and Jim the best!

Now, we are off to the wilds now so don't expect anything for a while. Hugs n stuff to you all.

Dragon Breath

Our second camp in Turkey and we are in the Cappadocia region of Goreme. Woke up this morning with frost on my tent and the sound of a very big animal breathing far in the distance. The area is famous for its natural stone formations and ancient stone homes made from them. Stuck my head out of the tent at 7 am to see over 50 brightly coloured tear drops hanging in the sky. Hence the noise of the very big beast which was the burners lighting up to keep the balloons in the sky. Each basket holding around 20 or so happy folks meant that over 1,000 people were floating just below the rim and high into the clear morning sky.

We've had a couple of big drives recently and the crossing the border into Turkey was so long I thought we might get employee numbers we were there that long waiting for permits and stuff ha haa.

Into Turkey and a contrast of countries again. Arriving in Istanbul late on Tuesday evening following some great driving from ex Para Trooper Jim (still not seen the whites of his eyes or seen him erect a tent so we think he must hang from a tree at night). We scramble to our various rooms at the Hostel 'The Orient'. So eight guy and girls sharing just four bunk beds, drop all their bags on the floor to have a late dinner and se what 'Isty' has to offer We are here for three full days and my gosh there is so much on offer. On our feet from 08:30 to beer o'clock in the afternoon, then again out to dinner until late into the night. The busy Bospherous is like the M4 at rush hour but on water, all manner of shipping are jokeying for their own space including, tankers, cruise liners, container ships, fishing boats and water taxi's.How they avoid hitting each other is any bodies guess.

So three ful days in 'Isty', what to do? The grand bazar where women in black Burhas are looking for another colour darker than black, the Topkapi Palace, Bacilica Cisterns, Hagia Sofia an french quater were all given some serious site seeing, as well as the local beer, red wine, Raki, shish, salads and tasty breads - we even managed to have a buffet breakfast for lunch which was full of local people one day. The streets are themed with one just one item, be it, plumbers, lighting, clothes, fantastic fresh fruit and veggies or local fish - great if you just ant one thing.

So back to today, we were al woken up early to do drill and paractised putting down tents by numbers, folding sleeping bags and ensuring all zips line up with your tent buddy or.......you've guessed it, its the back locker for you. I'm begging to think it sould be called the 'cooller' instead!

I'm beggining o warm to CJ the other burly ex Para Trooper and beloved leader. He keeps us all in shape and I'm convnced that one day th vein on the side of his head (you know the one that bulges when peopl get angry) will pop if I look at it hard enough one day, ha haa - only kidding folks.

Anyway, so I'm chilling today and may have a nice hot shower and stroll into Goreme, assuming of course I'm le out the 'cooler' in time........

Still in Bulgaria

Well folks, the weather is so good we all stayed at the camp site we arrived at a couple of days ago for another night, making three in total. Its called Veliko Tarnva near the village of Dragizhevo and is absolutley blooming fab! We are all in a really relaxed groove and some of us took up extra activities including horse riding, archery, mountain biking or walking the fantastic hills around here.

Last night I had to confess to weakening and had a roast beef dinner and apple crunble fo pud.....slurp. It gets much worse folks and I have no will power at all when there is a sausage about, well not one but two, home cured bacon, eggs, fried bread, beans, toast, orange juice - in fact the whole nine yards mmm mmmmm mmmmmm YUM!

We are off early tomorrow for the Turkish border and four days in Istanbul so no blog for a good few days but when I do get back I should have some really cool piccies to put up.